In Shweta Chatterjee’s short film In Brief, underwear meets superstition to generate a few laughs.
When real estate agent Vishal (Sahil Ansari) is able to complete deals successfully, he often credits sundry pieces of his apparel for his good luck. His wife Sarla (Chatterjee) gets particularly harried when he decides to attribute his success to magenta underwear he had been wearing at a meeting (Sigmund Freud would have probably had a lot to say about Vishal’s fixation).
Purposefully ridiculous and marginally amateurish, the film sketches a relatable portrait of the various ways in which superstition weaves itself into everyday lives and how the quest for meaning can make anything – even underwear -– seem omnipotent.
Even as Chatterjee plays to the crowd by exaggerating the obvious ridiculousness of Vishal’s beliefs, she also deftly highlights how gender operates in marriages. While Vishal struts about signing deals, Sarla waits for him at home, with only cat videos for company.
In Brief was released by Hamara Movie and is available on their YouTube channel.