Watch: This short film starring Ganesha fully gets the clash between traditions and the daily grind
'Dance of Ganesha' tells the story of a welder who dances as the elephant-headed god in his free time.
Of all the things that Ganesha idols depict the god doing, dancing might be the most prominent. In 2011, writer and filmmaker Bikas Mishra, whose award-winning film Chauranga premiered in 2015, released Dance of Ganesha, a 13-minute short film with no dialogue.
The main character in the film is caught between two worlds. By day he works as a welder to support his family. By night, he dons headgear that turns him into the god Ganesha, whereupon he dances for his neighbours, in continuance with family tradition. But like most folk practitioners, he is faced with a difficult choice between preserving a tradition and continuing with his daily wage job.
The absence of any kind of interaction between the characters means we are unable to decipher what is going on in his mind. Instead, the audience is left with a haunting closing shot, with uncertainty writ large.