This Gurgaon duo is showing the dark side of the Millennium City through a short film

Gurugram, a film set in Gurgaon, is a revenge drama based on crimes against women by a Gurgaon based production house.

Gurgaon is one of the fastest growing cities of India. Along its developing infrastructure, the city’s crime rate also grabs eyeballs every now and then. With this disturbing thought, a duo from the Millennium City — Harsh Vardhan Wig and Ishan Piplani — made a short film Gurugram — a 45- minute revenge drama based on crimes against women. With a web series and five short films to their credit, of which, one film, The Final Draft, has also been screened at the Cannes Short Film Festival, the pair has taken inspiration from real-life incidents for the narrative of the film.

“Gurgaon is one of the fastest growing cities of India. It’s growing at a rapid pace, but it also has a dark side which we are aware of and hear every day but we often forget about it. In the past too, we have shot a few videos in Gurgaon highlighting the nightlife and infrastructure of the city”

“Through the film, we wanted to bring the issue of crime against women in the city to the forefront. Gurgaon is growing at a rapid pace, but it also has a dark side, which we tend to ignore. In the past, we’ve shot videos of Gurgaon highlighting the nightlife and the beautiful infrastructure. But the comments that we received from common public were totally opposite. People wanted us to highlight safety issues in our films. From a gang war at MG road to frequent instances of eve teasing, rape and murder, unfortunately these have become part and parcel of a few spots in Gurgaon now,” says Harsh, who is the actor- producer of the film.

Another still from the short feature film titled Gurugram.

21-year-old Ishan, who also co-directed the film, says though the story revolves around an incident of rape, murder and extortion, it is presented in the genre of suspense. “It’s a revenge drama that revolves around women, a cop, a politician and a goon. To maintain the authenticity, the film has been shot in and around Gurgaon, in places such as the Phase 1 underpass, Sector 29, and a police station in Faridabad,” says Ishan, who got interested in filmmaking after creating music videos with a band.

With this film, the makers want to send out a message. Harsh says,“Through our film, we want to spread the message that women should not be taken for granted. If she decides to fight back, there’s no stopping her. We want our city to be safe for women.”