‘Delhi Crime’ actress Shefali Shah recently ventured into the filmmaking space with her just-released short film titled ‘Happy Birthday Mummy Ji’. It has been written and directed by Shefali Shah and is currently streaming on the YouTube channel of LargeShortFilms.
The short film revolves around a housewife who tries her best to make her family happy, but her love and sincerity are not reciprocated. She starts to feel she has to change things and do something, sometimes for herself. The film has been well shot and nicely acted by Shefali Shah (it’s a solo actor film) and the narrative is supported by a beautiful background score.
The film’s runtime is just about 14 minutes and like every sub-15 minute short, we cannot expect a coherent storyline because of the lack of apparently the most important ingredient – time. In the case of ‘Happy Birthday Mummy Ji’ too, there is no story as such. The goings-on follows a housewife alone in a house amidst the COVID-19 lockdown situation.
Having said that, there are many short films made by Indian filmmakers that left an impact on the audiences despite the film’s tiny runtime. For instance, Vidya Balan’s short film ‘Natkhat’ (33 minutes) made the audiences think about gender inequality. Another short ‘Devi’ (13 minutes) starring Kajol was received with positive feedback. Similarly, Tisca Chopra’s starrer ‘Chutney’ (17 minutes) and Radhika Apte’s ‘Ahalya’ (14 minutes) directed by Sujoy Ghosh gripped the viewers with their intriguing narratives.
Furthermore, a few other short films like Manoj Bajpayee’s ‘Ouch’ (14 minutes) helmed by Neeraj Pandey alongside Naseeruddin Shah’s ‘Interior Café Night’ (12 minutes), were able to get the message across in an effective way, and most importantly entertained the audience.
This implies that the smaller runtime of these short films cannot deter these films from striking the right chords and entertaining the audiences especially for the more refined OTT viewers segment.
‘Happy Birthday Mummy Ji’ on the other hand, might not be as entertaining as the above-mentioned shorts but considering the minuscule runtime of merely 14 minutes, you can give it a try. Not for the film’s story or execution but for Shefali Shah’s effortless act and just for a different experience. You can watch the short film through the below-mentioned link.
https://youtu.be/Sgi8Vy2Y_Dw
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