Ranbir Kapoor’s first ever short film Karma released online by Bandra Film Festival

Ranbir Kapoor’s very first short film, Karma, for which he shot as a film student in 2004, was released today on the YouTube channel of the Bandra Film Festival.

The short is directed by Abhay Chopra, grandson of the late producer-director BR Chopra, and deals with the subject of capital punishment.

Karma tells the story of a jailer who has to execute his own son. Karma also stars Sharat Saxena, Milind Joshi and Sushovan Banerjee.

Abhay Chopra said in a statement, “The year I made this film, capital punishment was part of every prime-time debate and churned out scores of opinion pieces and cover stories." That was the year Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged for the rape and murder of a schoolgirl. While the film is fiction, it was inspired by reality.

He added, “If you notice carefully, the debate on capital punishment did not get over with the Dhananjoy case. Every crime that gets the national media’s attention almost always rakes up this topic.”

On working with Kapoor, he said, “I have fond memories of directing Ranbir Kapoor. He had not even started his career back then. [He is] such an effortless actor. Acting really runs through his veins.

"Sharat Saxena has done a phenomenal job in the film and [has] such a powerful screen presence. I’m glad I could tell this story and that it is getting an extended viewership at the Bandra festival.”