Tigmanshu Dhulia says ‘Short films energise artists’ creative juices’ at MAMI Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films

Bollywood director Tigmanshu Dhulia and a poster (left) of his short film 'The Promise', starring Jim Sarbh and Priyamani, that premiered at Royal Stag Barrel Selects Large Short Films at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024.

Director Tigmanshu Dhulia admits that while he’s made short films before never a 10-minute film. The Promise, starring Jim Sarbh and Priyamani, is one of the two Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films original shorts this year along with Lakshmi R Iyer’s Aloo Bhujia, produced by Gul Panag, that premiered at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. MAMI and Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films have been partnering at the festival for some years now. In The Promise, a former bartender, George Batra, has a chance meeting with Chitra, who walks into his life like a gust of wind. She made him make a promise to her, that they would meet at the same Uncle Frank’s Bar after 20 years, where they had first met, fell in love and parted. He returns and is waiting to reunite with his lost love only to  discover what she has left behind. The promise is kept. There's an instant chemistry between Sarbh and Priyamani, like summertime lovers, as the frames flits between sepia, black-and-white and colour to evince the then and now.

Excerpts from an interview:

Priyamani in a still from 'The Promise'.

You have two films premiering at MAMI this year. The Gala Premiere of feature Ghamaasan, a cop-dacoit chase movie, starring Pratik Gandhi and Arshad Warsi, and the short The Promise. Which format do you enjoy more: short or feature and what can you do in a short film that you can’t in a feature film? 

This is the first time that I’m directing a 10-minute film. I’ve done short films, but they were much longer 45-50 minutes. That’s before I started making feature films. This is the first time I’m doing it. I mean, I’m like a newcomer [here], absolutely. So, there is a huge difference. You have to be very minimalistic. I think short films energise your creative juices. You have to convey your thoughts in a very short time, and that’s a big challenge. So, it shouldn’t be too verbose. It should be more cinematic. And all the tools you use in a visual medium can be used really well in a short film.

What was the idea behind casting actors Jim Sarbh and Priyamani? 

It was not like I had a big photo session with them, got them together, or saw them together. Nothing of that sort. I mean, for that I have done enough work to understand what works! And the end product turned out very well.

In The Promise, the concept of everlasting romantic love and the keeping of promises harks back to an older time. Do you think your story will speak to Gen Z, for whom the idea of love has changed, as relationships are increasingly becoming short-lived and non-monogamous?

Yes, it would speak to Gen-Z like it speaks to any other generation.

Jim Sarbh in a still from 'The Promise'.

Hindi films and film stars, especially from the ’70s and ’80s, remain memorable because of their iconic dialogues. As someone who’s been a dialogue writer (Dil Se..., 1998), why has dialoguebaazi almost vanished from Hindi films now? And what is the magic masala to bring Hindi film audiences back into the theatres?

I think in earlier times, during the ’70s, the dialoguebaazi was enjoyable because the writers were educated people. They were literary people. Also, most of the work was done for literature and not for films. So, like Wajahat Mirza who wrote so many films like Gunga Jumna (1961), Mughal-E-Azam (1960) and Mother India (1957), they used to have great dialoguebaazi, because he was a connoisseur of literature. But dialogue writing is a skill. It needs time to develop.