Fast forward 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic has killed all of us except two. How would the world be like, with us locked inside, paranoia nibbling us slowly but surely? Locked up, with our masks on, will the world ever be the same if we cannot get a grip on this crisis?
Filmmaker Shieldaitya Mouliks' short Ekti Tara that released a couple of days back deals with the paranoia and hysteria that's blanketing our lives in the post-COVID-19 world.
"Initially when the lockdown started I was starting to miss the people with whom I was not in touch for a long time due to work. Also, I realised that I no longer needed the things that I wanted otherwise. So, I realised that this isolation is going to reset our mindsets forever and for good, perhaps and the idea for Ektio Tara stemmed from this thought," tells Shieladitya.
This 14-minute short film starring Paayel Sarkar and Shubhro S Das is about a video call, a desperate attempt to connect to another human being and a nightmare as the lockdown takes a heavy toll on human lives.
The film begins with a woman, a renowned actor getting a phone call from a man, who got her number form a social media post. The star is desperate to see a real human face since she hasn't seen or interacted with humans post-corona for the longest time. But the man refuses to remove the mask he is wearing and show his face. As the film proceeds it is revealed that perhaps they are the only two persons alive on earth. What happens next? Does the man reveal his identity?
To do away with the lockdown blues production house TVWALA MEDIA is coming up with a slew of interesting shorts shot at the safety of house by individual factors, which are put together to create beautiful stories. Apart from Ekti Tara they have also produced Preme Lockdown a short romantic comedy in times of lockdown starring Anubhav Kanjilal, Anuradha Mukherjee and Prantik Banerjee.
Besides Ekti Tara, Shieladitya has also made another short, Baraanda starring Ishaan Mazumder and Shaheb Chatterjee which is a tale of two brothers who drifted apart due to personal quarrel over an inheritance issue. But with lockdown in place they realise that how except love and filial bonding nothing else matters.
"I have also completed another short Eye Candy starring Sohini Sarkar and Prantik, which is an interesting take on how it feels for a blind couple to video call each other during the lockdown," tells the filmmaker, whose second film Hridpindo starring Arpita Chatterjee that was slated for an April release, got postponed due to the lockdown.
Ekti Tara is already there on YouTube and Baraanda will release online in another two days' time. The online release of Eye Candy will be announced soon.
You can watch these shorts produced by TVWALA MEDIA on YouTube.