The Alliance Francaise de Bangalore conducted Shamiana, a short-film festival, recently.

This programme showcased various short plays in the genre of comedy by Indian and foreign film-makers.

The first play screened was ‘My Greatest Day Ever’, which was directed by Mark Belly. This eight-minute-long story was about a boy called Scott, who loses his lucky sock on the morning of the football grand final.

He decides to stay on the substitute’s bench as long as possible to avoid bringing back luck to his team.

When one of his team members doesn’t make it to the final, Scotty battles all his nerves and superstitions and saves the game for the team.

The next play was directed by Swarup Sawanur. It was a three-minute humourous take on road rage — a common occurrence in India.

“Every month, we have a new theme. This month we chose comedy. We always make sure that the plays chosen are a mix of Indian and foreign, amateur and award-winning directors,” said Ronald Paul, the host of Shamiana.

This programme also offered an animation film, directed by Mehdi and his team.  Set in Paris, this five-minute play tells the story of Hobo, a local, who is on the streets looking for food.

‘The Interview’, a short play from the USA, was the funniest one. People enjoyed this drama the most and couldn’t stop laughing.

The next play, called ‘Guest Appearance’, was directed by Vayu Arvind Darvesh. It was about a robber who comes to ransack a house.

While he is busy collecting valuable items, he has an unexpected guest in the form of a saleswoman.

When she finds out that there is nobody in the house except him, she orders him to make tea for her as she is tired.  When the robber goes to the kitchen to make tea, she takes the opportunity and takes all the items packed up by him and flees.

The next play was a futuristic comedy, which talks about what life would be like a few decades from now if everything got computerised. It is called ‘Hot n Fast’, directed by Rajinder Singh Puller.

The last play featured was Ek Tha Main. It gave the audience moments to ponder and a few good laughs as well.