Saqib Saleem‘s ‘Aamad’ which deals with the need to break gender stereotypes through an emotional tale woven around his and Arif Zakaria’s characters, has just released on digital platform. The film is produced and released by Terribly Tiny Talkies and is directed by Neeraj Udhwani.
The short film is about an emotional yet strained relationship between a father and his son. The film explores a story about a father who is a Kathak dancer and how his son is embarrassed of his father’s art.
“It’s a story that when I read it I knew I wanted to do. It was only later I realised Kathak wouldn’t be easy but we put in a week to try and do it to the best of our abilities. The simplicity of the story is what made me take on this short film”, said Saleem in a statement.
The story begins with the return of Saqib Saleem as Abhay to see his father on his deathbed. The return also proves a nostalgic return to the past when Abhay, a young teenager had rebelled against his father’s wishes to teach him Kathak. While his father considered the art a graceful work, Abhay refuses to learn fearing that his friends make fun about learning a ‘girlish’ dance. He refuses to even apologise for breaking his father’s heart. However, years later he regrets and due to unforeseen situation of his father being in a critical condition, he comes back and does that one final performance for the love of the art for his father.
“Aamad is at its essence a father-son story. Most boys, during their teenage years, have a strained relationship with their father. I remember I had one. But when we grow up, we look back and realise how much our immature behaviour must have hurt our parents. Though we seldom apologise. Aamad is the story of a son apologising to his father and correcting the mistake of his boyhood before it gets too late,” Director Neeraj Udhwani said in a statement.
Watch the film here: