Movie Name: Yatri Kripya Dhyan De
Cast: Shweta Basu Prasad, Shaheer Sheikh
Director: Abhinav Singh
Streaming on: Amazon Mini TV
Rating: 3.5
Sumit (Shaheeh Sheikh) is a medical coder who also runs a homestay at a touristy location punctuated with tall trees and aesthetic hilly roads. He meets Nandita (Shweta Basu Prasad) an alluring young woman, who needs a lift as her car breaks down. As Sumit comes to her rescue, a conversation ensues. Things take a murky and unexpected turn, as they start discussing ghosts, spirits, and an unsolved death mystery of the past. What happens next, becomes the plot for Abhinav Singh’s short thriller Yatri Kripya Dhyan De.
Writer and director, Abhinav efficiently packs in a detailed narrative in this 16-minute-long film, which is a feat worth appreciation. The dialogues are tight, and not a second is wasted in providing unnecessary information, only to increase the runtime of the film. The dialogues either let the viewer have a better understanding of the two protagonists or, they act as clues to questions that might crop up in their mind. The thrill and suspense simmering throughout do not meet a disappointing or predictable end, which can’t be said for many films in the genre.
Shaheer Sheikh and Shweta Basu Prasad pack a punch with their performances. The actors successfully create the subtle but inevitable chemistry which might build between two good-looking strangers driving in the hills. Shaheer’s Sumit is far-removed from the gentle and subdued characters one has usually seen him play on screen. The actor embodies a privileged, entitled, and casually flirtatious guy perfectly through his body language. It’s in the way he disposes of a plastic water bottle, the way he treats his employee, or his glances, even. In this regard, Shaheer is a pleasant surprise.
Shweta Basu Prasad is equally entertaining to watch. She aces the role of an attractive, mysterious, seductive stranger in the hills perfectly. Her eyes are emotive, and they instill the nervousness required to make a thriller gripping. One might even say that this genre perfectly works for Shweta, for how could anybody forget her hair-raising act in Makdee?
The pre-climax of the film will keep you guessing, but the answer, in all probability, will surprise you.
Yatri Kripya Dhyan De has all of it: intelligent and quirky writing, good performances, efficient direction, and beautiful scenes.
Catch it streaming on Amazon Mini TV.