If a creative mind tackles the challenge of comprising a piece of art or philosophy within a certain fixed framework while still maintaining a truly unique voice, you can definitely speak of a talent to observe closely. In his 2018 short feature “Harshit”, the Indian filmmaker and playwright has already proven to be someone unafraid to face this particular challenge when he made what is essentially a rendition of William Shakespeare's “Hamlet”, albeit with a distinctively unique voice and a truly magnificent setting within the director's home country.
Considering his past feature, it should come as no surprise to find Harsh has continued his work with another short feature referring to the concepts of Buddhism and the philosophy of René Descartes, in particular his famous phrase “Cogito Ergo Sum”. The roughly 17 minutes of the feature tell the story of Siddharta (Anurag Sinha) who remembers his past life, most importantly, his relationship to his wife called Marvi (Nancy Thakkar). Stuck in limbo between life and death, he tortures himself going through the past and final moment, especially an argument with his wife about conceiving a child, and feels unable to accept the finality of death.
Whereas the references to Buddhist concepts concern the main character sharing similarities to the story of the religious leader, the idea of doubting the self, the world and the notion of existence as a whole supposedly drives the film. Through the voice-over from the main character you are introduced to the idea of the two worlds – the first one being reality and the other one being the world of your mind and imagination. Reflecting the internal struggle of the character and his growing doubts about which world is the right one, the film shifts constantly back and forth between many visual and narrative layers, ultimately blurring the line for the audience as well.
Even though the philosophical subtext is at times more like a confusing spiderweb for the viewer to be caught within, at the center, similar to “Harshit”, Harsh focuses on a story of deep affection, not necessarily between the two main characters, but also between the self and the world. Interestingly, he leaves it open as to which of the two worlds is the one Siddharta feels more connected to, which is precisely his dilemma. Highlighted by beautiful imagery and music, we get the strong feeling of wanting to belong to one of these worlds while also not giving up the other one.
“Do I Exist: A Riddle” is another interesting feature directed by Dhruva Harsh. Consisting of a rich visual landscape and poetry, a good score and some interesting thoughts Harsh's new short feature proves again, he is a director unafraid of tackling the most important questions about our lives and our world while it also proves his predilection for romance.
