'Playing Priya': More an audition for Sunidhi Chauhan's acting skills

"Playing Priya", a short film, directed by Arif Ali, deserves two stars. It is more an audition for singer Sunidhi Chauhan's acting abilities than a film to savour and enjoy.

Ali's second film (the first was the interesting feature "Lekar Hum Deewana Dil") ends even before it begins properly.

Either he was in a hurry to wrap up what's at best a terror teaser -- or Sunidhi, who plays a restless housewife on the prowl in her home -- Urmila Matondkar in "Kaun" and Radhika Apte recently in "Phobia" conveyed the same sense of interrupted ennui -- when husband and children take off for out-of-town.

Sunidhi has a certain striking screen presence. And yes, she gets to hum for a few seconds. But not enough. There is not enough of anything in this short film. The horror element shows up briefly at the end when Sunidhi jumps out of the closet, and before we get a chance to be shocked, the end credits begin leaving us with a sense of snatched suspense.

On the plus side, the few minutes of playing time offers a warm overview of a housewife's alone-time as she considers guilty pleasures such a digging into that tempting chocolate cake in the fridge... Or how about just ignoring that call from her husband's colleague?

If only the short film had been longer. We would certainly like to see more of Sunidhi on screen.

--IANS

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