These amazing stories of the lockdown capture deep human tendencies and dive into complex emotions and philosophies. These perfectly executed shorts will make you introspect, empathize, cry and smile, all at the same time! And, the performance by the artists in the cast is unmissable.

Unpaused is a franchise of Amazon Prime Video having stories revolving around the lockdown. The 2020 Unpaused was an anthology film and had stories of the first wave of the lockdown and how various people were affected differently. Following the same theme and diving deeper into complex philosophies and human tendencies, Unpaused: Naya Safar takes you through a terrifying yet a heart-warming ride against the backdrop of the wave 2 of the pandemic.

This time, Unpaused has been released as a series consisting of 5 episode of average 30 minutes each while each episode is an independent short film with a separate storyline. All these shorts are strung together by one single theme, the pandemic. 

The first short titled ‘The Couple’, is a heart-warming story of a modern metropolitan couple who is suddenly hit by lay-offs at workplace. This story will be relatable to a lot as it draws such an accurate picture of the WFH life and modern relationship issues. Priyanshu Painyuli and Shreya Dhanwanthary deliver such fresh and organic performances. It is a delight to see them together. Priyanshu is by far one of the most underrated gems that the industry has. More of him on screen, please!

The second short, which also my personal favourite, titled ‘War Room’ starring Geetanjali Kulkarni is a brilliant psychological thriller and such a well-executed story. Set in the CoViD war room, this film portrays such a real picture of the struggles and stress the war room employees faced. This is topped with a psychological thriller plot wherein the protagonist faces a personal dilemma. Geetanjali Kulkarni is an artist with the ability to seep in the character’s skin. You feel every inch of emotion the character is going through. The research of the makers is detailed which is apparent from the production design. The atmosphere, the tension is so well built. Every scene has been so artfully shot as well. Kudos to the director- Ayyapa KM and the makers. Such a complicated story and in just under 30 minutes. Two more things that are noteworthy and took me- the performances of the secondary characters and the use of the ‘Pen’ metaphor. Do look out for these.

The third short titled ‘Teen Tigada’ is a story of three thieves who get trapped in a warehouse owing to the lockdown. All of the three have separate motivations and different lives to go back to. A fantastic portrayal of human tendencies and bonding lies in this tale. The performances again are brilliant.

The fourth and the sweetest, ‘Gond Ke Laddo’ is the story of a mother who wants to catch up with the online world and send laddoos to her daughter while parallelly, the job of a delivery executive is at stake if he isn’t able to achieve a five-star delivery. These two plots intersect to bring this heartfelt story. The best part about this short is the representation of mothers in tier two towns trying to learn and catch-up with the online world. The director, Shikha Makan is so aptly able to bring this on screen.

And the last short, ‘Vaikunth’ by the National Award-Winning Marathi writer-director, Nagraj Manjule of Sairat fame who also plays the protagonist in this. And he is such a fine actor as well. This short is about the life of a crematorium worker who had the job to cremate the bodies of people who died of CoViD. It is set against the backdrop of wave 2, when over a thousand deaths were being reported each day and even the crematoriums didn’t have enough capacity for the dead. Horrifying and chilling. Nagraj is able to not only perform excellently but also build such a great amount of tension and intense atmosphere with heavy vibes. Just too good!

On the whole, there is not a single short film which can be disliked or criticized. One of the best anthologies that I’ve come across. Some stories are heavy, some are delightful but every story in this series is fulfilling for sure. We were all in a different boat during the lockdown, we all have our experiences, this series is an ode to that. It is also an inspirational watch as every story gives out a message- of HOPE and of better times! Do watch!  

You can watch the trailer here: