Circus

The writer director Mohsin Tariq presents a conversation between two male protagonists Syed Saad Farrukh and Mustafa Zeeshan giving us a different perspective on life and happiness therefore increasing audience engagement with the content.

The plot of the short film revolves around the coming back of the circus in the city, and so does a roadside mascot costume artist who hopes for a change in his otherwise monotonous and tedious life.

Circus begins with a series of long shots of a busy street cut to the mascot costume artist busy with his day-to-day schedule of going to work and entertaining the children. The set design, location, colour pallet, lighting, sound, dialogues, costume, hair, makeup, and props are kept natural to provide depth to the topics being discussed in the film and also give the viewers a sense of being involved with it. The makers utilise the visual imagery and symbolism to convey the challenges and inner turmoil of keeping up with his monotonous routine adding a sense of realism and relatability in the minds of the viewers making the story inspiring for them even when the running time of the film is short.

In terms of performance, Syed Saad Farrukh plays the roadside mascot costume artist who is extremely busy with daily life and he grapples with the need to maintain his image as a happy go lucky performer while struggling with his inner turmoil. Farrukh utilises voice modulation, body language, facial expression, and eyes to portray the calm demeanour the costume artist maintains to depict and complement the theme/situations in the script.

Mustafa Zeeshan plays the small child who meets the roadside mascot costume artist and discusses happiness and life in general. Zeeshan beautifully provides an innocent viewpoint into this discussion making it interesting for the audience even if the topic was a serious one.

Circus compares life to be similar to a play where people tend to come finish their act and leave and God is the supreme director who is responsible for the smooth functioning of life. The short film talks about the importance of being honest and loyal to one’s work commitment because people have certain expectations from the person both in short/long term. The cinematic piece explores the corelation between being happy and also being rich. The creative piece highlights that everyone tends to choose their definitions of happiness as per the changing situation in their respective lives and it tends to be dissimilar for different people. Circus also sheds light upon the fact of the survival of the fittest one should always try to overcome all the apprehensions and be ready to fight as well as survive every day to combat new challenges life puts us through. Circus talks about how crucial it is to spend time with oneself alone to understand what one wants to do because everyone is unique.

To conclude, I would like to appreciate the writer/director and the creative team for giving us the opportunity to think about happiness and life and many other things related to the same because we tend to be so busy in life that we don’t find time to discuss it and be thankful for what we have received from the Almighty.