A mysterious phone call draws a religious studies professor into a dark labyrinth of mystic Hindu puzzles, the answers to which will reveal a nefarious global conspiracy – and shake the foundations of the world's oldest religion.
“Padmavyuha” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
Overall, “Padmavyuha” is a fine if somewhat disappointing effort. It works best with writer/director Krishna's assured story and setup, forcing this one to get going with the central premise rather quickly. Professor Shaki Ramdas is immediately tasked with looking into a strange disappearance which leads him to discover the strange theories surrounding the Buddhist religion through a strange set of symbols found at one of the crime scenes. Alternating quite well between philosophical discussions about the nature of Hinduism and Ramdas' investigations into the incidents and finding the truth, there's an engrossing quality not just with Krishna's story but his cinematic vision. Cinematographer Benjamin Casias creates a massive scope and feel within this short running time that rivals mainstream cinema, making the short feel much bigger and more expansive than normal.
However, where “Padmavyuha” struggles is the short-form storytelling. It feels like a large swath of story, from Ramdas‘ backstory as an expert in the field that would require his involvement to the background of the missing reporter, go past very rapidly in the short format. These elements are pretty influential to understanding what's going on with all the depth created in the storyline, yet by not having a grounding of these characters and situations become just a blur. Given the scope and scale of the piece, the final feeling is one of just judicious editing to cut a feature-length story down to a short film, as Krishna has too much on his hands to cover that this short could easily be expanded into a full-length feature. That would then allow Krishna to explain these confusing elements in better detail as the scope would match the tone and immersive quality of the rest of the movie.
A cinematically-appealing film that feels far too brief at its current length, “Padmavyuha” falls into the realm of enjoyable enough but decidedly inadequate as a short, when the scale and breadth it's talking about could easily withstand the move to feature-length. On the other hand, the technical merits and storytelling will make “Padmavyuha” a highly entertaining project for aficionados of this format or other viewers who are curious about the message behind it.
