Review: Unpaused - Naya Safar (2022)
Unpaused: Naya Safar carries on the first part of the anthology released earlier in December 2020. The only difference: Instead of one, two shorts stand out in this masked-up anthology.
Consisting of 5 shorts, Unpaused: Naya Safar delves into the lives of people during the second wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. While the first part of the instalment focussed mainly on middle class and upper-class workers, except Avinash Arun’s short, this instalment brings out stories from all castes and classes. Three out of these five stories focus on frontline workers and gig workers, out of which Ayappa KM’s ‘War Room’, and Nagraj Manjule’s ‘Vaikunth’ stand out.
Stills from Nagraj Manjule’s ‘Vaikunth’ (L) and Ayappa KM’s ‘War Room’ (R)
Ayappa KM’s ‘War Room’ is set in a Covid-19 war room, where men and women are working the phones to try and firefight. Small nuances in the production design such as a leaky ceiling, and even a shortage of pens amongst the workers, help us get a thorough behind-the-scenes of the room. The eerie background score, composed by Ayappa and Karan Malhotra adds on to this. Additionally, we are consistently shown screens wherein the hospital beds keep reducing number, showing us a glimpse of the catastrophe in real-time. Gitanjali Kulkarni, plays a school teacher and widow, who gets a call from a man who she shares a personal connection with. She is faced with a moral conundrum. Even with a mask on her face almost throughout the episode, she is able to convey a volume of emotions. Amidst the attention for the reducing hospital beds, one of my favourite parts was how a politician surveys the war room, only for photo-ops, as the crisis management continues.
Manjule’s ‘Vaikunth’, named so after the funeral ground its central character works in, is the most potent, visually striking and superbly edited of all five. The pandemic rages on as Manjule, who acts and directs this short is ordered to vacate his shanty by the landlord after his father tests positive for coronavirus. He then, along with his son are forced to take refuge in the shamshaan - Yahan ameer aur gareeb ka bistar ek hi hota hai.
Where his day is spent burning a funeral pyre of corpses dumped like cargo and collected as sanitiser sprayed ashes, his night are attempts to dodge men in PPE suits and get some news about his hospitalised father.
This short, as hard-hitting as it is, with smoke, ashes, and colours, addresses the banality of mass death. People weep in front of bodies, only to realise that it wasn’t their family member’s. In one striking scene, Manjule hands a pot of ashes to a person, who sanitises it before picking it up.
In another instance, we see Manjule’s son do his homework, as bodies burn in the background. This shows how the pandemic’s second wave not only ravaged the healthcare system, but the education sector as well.
The other three shorts, ‘Gond Ke Ladoo’ (directed by Shikha Makan), ‘The Couple’ (directed and co-written by Nupur Asthana), and ‘Teen Tigada’ (directed by Ruchir Arun) have interesting elements.
Unpaused: Naya Safar brings out new stories of hope, centering around the main theme of ‘work’ during the second wave of the pandemic.
‘Gond Ke Ladoo’ highlights the story of a mother (Neena Kulkarni) who handmakes ladoos intended for her daughter's post-pregnancy nutrition. The package is almost impossible to get delivered when the delivery boy meets with an accident. He (Lakshvir Singh Saran) and his better half (Darshana Rajendran) then go out of their way to make it happen.
This short highlight the essence of personal touch, during social distancing, and brings out the masked men on two wheelers, who’s reward is only a five-star rating.
‘The Couple’ stars Shreya Dhanwanthary and Priyanshu Painyuli, depicting a young, urban marriage and how they their respective careers around the new normal - WFH (work from home). But when a pink slip is thrown at the pretty picture, a shift in the power dynamics hovers above their head.
Ruchir Arun's ‘Teen Tigada’ is about three thieves left to fend for themselves in a remote warehouse with smuggled goods, during the deadly second wave and complete lockdown. Arun’s short is much slower than the others in the anthology. Starring Saquib Saleem, Ashish Varma, and Sam Mohan, this short makes some moving observations about the marginalised, discounted lot and equal victims of the pandemic.
The new instalment of Unpaused definitely has its own distinct voices and relevance to reality. It also has a scope to experiment and be distinctive in their own styles. It also shows a greater awareness of the havoc Covid-19 wrought on the underprivileged. While the first part relied on loneliness and the eagerness to reach out as a major theme; and the second dealt with work; I wonder if a third part will deal with vaccinations, maybe?
