Habba Haridina Suggi Shivaratri: Raj B Shetty presents a tragic tale of friendship in the times of Covid

Writer-director Naveen Tejaswi’s short film Habba Haridina Suggi Shivaratri is all of 23 minutes long, but manages to present a beautiful tale of friendship that sadly ends with a tragic twist. Set during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the story of Habba Haridina Suggi Shivaratri unfolds in a village that’s just been made aware of the government’s ‘plan’ to disinfect the air and rid the country of the Covid virus by spraying ‘medicine’ from an aircraft.

According to the Whatsapp University message, everyone was to remain indoors when the planes pass overhead. Two boys – one local and another who’s come from Bengaluru to spend the summer vacation in the ooru – decide to disregard this and roam around in the forest near the lake. Despite the glaring difference in socio-economic backgrounds of the lads, the duo has fun running around in the ‘wild’, stealing and eating mangoes from a private property, trying to catch fish at the shallow end of the lake and more. What happens thereafter forms the tragic crux of this tale.

The best part of Habba Haridina Suggi Shivaratri is, no doubt, the two boys, Muruli Kagodu and Aman Bambore, who come up with the most natural performances. The visuals by cinematographer Vivek SK are also a major highlight. Since it came out, audiences have been appreciated of the story, the acting, dialogues and the visuals, with several highlighting that hearing the Malnad dialect gave the film a special feel.

Habba Haridina Suggi Shivaratri is the first short film that Raj is presenting through the official YouTube page of his banner, Lighter Buddha Films. Raj’s last production was Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana. He is believed to have finished working on this third production, a film called Toby that has not been officially announced yet. According to the industry buzz, Raj took off to Mangaluru shortly after finishing the shoot of Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye and threw himself straight into the making of his next directorial.