WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW
First, the Recap:
Oh, what wonders do we manage to drum up in our heads when there are no actual facts or complete contexts to place a certain circumstance within? Thanks to a world where supposition seems to be the name of the game FAR too often, the visualization we gather on the surface becomes the “new norm” we can ALWAYS trust in then–right?? For a young, attractive secretary (Prageeyaa Khana), a day has come where she must accompany her boss (Siraj Huda) on an out-of-office excursion, causing her to question many things with a best friend (Hannah Bhavsar) and about the handsome young man (Vishnu Shriram) her boss attends to during the outing. Whatever shall she surmise?
Next, my Mind:
The perceived worries of workplace-related harassment, potential inappropriate interactions, the power of the mind’s meandering imagination, too easily (even when innocently and unintentionally) manipulated assumptions, and just plain lack of any realistically established frame of reference are some of the primary thematic facets delved into through this playfully mischievous 4-minute short film from writer/director Siraj Huda and associate producer/actor Vishnu Shriram that made its WORLD PREMIERE November 19th at the inaugural 2022 Long Island South Asian Film Festival hosted by Jingo Media’s Jitin Hingorani, actor Harbinder Singh, and festival artistic director Ambica Dev. It prompts me yet again to express how wonderfully satisfied and continuously astonished this critic is at the ability of filmmakers to transform such a brief set of moments in time and create something that’s so impeccably entertaining and engaging so as to leave a lasting impression on you as the viewer while also delivering a deeply relevant message.
That latter part of the previous statement IS truly accomplished here, in spite of such an abbreviated format, through a narrative that finds a young secretary having to maintain her sense of professional decorum while being virtually bombarded in her own mind about what the intentions and meanings are behind an out-of-office meeting with her older boss and the subsequent circumstances she’s then “witness” to while with him. Without any actual audibly spoken dialogue (other than a quick mid-credits instance that’s a hoot!) to guide us, this journey down the slippery slope that is the world of conjecture is executed via imagery and text-messaging/conversational bubbles only, and is as decidedly witty as it is SO TRUE in that we as people are blatantly influenced by outside factors and our own self-imposed notions about things because of it that’s it’s simply too easy to make judgements about situations on the fly (and then in ERROR) instead of having the willingness to logically ascertain the reality being assessed.
Additionally, even IF we DO choose to finally exercise common sense, even when uncomfortable about it, and just ASK someone else to PROVIDE explanation to what we’re curious about, there’s absolutely NO guarantee it will make the answer or overall discovery any easier to swallow, much less the possible “shock and awe” of it for us, having been the ones to ASSUME to begin with. This is all given screen time with comically intelligent execution, leading us up to a highly gratifying finale that puts the perfect jocular cherry on top of the events depicted. Also, the manner in which the film is shot so great aids in manifesting the necessary atmosphere the narrative requires to be effective, allowing us to see precisely what we need to understand why the characters are behaving like they are, but not enough to be SURE without question WHAT is transpiring, at least that’s how it was for me. Even if by chance you feel you DO “figure it out” along the way, it doesn’t take away a single bit of the film’s excellently delivered story or moral.
I have had the privilege of knowing Huda for many years now thanks to multiple opportunities to attend Hingorani’s SAFF brand film festivals a myriad of times (THANK YOU!!), and can honestly say I have constantly enjoyed his work, including his appearances in 2019’s “Pagg” and “Freak“, which showcase the actor exercising his chops in both comedic and dramatic ranges. Here, it is the former that comes out overall, even if in more subtle ways, through his role as The Boss, the leader of his company who chooses to take his young secretary with him on a business lunch outside the office, much to her growing concern about what exactly his intentions might be. As he goes about his business, the situation alters unexpectedly (for her) and causes a further avalanche of speculation that he ultimately must answer for–in a fantastically, wryly humorous way! It’s adeptly portrayed by Huda as he needs to rely solely on body language and facial expression to illustrate what is happening, and it’s masterfully done to excellent impact and objective here.
But, let’s not at ALL take anything away from the lovely scene stealer in many cases throughout the film, Khana in her role as The Secretary, a vibrant but now paranoid young woman who works for The Boss and is busily expressing the growing concerns she has about his asking her to go outside the office for a meeting, trying to decide what his ideas are in doing so. Through harried (but fun and perfectly reasonable) texts to her best friend as a sounding board, the ideas swirl around and only escalate when the situation takes an unanticipated turn. How she then begins to try and further investigate things makes it a comedy of errors and suspicion, capped off by a reveal that blows her mind. It’s such a charming mix of genuine innocence, unsurprising worry and sense of vulnerability, plus an utterly hilarious OVERthinking of events that is depicted, and Khana flows with it so naturally and believably throughout, making it the relatable, accessible story it is, a credit to the actress for just doing it right, straightforward, and well.
The primary supporting turns arrive from Shriram as The Young Man, who plays a pivotal role in HOW everything ends up going down in the film’s second and third acts, and Bhavsar as The Best Friend, who actually tries to be the voice of reason to her pal’s beleaguered train of thought as the events at hand are expressed through their consistent texting. So in total, with underlying themes that do address the awkward realities of younger/older relationships of any sort and the actualities of workplace conduct, “Boss” is otherwise a total comedic exploration of perceptions, misconceptions, imagination run amok, and the influence of popular culture through social media and other sources we imbibe information from these days that make WHAT we see so multi-dimensional–unfortunately not always in many GOOD ways. After all, how many times do we then discover the one foundational fact about not more rationally deciding on our OWN and WITH our OWN mind what is happening around us–we were WRONG.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
