You must have seen dozens of short films in last couple of months, courtesy of the great lockdown. But how many of them did really impress you? In the time when the web series are dominating the entertainment industry, it’s hard for short films to get noticed. While a web series has at least around five hours of runtime (it depends, but still, an average), hence giving it the opportunity to develop the plot and characters well; a short film has a very limited time, making it difficult for the creator to put out the intended message correctly. And if a short film succeeds in doing so, well, a big round of applause it deserves. I am talking about one such short film here today.
The film’s called ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and it’s a work of KookyDunk, the makers of various shorts and series including ‘Baaki Samachar’. The 9-minute film has two characters — one being a God and the other is an ordinary human being. So this God looks after “recycling” of human beings, you know, like reincarnation and stuff. Thanks to the ‘Random Birth Situation Generator’ device he owns, he doesn’t really have to go through the record of your past deeds to figure out where you deserve to be born.
So our guy is here, at the God’s office(?), where he is being informed where he is about to get born. “Nepal, chutiya people but don’t worry as you will soon be one of them, loving mom, hardworking dad, a little bit of drinking problem, some physical abuse…”
That’s how it’s going when the God finds out and has to deliver the “bad news” — our guy is being born in a Dalit family. “It’s kind of like being a woman but way worse”, the God explains, trying to point out how badly women and Dalit people are treated in this country.
“People won’t even want to touch you. It’s kind of like you have the coronavirus but throughout of your life”, another shocker. He says it’s so bad out there even a God can’t help him.
The film is full of witty and satirical punches and delivers such a strong message without being boring for even a second. Divesh Upreti, who plays the God, is a really good actor. Also starring Aayush Shrestha, who has co-written the short with Yoznaa Thapa; the film is directed by Rocky Prajapati and edited by Rujen Maharjan,
Beautiful work, beautiful. Kudos to the team.
