Producer: Humara Movies (YouTube)
Directors: Rahul V Chittella, Arunima Sharma, Amira Bhargava, Supriya Sharma, Pratik Rajen Kothari, Satish Raj Kasireddi & Annie Zaidi
Innovative Concept
The YouTube channel Humaramovie has come up with an innovative mentorship program that saw acclaimed filmmakers train the aspiring ones to direct 7 short films, based on the same theme, noise. So Shor Se Shuruaat happens to be a heady cocktail of 7 short films stringed together. These films have been made by budding directors, each one of whom was handpicked & mentored by some of India’s leading filmmakers. The latter include Shyam Benegal, Mira Nair, Imtiaz Ali, Zoya Akhtar & Homi Adajania.
Rahul V Chittella’s striking Azaad is about the silencing of dissenting voices. It features a terrific performance by Atul Kulkarni. Whereas Arunima Sharma’s Yellow Tin Cup Telephone is a stylized albeit a whimsical take on the sweet romance between a girl oversensitive to sound and a boy oversensitive to colour. This is the most visually inventive film in the collection. Amira Bhargava, mentored by Zoya Akhtar, tells a lovely story of a young boy on the streets of Mumbai. Aamer is hearing – impaired. His mother is finally able to gather enough money to buy him a hearing aid. The story culminates predictably but the presentation is skillful and the little boy playing Aamer is perfect. In Supriya Sharma’s Dhvani, Sanjai Mishra plays a death – row inmate who is living out his last days in solitary confinement and desperately wants to hear the sounds of life. Sanjai Mishra’s enactment of the prisoner in solitary confinement is excellent. Hell O Hello, directed by Pratik Rajen Kothari, who was mentored by Shyam Benegal, is a repetitive take on consumerism & telemarketing. Imtiaz Ali’s protégée, Satish Raj Kasireddi, gives us Mia I’m, about a young girl who becomes a viral rap sensation, which in itself is too predictable. Annie Zaidi’s Decibel, the only sci – fi story amongst the whole lot is about a dystopian future in which we need assistance to sleep. The film, mentored by Sriram Raghavan does not impress at all.
Frankly speaking Shor Se Shuruaat is not consistent it does make an impact but over – all fails to make the right noise. In some ways it’s also unsatisfying as the less successful films weigh heavily on the better ones because they wear you out. But no doubt the conceptualized idea is wonderful as it helps in nurturing new talent which in turn gives the cine goers an opportunity to discover emerging talents.
While the technical aspects of all the films are appreciable, some of the films can indeed be blamed for overindulging in the method which took away some of its interesting content.
