AIDS Jaago

Came across a set of short films by four of the celebrated Indian film makers on AIDS. Conceptualized by Mira Nair, this venture is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to increase awareness of AIDS. The four short films are by Mira Nair, Vishal Bharadwaj, Santosh Sivan, and Farhan Akhtar. These are available from the movie download service Jaman (more on the site on my tech blog.) as part of their AIDS Jaago section. They are available for download, or as streaming video (pretty nice quality).

Just finished the first one, Migration by Mira Nair. Pretty nice short, focusing on how AIDS is a disease beyond the societal class. Decent acting by all the actors. Shiney Ahuja is a little bit too urban looking to pull off a villager though. Still its a very decent performance from him. Mira Nair's craft is very much evident albeit this being a short film.

Will update the rest after watching each of the movies.

Update:
Finished watching Blood Brothers by Vishal Bharadwaj. An absolutely fabulous short film. Gripping. Great performances from Sidharth and Pankaj Kapoor, and an outstanding performance from Pawan Malhotra. This ones about how lives are altered with the onset of HIV.

Onto the next movie. Blood Brothers is highly recommended.

Update:
Prarambha, the Kannada short by Santosh Sivan deals with the subject of the impact ofHIV on children. A really moving film, reminded me of the plight of two HIV positive children who were outcasted in their school sometime back in Kerala. The child actor has done a great job and Prabhudeva has excelled as the smart truck driver.

One more left now. This time by Farhan Akhtar. Lets see if he hold his own with the others.

Update:
Farhan Akhtar does hold his own against others with Positive. The movie starts of a little peppy and settles in nicely.Yet another good short. Its about how a family copes with AIDS. Awesome performance from Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi. Easily the best acting in this series.

Seems there is an issue with showing more than one film at a time in the same post/page. Go to the site to watch the movies. The one I liked the most will be displayed here.

All the four shorts are extremely good. Must Watch!

Ranking according to me

4. Migration: Mira Nair has been eclipsed by the others here.

3. Positive: Farhan Akhtar does have a lot of talent. Hope that he will put it to good use.

2. Prarambha: I was hard pressed whether to give this the 1st place. A very strong contender. Santosh Sivan has done a brilliant job here. Boy in the movie is simply wonderful. If you are too lazy to watch it by registering in Jaman, just go here.

1. Blood Brothers: Gritty and good. May not rank that high in others lists, but this was the one which impacted me mostly. Vishal Bharadwaj takes the first spot. Watch the movie below!

Blood Brothers