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★
Directed by: Mohan Singh Gaharwar
Written by: Mohan Singh Gaharwar
Starring: Chirag Mandawaria, Sadgee Shrivastava
Short Film Review by: Philip Giordano
Charger - A Love Story Movie Review
A film about a smartphone bringing a couple together. Shot on a smartphone.
Mohan Singh Gaharwar’s ‘Charger’ is quirky, melodic, dips in and out of reality, and ultimately chronicles the beginning of a budding relationship. The nearly 15-minute short film begins without sync sound, just pure soundtrack. A repetitious club song, set to visuals of a guy alone in various locations. As the film progresses we see that we are in a world where people don’t utilize their voices to speak, instead, they communicate through text message or physically writing with pen and paper. This is not a futuristic sci-fi world à la Black Mirror, instead, it uses this gimmick as a moment of connection when the main character meets a girl who can also communicate without pen and paper. Seemingly the two of them are the only ones that can speak with their words. But we’ll get back to that.
The main character meets our girl at a bar and later she comes to his door and asks for a cell phone charger. He quickly passes it to her. Mesmerized by her beauty or seemingly searching for connection, he quickly hands it over. This routine continues on and on and until as said earlier, they both discover how alike they are. At the climax of the film, we find out that the girl uses an iPhone and the entire time he was giving her an android charger. She came back because she liked him…not because of the charger. This is a breath of fresh air in our current climate because cell phones and technology are often symbols of disconnection, which is justified (they’re destroying us all!!!!), but hearing a new perspective is always refreshing.
Overall, the film's technical execution has glitches in editing, subtitles, clean sound, lighting, and narrative storytelling, but what makes it unique is its endearing heartbeat pulsing through every frame. This is not a perfect film, it could easily be half the run time, but it was made with love. The comments are overwhelmingly positive and this makes sense because you can feel the filmmaker's passion pulsating through the lens.
It’s clear this is a filmmaker who is out there not just talking but doing. In an era where top filmmakers always say the same advice “anyone can make a film, you can do it with your phone now,” Mohan Singh Gaharwar and his collective ‘Rather Other Guys’ are actually doing it! Power to them and their independent spirit!
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