Piyush Thakur is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). His student short film, “The Real Millionaire”, was nominated for the International Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and travelled globally to more than 75 film festivals, winning multiple awards. He was selected from India for the International Student Film Camp Serbia. Post FTII, he worked as an assistant director to Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the film ‘Bajirao Mastani‘. He was selected from India for the Kyoto Filmmakers Lab in Japan and Platform Busan at the Busan International Film Festival. His latest short film, “The First Film“, had its world premiere at Festival de Cortos de Bogotá – BOGOSHORTS in Colombia and was recognized as a ‘Short Film Market Pick’ by the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and ‘Film Bazaar Recommends’ by NFDC Doc Film Bazaar. It won ‘The German Star of India – Audience Award’ at the Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart in Germany.
The First Film review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
The story takes place in 1960 India, as a silent film style intertitle mentions in the beginning of the film, before the actual movie opens with an image of a clock ticking, and eventually an alarm setting awake a young woman with white paint on her face, who sneaks from the rest of the sleeping family to meet a young man who seems particularly fond of his moustache. The movie progresses in silent-fashion, with the dialogue presented through intertitles.
The girl is stating that a groom from Bombay is coming to see her, to the disappointment of the boy, who was influenced by the poster of the film “Shree 420” for his mustache. The discussion then turns to the fact that the cinema is forbidden for women in the small town the story takes place in, and that probably, when she moves to progressive Bombay, she will be free to watch. The boy then starts telling and actually performing the story of “Shree 420”, and the interactions between the two seem to continue through the days.
The next part, after the title of the actual film is presented, focuses on the 14-years-old girl’s family situation, but also presents her relationship with the mute boy, along her effort to finally catch a movie in the local cinema.
What becomes immediately evident here, is that “The First Film” soars with a love for cinema, with every scene and every frame highlighting the fact in the most obvious fashion. The various types of film references is just the beginning, as the girl’s eagerness to actually watch a movie is the one that truly dictates this aspect.
A comment about patriarchy and how arranged marriages worked at the time is also a central theme here, although even that is connected with the love for cinema, with the former actually presented through the latter.
In terms of production values, the quality is quite high. Sonu’s monochrome cinematography fits the style of the movie and the narrative to perfection, as much as the almost dialogue-less approach. The way this silence breaks on occasion is quite smart, providing a very appealing element of surprise, not to mention being part of the most tense scene in the whole film. In that regard, and in combination with the traditional Bollywood soundtrack and sound samples, it is easy to say the the overall audiovisual approach is one of the shorts best aspects. Lastly, the dreamy sequence is quite well implemented, adding to the aesthetics of the movie by breaking the overall style of the rest of the film.
Priyanka Beriya in the role of the girl manages to emote a variety of feelings with just her facial expressions and eyes in truly impressive fashion. The same applies to Vasudev Nishad’s performance, with the way he acts in order to present the movies, and his smile being the trademarks of the whole movie.
Thakur’s own editing induces the short with a relatively fast tempo that suits the silent movie approach here. Perhaps the scene in the end, which brings back to one of the initial ones is somewhat cliched and could have been avoided, but this is just a very minor flaw.
Overall, “The First Film” is an excellent short that implements the love for cinema with a silent movie approach in a wonderful combination that will put a smile on the face of any viewer.
