Issued: 11/Nov/2021, NDTV. Online Edition. Mumbai.
The wait for an Academy Award might just end for India as Savita Singh’s ‘Sonsi’ (Shadow Bird),
produced by ‘Aarya’ actor Vikas Kumar, is running the race for Oscars’ 2022.
The short film became an Oscar Qualifier after winning ‘Best Film’ at the Bengaluru International
Short Film Festival, 2021.
At the recently held 67th National Awards, ‘Sonsi’ won ‘Best Cinematography’ (Non-Feature
category). Earlier, it was declared ‘Best Short Film’ at Lady Filmmakers Festival, Beverly Hills.
Grateful about being selected for the Oscars consideration, Vikas said, “Not everyone can apply
for Oscars. You can only submit your short film if it has won at an Oscar Qualifying festival. Just
last week we received confirmation from The Academy that our film has been successfully
entered for Oscars consideration. We’re obviously thrilled!”
“At Khan and Kumar, we believe in telling stories where we see ‘the extraordinary in the
ordinary’. ‘Sonsi’ is our debut film. The response it has got is a huge encouragement. We are
currently working on two projects – a documentary on an annual sporting event held in a village
on the border of UP and Bihar, and a short film that is based quite literally, out of this world,” he
added.
The 26-minute experimental film revolves around an eight-year-old girl, Nadi (Aarohi
Radhakrishnan), her dream-etched shadow-bird, and the mysterious village time-keeper
(Jameel Khan).
‘Sonsi’ (Shadow Bird) has been produced by actor Vikas Kumar and his childhood friend,
tech-entrepreneur Sharib Khan under their banner, ‘Khan and Kumar Media Pvt Ltd’.
National Award-winning cinematographer, Savita Singh, made her debut as a director with this
short film.