''Natkhat'' () is a 2020 Indian

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by Shaan Vyas and written by Vyas and Annukampa Harsh. It stars

Vidya Balan Vidya Balan (pronounced ; born 1 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Known for pioneering a change in the portrayal of women in Hindi cinema with her roles in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including a National Fi ...

as a mother educating her young son about

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

. It premiered on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

as part of the We Are One: A Global Film Festival. The film will be opening film of the

Indian Film Festival of Melbourne The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) is a Victoria State Government-funded annual festival based in Melbourne founded in 2012. It is presented by Film Victoria, and the provider is chosen through a tender process. The current tender prov ...

on October 23. The 2020 festival is being hosted virtually between October 23 and 30, due to the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cast

as Surekha ; Sonu's mother *Sanika Patel as Sonu *

Raj Arjun Raj Arjun is an Indian actor who mainly works in Hindi cinema. He has also worked in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu cinema. He is the recipient of Zee Cine Awards for Best Actor In A Negative Role and Indian Television Academy Awards for Best A ...

as Sonu's father *Atul Tiwari as Sonu's grandfather *Nivedita Baunthiyal *Sparsh Shrivastava as Sonu's uncle * Samarth Mahor As Bantu *Aruraj patel as Bhusa *Abhi Dubey as Suresh *Vedant Tanwar as Dora

Production

''Natkhat'' was filmed in

Harda Harda is a town and a municipality in Harda district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Harda is the administrative headquarters of Harda. History Mughal period During the Mughal period, Harda was a mahal in the Handia sarkar. In 1742 ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, and the interior scenes were filmed in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. A majority of the cast members had no prior acting experience. Sanika Patel, a girl, was cast in the leading role of Sonu.

Reception

Shubhra Gupta of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' labelled ''Natkhat'' a "valuable addition to the films which call out patriarchy, and how utterly damaging it can be." Jyoti Sharma Bawa of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' credited Vyas for effectively portraying a world in which "women are shorn of agency and men get their power from displaying naked machismo"; she praised Vidya for bringing "simplicity and nuance" to her role and Patel for matching her vulnerability.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 11058440
The Brat
at We Are One: A Global Film Festival 2020 films 2020 drama films 2020 short films Indian short films Indian drama films 2020s Hindi-language films Hindi-language drama films