Out of the shadows

Shadows aren't always silent; they can sometimes talk and even be a presence strong enough to deliver a message. In 23-year-old Robin Gupta's short film on domestic violence, shadows do all the work.

A student of master's in journalism and mass communication at Doaba College, Jalandhar, Robin says the 20-minute film, titled Colour of Shadows, is about the pain of a woman facing violence at the hands of her drunkard husband and the effect it has on their two sons.

The idea of using shadows to depict the story, says the youngster, came to him one day in class when lights went out and their teacher used the torch in her phone to light up the room. "Looking at shadows of my classmates on the walls, it struck me that shadows have a very dramatic effect. I discussed the concept with my teachers and began work immediately," says Robin, adding that domestic violence was an issue that he thought would be best addressed using this technique. The shadows of Robin's classmates Paras Punj and Gunjan Kapoor depict the man and wife respectively, while Vinod Vishwakarma and Veer Singh play the sons.

Happy with the work done by Robin, Simran Sidhu, head of the department of journalism at Doaba College, says, "This kind of creative work using shadows has been done for the first time by our students. Our college is planning to send this film to different short film competitions."

Robin reveals that there is a twist in the second half of the film, wherein one of the sons kills his father in rage and the elder son attempts to help his brother reject the habits picked up from their father.

Previously, Robin had made another short film, titled The Social Chakkar-View, which used footages from CCTV cameras. He also penned a song dedicated to the Delhi gangrape victim, called Mai Nanhi Pari. The song earned thousands of hits on YouTube.