'In Her Place'

 'In Her Place' is based on a real incident that took place in Chile in 1955. A popular Chilean author, commits a crime of passion and is awarded a controversial minimal three-year sentence and then a presidential pardon before it is served.

The film explores the growing fascination of Mercedes, the secretary to a senior judge - with the glamorous killer on trial. The killer's apartment is everything Mercedes' own shabby home is not: it is spacious, beautiful and, most alluringly 'silent'. Mercedes makes repeat visits: at first, to water the plants, but later, to luxuriate in the killer's glamorous lifestyle — she reads her books, dresses in her expensive clothes, cooks meals in her swanky kitchen — the apartment becomes a refuge from Mercedes' own 'imperfect' life. Mercedes’ obsession remains under control; her double life has no significant consequences. However, her sorrow when it falls apart as the killer receives presidential pardon, is palpable at the end.

Mercedes gets a 'Room of her Own' where she can be, at least temporarily, the independent, empowered woman she perhaps wanted to be ...

'Afwaah' - Rumour

 Director Sudhir Mishra's film shows how 'Afwaah' (Rumour) spirals out of control when social media is cunningly manipulated by the rich and mighty to create false narratives for political gains.

Set in Sawalpur, a small town in Rajasthan, the film explores how and why rumour mills operate in the age of easy internet access. It tells a cautionary tale by focusing on an unsuspecting victim of intolerance as well as the perpetrators - and beneficiaries - of divisive politics. Gradually, the film transforms itself into a commentary on the contemporary political scenario, the rising vigilantism in the name of cow and love jihad and the use of social media as a political weapon.

'Afwaah' is a relatable political film that makes us aware that we should not blindly believe all that we read online ...