Karma Games is my tribute to Jishnu: Aadarsh

Picture this! A young man goes to an eatery and orders food. After his meal, he is shocked to find that payment can only be made in the form of ‘karma credits’ (arrived at by the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous lives). Luckily, a stranger comes to his rescue and pays the bill. But he faces a similar predicament at a paan shop when he orders a pack of cigarettes and finds to his dismay that the paan wala won’t accept anything but ‘karma credits’. Just in case you are wondering what we are talking about, it’s the premise of Aadarsh Balakrishna’s maiden short film,

Karma Games

.
Revealing the genesis behind the recently released short film, Aadarsh says, “The film was actually something I did as part of an acting course I took in Mumbai back in 2013. Along with my friend and batchmate

Jishnu Raghavan

, I came up with the
concept of karmaastu. It’s like this... when we help someone, they thank us. In the movie however, gratitude is expressed in the form of karmaastu. When a person thanks someone saying karmaastu, the person who has done the good deed gets karma credits added to his account. The film is set in a world where money is not the medium of exchange.” Calling this project one that’s close to his heart, Aadarsh adds, “Jishnu and I directed this together on a budget of `5000 in four days, with a cast and crew of five students. He passed away last year due to throat cancer. Putting up the short film online is my tribute to him and the wonderful memories I have of him.”