A Small Sun
In a one-room chawl in Mumbai, a father and daughter rehearse a school play that neither of them can attend.
- Year
- 2023
- Runtime
- 15 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Format
- Digital · 2K · 1.66:1
Awards & mentions
- Best Short Film — New York Indian Film Festival, 2024
- Audience Award — Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, 2024
A Small Sun
Hindi · 15 min · 2023
A film by Rohan Kulkarni
Directed by Rohan Kulkarni · Produced by Micro Lens Films
Synopsis
Prakash works the night shift at a Dadar printing press. His daughter Naina has been cast as the sun in her school's annual play, which begins at ten in the morning, when he is meant to be asleep. They have four evenings to rehearse in the only room they have.
Using a bedsheet, a torch, and a set of instructions Naina has copied into a notebook, the two build a small theatre of their own. The film follows the rehearsal, and the quiet discovery that being present is a skill one can practise.
Screening history
- MAMI Mumbai Film FestivalShorts2023
- Indian Film Festival of MelbourneOfficial Selection2024
- New York Indian Film FestivalCompetition2024
- Dharamshala International Film FestivalOfficial Selection2023
Director's note
Rohan Kulkarni
“Most of the fathers I know express love by staying awake longer than they should. I wanted to make a film where that love is not a sacrifice but a rehearsal — clumsy, repeated, and eventually in rhythm.”
A closer look
Stills · A Small Sun
Credits
- Director
- Rohan Kulkarni
- Writer
- Aisha Menon
- Producer
- Meera Iyer
- Cinematographer
- Nayantara Bose
- Editor
- Arjun Das
- Sound Designer
- Faisal Khan
- Production Designer
- Tara Pinto
- Music
- Anoushka Rao
- Prakash
- Vikram Joshi
- Naina
- Ira Sheikh
Details
- Language
- Hindi
- Runtime
- 15 min
- Format
- Digital · 2K · 1.66:1
- Status
- On the circuit
- Country
- India