When the lines blur

KALYANI JHA | NT BUZZ

A five-minute short film made by young filmmaker Sharvi Dhond, has brought accolades by winning won Best Short Film on Mental Health and Best Women-Centric Film at the Indus Grand International Awards 2026, in Mumbai.

Dhond has always been interested in scriptwriting. A previous project ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, written by her was earlier a part of the International Film Festival of India.

“It was never my plan to get into direction. But when I was introduced to filmmaking back in college, I felt I should give it a shot instead of just writing scripts for someone else,” she says.

Her debut directorial ‘Sherine’s Intermission’ focuses on how the technique of method acting adopted by actors can affect their mental health.

“It is about an actress who to hone her craft, decides to get into method acting. However, one of the characters that she has to essay is of a dark mysterious woman called Alina. While preparing for this role, the actress falls into a kind of trance, and it begins to show in her work and with time she is unable to work anymore,” explains Dhond, who was inspired by the sad story of Heath Ledger who played the character of Joker in the film ‘Dark Knight’, and was allegedly personally affected by it, resulting in his death. “I wanted to make something unique that hadn’t been shown in many films,” she says, adding that she chose to give the film a positive ending so that the audience understands that even when mental health is suffering there is a chance for things to change for

the better.

Dhond, who works in digital marketing, has also played a small part in the film apart from writing the script. And she is grateful to the editor of the film Poonam Bind for the help rendered. Delighted with her recent win, Dhond states that she hopes to take the film to more film festivals.