There’s a lot more to Ravi Muppa’s Incognito than what initially meets the eye. The short film, about a motel receptionist (Vikram Singh) spying on his unsuspecting guests through hidden cameras and uploading the provocative recordings to porn sites, starts off as a character observation. However, down the line it takes a shocking turn when a father-daughter duo (Dev Chauhan and Ayushi Nema) come to occupy the property’s room number 201. It ends up casting an urgent glance at a serious social issue that doesn’t leave even the profiteering receptionist unaffected.
While the 25-minute film, which has been submitted for consideration for the 2024 Oscars in the live action short category, captures a complete narrative arc, with a beginning, middle and end, it does tickle the curiosity about what would have preceded the moment in time witnessed on screen and what could follow it.
Entirely apt then for executive producers Anurag Kashyap and Ranjan Singh of Flip Films to team up with Nicholas Weinstock (Severance) and Divya D’Souza of Invention Studios for adapting it into a feature film. Incidentally, Invention’s latest, Thelma, will be premiering at the Sundance Film Festival 2024.
Pithy and terse, Incognito is a film of very few words, even the names of the lead players are not spelt out. The robustness of the film lies in the way it plays with its shabby locale and how it alternates between reality and its digital impressions. The compelling soundtrack alternates between silence, situational sounds, and a somber, ominous background score. Most arresting, however, are the eyes of its protagonist, pinned on the computer, the gaze changing from opportunism, avarice, and curiosity to that of horror at the plight of the girl on the other side of the camera to a desperation to somehow help her out. It finds an answering echo in the tension felt by the viewers themselves.
What starts off as an exploration of his voyeurism, ends up becoming a test of his conscience. One which makes us see him in an entirely different, appreciative light. As he becomes the ally of the girl, while viewing her on his computer, the audience in turn becomes an accomplice of the two, rooting for both in finding their own individual liberation.
Apart from Incognito, the two other Indian films contending in the live action short category for the Oscar shortlist to be announced on December 21 are Reema Maya’s Nocturnal Burger and Chintan Sarda’s The Broken Table.
#Incognito #Short #Film #ReviewFrom #short #feature #Cinema #express
