The commute from office to home is usually a dreary one, lacking entertainment. Starting a brand-new series, or a three-hour-long movie, but being only able to watch a fraction of it by the time you reach home is frustrating. And once you get home, you are so caught up in household chores, your latest movie or series gets abandoned. Thankfully, entertainment is not limited to just long movies and binge-able series. Short films make for the ideal entertainment on your way home from work. Ranging anywhere between 5 minutes to 40 minutes, regardless of how short or long your commute is, short films can be just what you need. Here are seven short films you can watch during your daily commute.
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1. Ahalya
Ahalya is a mystery short film based on the character Ahalya from the Hindu epic, Ramayana. Starring Radhika Apte, Soumitra Chatterjee, and Tota Roy Chowdhary in the lead, their characters are based on Ahalya, Gautama Maharishi, and God Indra respectively. Ahalya gives the original story a modern twist and keeps you guessing till the end. When a young police officer, Indra Sen arrives at ageing artist Goutam Sadhu’s house to look for a missing man, Arjun, he never expects to get caught in the mystery of the artist’s household. With fine performances and a strong storyline, Ahalya is a must-watch.
2. Period. End of Sentence.
A documentary short film directed by Rayka Zehtabchi, Period. End of Sentence. is about a group of Indian women who are leading a sexual revolution. The local women of Hapur, a city in Uttar Pradesh, come together to learn how to operate a machine that makes low-cost, biodegradable sanitary pads. The short film aims to fight the stigma around menstruation and menstrual health.
3. Kriti
A dark drama starring Manoj Bajpayee, Radhika Apte, and Neha Sharma in lead roles, the psychological thriller will make you question your perception and keep you on the edge of your seat. Sapan is a mentally ill person who is currently under treatment by Dr Kalpana. When he falls in love with Kriti, his psychiatrist questions whether Kriti is real or not. The audience is as much in the dark as Sapan throughout Kriti and that’s one of the highlights of this short film. With a mind-blowing performance by Manoj Bajpayee, Kriti needs to be on the watchlist on your way home from work.
4. Shimmy
Starring Pratik Gandhi and Chahat Tewani in the lead and directed by Disha Noyonika Rindani, Shimmy is about a father-daughter duo. A slice-of-life short, Shimmy follows 11-year-old Raima who has a secret that she needs to get off her chest. When her father Amol finds out the truth, the two embark on a journey to save the day. Shimmy is a relatable short film that takes you back to the time you were a young pre-pubescent kid around your awkward father.
5. Forget Me Not
Living with a mental illness is difficult. But living with someone who has a mental illness is not easy either, and that’s the theme that Forget Me Not explores. Set in the 1970s, the short film follows two young girls who live with their mother who has bipolar disorder. As the family lives without anyone else to take care of their ailing mother, it is up to the two girls to deal with her. Their mother’s illness frequently disrupts their life and forces them to grow up too soon. Forget Me Not doesn’t glorify bipolar disorder, but it brings to light the effect mental illness has on everyone around the patient.
6. Two Distant Strangers
A man is trying to make his way home to his dog, but he gets stuck in a time loop with a cop that ends in his death. This short film scrutinises the racism faced by Black people in America and how Black Americans are killed in police encounters. Through various encounters between Carter and the cop Merk, Two Distant Strangers shows how Black Americans are often targeted by white cops, even when they are innocent. This Netflix short film is an ode to all the Black lives lost in police encounters.
7. If Anything Happens I Love You
If Anything Happens I Love You deals with one of the biggest issues in America–gun violence, especially school shootings. This 2D animated movie follows two grieving parents who lost their daughter to a school shooting. If Anything Happens I Love You is an emotional journey of the excruciating pain that parents feel when they lose a child. This Academy Award winner on Netflix will move you to tears, yet instill a renewed sense of resilience.
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