Hunger

The writer-director Junayed Alavi brilliantly combines the horror genre with addressing a crucial social issue while adding a twist in the climax so that he can increase audience engagement with the content even though Hunger has a very short running time. The narrator (Subinoy Ganguly) and the landlord (Kalyan Goswami) along with the rest of the cast have managed to uplift the vision of Alavi allowing the viewers to take away a lot of key messages from the short film.

The plot of Hunger revolves around the times of the Bengal Famine, a starving man gets into trouble when he gets a surprise invitation from the landlord.

The font style used by the makers fits perfectly to establish the subject matter of the movie thus demanding the viewer’s involvement from the very beginning. The cinematographer Puspen Majumdar captures the long shot of the dried-up farmland along with a series of mid-shots and close-up shots of Raghu a poor farmer to illustrate how bad the effects of famine can get for the villagers under the rule of the East India Company. The black-white colour pallet is chosen by the creative team to depict a particular era to evoke a certain mood or emotion from the audience concerning the situation with respect to the script. The set design, lighting, sound, dialogues, costume, hair, makeup, and props provide a sense of a simple subtle treatment of the topic adding realism and making it relatable for the local set of viewers. Hunger follows a nonlinear form of storytelling giving the screenplay multiple layers allowing the audience the freedom to interpret the film as per their understanding.

In terms of performance, Subinoy Ganguly as a Narrator is given the responsibility by Junayed Alavi to be mindful of all the nuances and subplots of the script and also pay attention to dialogue delivery, body language, facial expressions, and eyes to ensure the viewers don’t get bored of the content of the movie.

Kalyan Goswami plays the landlord who is the antagonist of Hunger. The landlord is a powerful man who is given the duty to help the poor farmers to help them revive from the basic necessity in life like food but later some negative streaks are visible as the story moves forward. Goswami carries a strong personality effortlessly and the makers have added an apt background music to suit the character arc of the landlord.

Hunger talks about the importance of food and other basic requirements when it comes to the question of survival in the case of scenarios like a famine. The short film reiterates the fact that one should be sure about the person he or she seeking help from because the majority of these influential people tend to take advantage of the situation. The Bengali movie restates that one shouldn’t give up on their morals for a powerful position at work because power fades away with time but morals are imbibed in the personality forever. The cinematic piece teaches us that we should be careful about what details we share with people as it can prove harmful for the individual in the long term.