Deepak Dobriyal and Sadiya Siddiqui-starrer Bombay Summer to be part of Bandra Film Festival

Deepak Dobriyal and Sadiya Siddiqui's 12-minute short film Bombay Summer is set to be streamed on the YouTube channel of the Bandra Film Festival (BFF) on 28th July.

Directed by Raaghav Dar, in his days at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune in 2003, the film is a collage of the lives of two ordinary people living in the slums of Bombay, which are reconstructed by the use of fictitious documentary interviews as we spy on their last moments together. The short won a BAFTA (Honorable Mention) at Aspen Shorts Fest.

Dar's two other films Bamboo Boys and Ship of Fools, are also part of the festival. Bamboo Boys is an uplifting short film set in Nagaland and chronicles the struggles of a young Indian entrepreneur who sets out to solve climate change in his small village in the most simple and humbling way.

Ship of Fools stars Amit Tiwari Anand, Madhuchhanda Bhowmik and Sourabh Bhowmik. The short film revolves around a sailboat transporting three supposedly dangerous and deranged prisoners to a penal institution and sees a mutiny in the middle of the ocean.

Dar is very excited to collaborate with Bandra Film Festival. While the films screening here, have strong social messages, the aim is to begin meaningful conversations which are the starting point of change, it is therefore equally important to place these films on relevant platforms. Indie films and non-main stream content struggle for a showcase and I’m glad that Bandra Film Festival has taken this gigantic initiative which has been sorely missing in this country”.

Dobriyal called Bombay Sumer a must-watch. The acclaimed actor said, "Raaghav’s creation of this noir short not only pushed my abilities as an actor but also the audience’s perception of new age cinema in many ways. It’s a rare opportunity to be a part of something so socially relevant and I’m glad it has bagged a showcase opportunity with Bandra Film Festival. We need more such platforms and films to really bring about a significant change”.

Siddiqui is heartened to see the film making it to the Bandra Film Festival. "We need more and more people watching these kinds of films. It was a pleasure to be a part of this project and now it is going places, I’m even more thrilled. I believe Bandra Film Festival is a fabulous initiative with a growing audience base, I would like to urge people to watch our film," she said.