Karma review: Ranbir Kapoor’s debut short film is an insipid father-and-son saga

Star actor Ranbir Kapoor’s debut short film, Karma, was made in 2004, way before his big Hindi cinema debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya (2007). Made by Abhay Chopra, BR Chopra's grandson, the film humanizes capital punishment, exploring the morality of state-sanctioned execution.

Although the story is fictional, it was inspired by the debates around capital punishment in the country around the time, which were sparked by the case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was the first person to be judicially executed in the country in the 21st century for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, Hetal Parekh. 

In the short film, Sharat Saxena plays a jailer who has overseen 250 executions in his 25-year-long career. However, it is the last execution that takes a heavy toll on him and makes him question the ethics of capital punishment. This internal turmoil takes place when he finds that in his new posting as head jailer, he has to oversee the execution of his own son (Kapoor).

Although the jailer is determined to perform his duty with the utmost level of dedication, his resolve starts to falter when his son tells him about the events that transpired which led him to be deemed a murderer. Caught between his professional responsibility and his emotions as a father, the jailer finds himself in a dilemma.

The film tries to capture the complexities of capital punishment and address the debates around it. However, it fails to convey the charge of emotion between the father and son. An unconvincing climax and stilted dialogues only exacerbate the problem. One almost feels like the theme and its execution required more time than the short film format provides as the transformation in both father and son seems feeble.   
 
Kapoor is fresh to the craft and it shows. He is rather wet behind the ears and is unable to convey the vulnerability and later resolve of the character convincingly. Saxena, on the other hand, seems wasted, as he channels his screen presence effectively but tries to rescue a narrative that needs more thought. 

The film has been shared on YouTube by the Bandra Film Festival in the ‘Gems from the Past’ category.