MISTY
By Ratna Manucha
Misty, a beautiful, thought-provoking short film (all of 25 minutes), was screened at the Lok Bhawan on the morning of 25 April in the presence of Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) and the First Lady, Gurmeet Kaur.
The film, shot extensively in Dehradun and Mussoorie, has been sensitively directed by Raja Chatterjee. In his speech, the director talked about the story being with him since 2017 and finally seeing the light of day in 2024, when he narrated the story to Satish Sharma, who was touched by the narration and came on board almost immediately.
The Governor was so moved after watching the movie that he remarked it could easily have been made into a full-fledged feature film…it was that gripping! As the Governor rightly mentioned, the present is a gift, which we should seize with both hands, yet most of us spend our lives either pining for the past or planning for the future, that the present just slides past without us realising it and before we know it, the present has turned into the past.
Misty showcases the dilemma of indecision, in which the lead roles, sensitively potrayed by Avantika Shetty and Satish Sharma keep holding themselves back due to their misplaced sense of ego and continue waiting for the other person to take the first step towards commitment. The film moves back and forth between the present and the past. The younger protagonists are ably played by Radhika Joshi and Nitish Rawat. The name Misty is significant in the sense that just like a thin film of mist that rolls over the hillsides, our emotions too, envelop us in a thin haze which sometimes prevents us from seeing the clearer and the larger picture.
The nuanced characterisation of Satish Sharma (as the older Ziba) and Avantika Shetty (as the older and slightly egoistic Shikha) keeps the audience enthralled as one waits to see what would happen next. A heart-rending moment in the movie occurs when the protagonists finally face each other after years of separation and still their ego stands like a rigid wall between them. As the scene plays out, the younger Shikha (Radhika Joshi) pushes past her older self and rushes inside to envelop the younger Ziba (Nitish Rawat) in a warm embrace, while the older couple is still standing at the door, accusations flowing fast and furious.
And that is the saddest part because this is how most of us live, hiding our feelings, burying them deep inside and immersing ourselves in work waiting for the other person to make the first move… Maybe there is a lesson in this somewhere for all of us…
Misty has been produced by Sakshi Shail, with Dr Anjali Nauriyal as the film consultant and Naomi Nauriyal as the assistant director and in charge of production coordination.
Misty received a standing ovation from the packed audience at Lok Bhawan – the general consensus being that we need more such delicately nuanced films that make us stop in our tracks and think.
Team Misty, take a bow!
