Gurgaon-based Parindey Storytellers win honours at the 12th Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival

Short films Entrapment and Raju’s conflict, two films which were directed by Gurgaon Based filmmakers, Parindey Storytellers, win big at the 12^th Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival. Entrapment won the award for Best Background score while Raju’s Conflict won Honourable Jury Mention.

This is after they also won big at the 13^th Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival 2023. The two short films were directed by Prakhar Gautam and produced under the banner of Parindey Storytellers.
Entrapment is the story of a lonely woman who lives in a concocted reality of a family she never had and an idea she has lived with for years to kill her loneliness. The story of the film was conceived by Harrdeep who also played the lead role in the film. The film was shot on a shoestring budget with a small crew and has already one other honours including the Best Editing award at the 10^th Noida International Film Festival.  

Hardeep who has acted in various TV shows and films said “The making of entrapment was a very emotional experience for me as the topic was very close to my heart. My father who left us two years ago due to covid was the inspiration for this story. The film is about loneliness and social entrapment that almost every woman faces at some time or the other. This feeling can get so overwhelming at times that the mind starts concocting things as a defense mechanism”.

Raju’s Conflict is set in pre-independent India and the film depicts the dilemma of Raju, a simpleton in a small village in pre-independent India. Raju is from a family of patriots who have sacrificed their lives for the country. His Brother was recently killed by the English rulers for being a Revolutionary. The dilemma he faces here is a choice between killing for an ideology or not killing for humanity…

Anmol Bhayana who played the role of Raju said “Had a fantastic time working on this film. We all went to a village to shoot this one and it was extremely cold. It has come out really well and everyone is liking it which makes us happy and grateful”

Sucheta who has also acted in many major ads said – The making of this movie reaffirmed my belief that if a story resonates strongly with your thoughts and ideals, you will put in all your effort to make it believable to others. Camera work, acting, editing, and all other aspects that make a film loveable fall into place. That has been my personal learning from working with this film.

About Prakhar, Anil, another actor said – His vision as a director and his interest as a historian seeing those two aspects come alive into the camera and on the screen. 

Ayush an actor in the film said Raju’s Conflict talks about the different conflicts we have in our personal life. It was a fabulous life experience, acting in the movie and learning new perspectives about the shoot

Jashan who was also an associate director in the film said – I feel lucky to have worked with Parindey both in front of and behind the camera. Entrapment and Raju’s Conflict are two starkly different films but the one thing that is common between the projects is the effort put in by Prakhar and his team that has brought about phenomenal success.

It was a great experience working in Raju’s conflict with Prakhar’s team as we share one vision whenever we do something we always try to provide something new to the audience and more importantly to you yourself also. As for my character Zamindar, it’s a layered one that I thoroughly enjoyed playing with the help of Prakhar and which I have not done before also. Felt blessed to be part of such a project and team thankyou and keep rocking said Sarat Bothra.