Rating – 3/5

Cast – Prajakta Koli, Yashpal Sharma

Director – Taran Dudeja

Asha (played by Prajakta Koli), just like her name is full of hope. She hopes to pull herself out of prejudices, at least for some time. But from the beginning we see a restlessness in her, her eyes searching for something – individualism maybe, or longing for a sense of self.

And when she hears of the announcement- “Girls required for school handball team!”, those eyes finally get stuck and glow as if she found something she has been searching for quite a while.

Why does a school topper like Asha suddenly show a keen interest in a sports game that she has never been a part of? Why does she keep on insisting her coach to keep her in the team despite being proven unfit for the game? Because insignificant dreams are still dreams!

It is this simple message that makes this beautiful “short” (pun intended) film worth mentioning. The short film puts ahead a simple thought which never got a representation as beautiful and relevant as this one.

Asha is not excited about scoring the highest once again. Her expression says that she is bored of the routine “topper” thing and no, she isn’t bragging or showing off about being a topper. And now she craves for something different and exciting, something she hasn’t done before.

Being unconventional is a privilege in Asha’s case. She is not a rebel who is in a constant fight with her parents and society or someone who speaks up on issues of womanhood in this country. She is aware of her limitations as a girl living in a village in Haryana but still finds ways to educate and inform herself so that she could step a bit closer to her “insignificant dream”.

Asha echoes the freedom of choice that every person probably stuck in a prejudiced society yearn for. She does this with innocence and passion and that is why we fall in love with her instantly. It is amazing to watch Prajakta Koli getting into the soul of our Asha. It is her eyes that do all the speaking, may it be an unsettling desire to do something out of her comfort zone or a mystery in her silence when questioned why she is so adamant to play for the team, Asha’s eyes do all the talking.

Prajakta was so convincing as a village girl and her Hariyanvi slang did not sound fake or pretentious.

It is hard to imagine anyone else as Asha after seeing a wonderful debut by the much-celebrated YouTuber Prajakta Koli (@mostlysane). No wonder why she has such a huge fanbase. She is indeed a spectacular actor. Though still confined to YouTube, she did bring out the actor in her through Khayali Pulao. With some more exciting projects on the list, let’s see how she amazes us with her performance

Yashpal Sharma also does a wonderful job as Asha’s handball coach. Without giving away too much, Yashpal Sharma brilliantly communicates a sense of desperation to do something worthwhile by making the girls’ handball team win. But unfortunately, the team didn’t make it and his dream ended up remaining just a dream.

The short film was released on July 12th on Prajakta Koli’s YouTube channel.