Happy Birthday Mummyji is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language drama short film written and directed by Shefali Shah, who stars as the single character in the film, and produced by Sunshine Pictures.
| Happy Birthday Mummyji | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Shefali Shah |
| Written by | Shefali Shah |
| Produced by | Lalit Prem Sharma |
| Starring | Shefali Shah |
| Cinematography | Eeshit Narain |
| Edited by | Antara Lahiri |
| Music by | Prasad S. |
| Distributed by | Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 14 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
The story of a woman who is recognised by her relationships with other people, preparing a birthday party.
In 2020, Shah decided to experiment with writing and directing in two self-starring COVID-19-based short films, Someday and Happy Birthday Mummyji.[1][2] In Someday, which marked her directorial debut, she played a frontline healthcare worker who returns home for a seven-day quarantine due to the pandemic and spends time interacting through a door with her elderly mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.[3] Shah wrote the script of Happy Birthday Mummy Ji drawing upon her own life experiences and believed her central character in it "represents all the women you know".[2]
A single-character film,[4] the film addresses themes of loneliness, female desire. Shah said about the film: "I believe it is a story from my life, my friends, my mom’s. It is perhaps the need to tell that we have reached a point of desperation and would just like to let go."[5]
The film was released on 23 July 2021 by Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films.[5]
The film opened to positive reviews and attracted some notice for a masturbation scene played by Shah.[6][7]