How Was The Date? 

Produced by The Mostly Harmless Studio, 2021

25 min / English, Marathi, Hindi / Fiction

Co- Producer - Director - Editor

Synopsis: 

On the eternal quest for love, even a deadly pandemic doesn’t stop MEGHA (28) from deciding to go on a date with SUYASH (32) – someone she barely knows, but who seems to have the ‘right credentials.’ Suyash’s personality, his upbringing and his ideals related to love and marriage begin to unravel as they drive through the city, not too late at night, trying to find safe pockets to drink and smoke, undisturbed by post-lockdown rules and cops. Afterall, what else can one do on a ‘Pandate?’

And what does one do after such a date? Tell your best friend all about it, of course.

The year is 2020 and so is hindsight. Megha and AYESHA (30) combine their overthinking powers to describe, add footnotes, sidebars, judgements and defences, intercut with the actual date as it progresses. In a critical analysis of a date - a gamble/ a chance at love - the two women discuss everything except love around a carrom table, and attempt to unpack how the date actually was.

Shot on the empty streets of Pune city, immediately after the world’s largest lockdown, ‘How was the Date?’ is both a personal experience and a wider reflection of gender dynamics in contemporary, urban, upper class India.

Film Festivals:

• Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF), Bengaluru, 2022

(Winner Runners up, Best Short Film)

• IDSFFK, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 2022, 

• Smita Patil International Film Festival, Pune, 2022, 

• Beyond Borders Feminist Film Festival, New Delhi, 2022