''Natkhat'' () is a 2020 Indian

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

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 Fil ...

as a mother educating her young son about

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, 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, an ...

. It premiered on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

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 an annual festival based in Melbourne founded in 2010. It was previously funded by Victoria State Government. It is presented by Film Victoria, and the provider is chosen through a tender process. ...

on 23 October. The 2020 festival is being hosted virtually between 23 and 30 October, 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 Tamil, Malayalam 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 ...

as Sonu's father *Atul Tiwari as Sonu's grandfather *Nivedita Baunthiyal * Sparsh Shrivastav 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,

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

, and the interior scenes were filmed in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. 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 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' 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, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' 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 drama short films 2020s Hindi-language films Hindi-language drama films