'Unpaused' explores new beginnings in Covid era

Filmmakers Raj and DK, Nikkhil Advani, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Avinash Arun and Nitya Mehra will explore the themes of new beginnings and moving on through five different short films, which have been shot during the ongoing Covid pandemic.

Dec 8, 2020, 7:47 pm ISTNewsIANS

The five short films comprise the anthology "Unpaused", the trailer of which was released on Tuesday.

Raj and DK have made "Glitch", starring Gulshan Devaiah and Saiyami Kher. It is about a hypochondriac man who meets a strange girl on a blind date.

"Creating 'The Family Man' was a liberating experience for us as content creators, and the assurance of thinking unconstrained encouraged us to extend our collaboration with 'Glitch'. We loved making the short, as we tried a new style and genre! It was a bizarrely unique experience shooting it during the pandemic, and with all kinds of restrictions," said Raj and DK.

Then there is "Apartment" directed by Nikkhil Advani, starring Richa Chadha, Sumeet Vyas and Ishwak Singh. It will throw light on how a woman spirals into a maze of self-blame and attempts to end her life when she finds out about her husband's sexual indiscretions.

For Advani, "Apartment" allowed him to "explore complex emotions in a simple way, one that the traditional format would never have permitted me to do".

Tannishtha has directed "Rat-A-Tat", featuring Rinku Rajguru and Lillete Dubey. In the short, the protagonists will be seen confronting loneliness and forming an unlikely friendship during lockdown.

Giving an insight into her story, Tannishtha said: "In such unprecedented times, new beginnings are the only hope for many across the world... Shot under lockdown rules it was both exciting and challenging to bring alive the story. I hope the viewers relate and connect with it the way we connected and felt while making it."

Avinash Arun has helmed "Vishaanu" with Abhishek Banerjee and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan leading the cast. The story is about a young migrant family who after being thrown out of their rented house during lockdown, decides to illegally sneak into a lavish flat.

There is also Nitya Mehra's "Chaand Mubarak", featuring Ratna Pathak Shah and Shardul Bharadwaj. The story is about an affluent middle-aged single woman who is forced to seek help from a young rickshaw driver to run errands during lockdown in Mumbai.

"It felt great to be back on set and back on shoot after months of being indoors. I was happy that Amazon said it wasn't just about lockdown, but it was about them wanting us to tell stories that reflected positivity and that's how 'Chand Mubarak' came about, because I wanted to actually celebrate an unlikely friendship," Nitya Mehra said.

The Hindi anthology film will release on Amazon Prime Video on December 18.