Short Film Festival from Zee

ZEE5 is pulling out all the stops to grab viewers’ attention — and keep it. A task that has become increasingly difficult amidst the surfeit of OTT releases on all major streaming platforms, designed to keep viewers happy and engaged during the Coronavirus lockdown.

Over the past month, ZEE5 has premiered numerous original series and films on its platform. And now it has made another intriguing announcement. ZEE5 will host on its platform, a film festival dedicated to short films. Called the ZEE5 Short Film Festival, it will feature nine unique short films, straddling diverse genres.

To be featured in the festival is the Rajeev Khandelwal-headlined short film, Heartbeat, directed by Manu Chobe. Starring alongside Khandelwal is digital star, Anupriya Goenka. The film is based on the poignant and heart-touching subject of Euthanasia, also called assisted killing. Well, euthanasia as a subject has never been featured in a film in India before, short or otherwise. It will certainly make for interesting viewing.

Half Full, featuring Naseeruddin Shah and Vikrant Massey, features a compelling premise of how two men of diverse generations, perspectives and sensibilities share a common ambition. It is directed by Karan Rawal.

Next is Second Hand, starring the supremely talented Abhishek Banerjee with Parul Gulati, and directed by Navjot Gulati. It is a story of love, marriage and infidelity.

Journalist-turned-filmmaker Ramkamal Mukherjee’s Season’s Greetings is also included in the film festival. It features Lillette Dubey and Celina Jaitley as a mother-daughter duo who discover unknown facets to their relationship.

Shriya Pilgaonkar, Rajit Kapur and Shilpa Tulaskar come together for the next, titled Svaah, So Be It, directed by Gauri Daswani. Shriya plays a headstrong girl faced with a unique situation in life.

Strawberry Shake is the next in the line-up. It features Sumeet Raghavan and Hruta Durgule as a father-daughter duo, and offers a fresh take on the conventional and conservative relationship. It is written and directed by Shoneel Yallattikar, and shows Sumeet Raghavan in a never-seen-before avatar.

Food for Thought, directed by Tania Deohans and featuring Rashi Mal, Alka Amin and Usha Nadkarni; Boom Noom, directed by Sonam Nair, and starring Rhea Chakraborty and Manjot Singh; and finally, How About A Kiss, directed by Satarupa Sanyal, and starring Rajat Kapoor and Ritabhari Chakraborty, make up the remaining four films in the festival.

The ZEE5 Short Film Festival premieres on ZEE5 on 15th April.