With the anthology wave majorly hitting our OTT platforms, the recent one that set out to make a big splash is “Navarasa” on Netflix produced by Mani Ratnam and Jayendra. But much to the disappointment, except a couple of segments — Payasam (Disgust) being the best and Ethiri (Compassion), the anthology on the whole didn’t create any impact.
I was wondering, rather than going for complicated / over ambitious narratives to talk about a basic human emotion, how would it be convey the same using a simpler storyline involving seemingly trivial events.
Say, let’s take “Fear”(Bhaya), I was thinking.. of all bigger things out there that a mind perceives as horror.. something as miniscule and ordinary as a syringe needle, capable of scaring the hell out of someone…
When I went for my second dose of vaccination, I couldn’t help being anxious about the procedure. We all have had plenty of injections in our lives and this procedure was probably not even going to be that painful (it wasn’t at all). Yet for a small window of time, anxiety and fear overtook the better of me – making me ask the doctor, “It won’t pain right?”
Those few seconds — from loading the vaccine into the syringe needle or rubbing the cotton dipped into the syringe till the needle came in contact with my skin… Well…
So, based on this I have done a small storyboard to convey “Fear” based on that vaccination experience. (Storyboard video below).
Soundtrack in the video: “9 PM” by Howard Shore for Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours”.
(Recommend to watch it in Landscape mode, if using phone).
Cinema Paradesio 