Bollywood remains a force to reckon with when it comes to the employment of song and dance in its films. The industry is marked not only by the staggering number of films it puts out each year, but also by the massive appeal of its musicality for viewers all over the world. It is indeed no big surprise, then, that the effort that goes behind the screen to present to you with the verve and zest of this particular form of cinema is also of a humongous scale and proportion. 

The short film is an attempt to explore the same by introducing the viewer to the leading choreographers who have created one iconic dance performance after another, along with some of the biggest, most successful songs of the industry. It offers pertinent voices that allow the conversation to flow with ease, introducing the uninitiated to the several complexities and dynamics of the world of cinema in this specific part of the world. 

From gender to the changing times to the manner in which society has viewed dancers and choreographers over the decades to very intimately personal experiences of the several subjects of the documentary itself, the narrative invokes them all, striving to present to the viewer a balanced set of opinions on its thematic concerns.

Master Ji | Short Film Nominee

In a corner of India, the short film allows its story to unfold one night. The documentary introduces the viewer to children who scavenge empty alcohol bottles to sell them for small amounts of money. While the children, by their own admission, go to school and learn poetry and languages, they also carry out this secret activity of theirs come nightfall. Through its quiet engagement with its young subjects, the documentary presents forth a narrative of poverty and how it robs children of their innocence and childhood. The intention is noble and its realisation exhibits deep potential. However, the topic and thematic concerns it chooses to engage with are not entirely unique - poverty in a developing country. It is precisely for this reason that an important question is raised after interacting with the film - has it succeeded in capturing the social and cultural ethos of a society, despite or perhaps because of its microcosmic approach - the story of a few children in the corner of a massive nation, or has it fallen in the trap of indulging the specific manner in which the West often views its eastern counterparts? While this question is inherent to the core of What Are You Looking At?, it can and should only be answered by the viewer themselves.

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