NID grad’s work qualifies for Oscars in short film category

AHMEDABAD: A film by Nainisha Dedhia, a BDes (FVC) graduate of National Institute of Design (NID), has qualified to enter the Academy Awards as India’s official submission in the live-action short film category. The awards are popularly known as the Oscars.
The announcement came after ‘Dhummas,’ the film by Nainisha, won in the ‘Indian Competition Section’ of the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival recently.
The short film, which was a graduation project for Nainisha, talks about a day-long encounter between a young girl, Mrinalini, and her almost-bedridden grandmother who has supposedly lost her memory. The conversations, in which Mrinalini compares her present with grandma’s past and touches on grandma’s suppression, form the crux of the narrative.
“I took inspiration from my own maternal grandmother’s life, although the film is not based on her experiences,” Nainisha said. “It talks about the oppression of females by females, which is not as talked about as the male gaze or oppression by patriarchy.”
The Mumbai girl said that it will be a tough road ahead as she will be sending the film to a few other festivals and will also complete the formalities for the Academy Awards soon.
The project was guided by NID faculty members Prahlad Gopakumar and Shilpa Das.