Mumbai: The beginning of the year 2021 has been good for the Hindi film industry. The first South Indian film ‘Master’ got resounding success in the first week of its release and on the other hand, Vidya Balan’s short film Natkhat has joined the Academy Awards 2021 race for Best Short Film (Live Action).
Produced by Ronnie Screwvala and directed by Shaan Vyas, Natkhat is a 33-minute short film, which highlights the values we learn at home.
“After a year that has been turbulent, it feels great to have our film qualify for the Oscars. This film is incredibly close to me since it gave me a chance to play the dual roles of actor and producer,” Vidya said.
Amid the shutdown, Natkhat was screened at prestigious international (virtual) film festivals across the world. It world premiered at Tribeca’s We Are One: A Global Film Festival after which it won the German Star of India Award at the Indian Film Festival, Stuttgart. The short film was also invited for the London Indian Film Festival in London and Birmingham, the South Asian Film Festival – Orlando/Florida Film Festival and opened the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.
We made #Natkhat “to reach every corner of the earth and tell the world that change begins at home.” Elated to be in the race for the Oscars 2021 short film category!https://t.co/BLnd7DZVPg@RonnieScrewvala @vidya_balan @SanayaIZohrabi @FontOfThinking @mesopystic @NBCNews
— RSVP (@RSVPMovies) January 14, 2021
The story of the film revolves around a mother (Vidya Balan) who notices her young, school-going son Sonu (Sanika Patel) gravitating towards misogyny and disregard for the other gender just like the men in her family.
The beautiful relationship between mother and son is also seen in this short film. At every stroke, this relationship gets hurt and turmoil begins. But in the end it takes a beautiful form.