Watch: Manoj Bajpayee in the short film 'Taandav' will make you smile

Tāṇḍava (ताण्डव) or Tāṇḍava nṛtya (ताण्डव नृत्य) is a divine dance performed by the Hindu god Shiva. As I watched through the first few minutes of the short Taandav, starring Manoj Bajpai, I wondered what the makers thought, when they named a film that stars a constable. And then, it made sense; almost bringing a tiny little smile on my face. Yes, that’s the magic of the subtlety offered in this 11 minutes long short film. [caption id=“attachment_2619854” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Manoj Bajpayee in Taandav. Image from Youtube.[/caption] Taandav has crossed over 100 thousand views on Youtube and continues to bring smiles on peoples faces. One of the reasons for this is that it has the most common problems a police constable would face, in the most usual setting of the world that we live in. It is this simplicity that adds to its slice of life like tone. A track rehashed by Nucleya features in the movie and it’s quite aptly chosen, although the thrill caused in between the movie had me wondering if going to that edge to portray a character’s dilemma, was actually needed? Nonetheless, I’m going to go back and replay the movie, to smile through its beautiful and simple screenplay and admire the brilliance that is called Manoj Bajpayee. Taandav begins with montages of people dancing to Visarjan tracks, to what seems like a Ganpati Visarjan procession, while a constable looks on. The films then moves towards the constable, impeccably played by Manoj Bajpai, at a school, trying to assimilate the fact that he will have to pay a donation to get his daughter admitted. This is intercut with a Police’s find from a loot. Now, the beauty of Taandav lies in its treatment and direction more than anything. Devashish Makhija is a gem, and his earlier short films like El’aychi and Agli bar are equally inspiring. Taandav, though, is Manoj Bajpayee’s win. Watch the short film here: