In Binnu ka Sapna, Behl visits this theme again — patriarchy, as visible to the acute eye and mind in middle-class India — with a fresh new language. The 32-minute short which came out in 2018 had a limited run of two months on international streaming platform MUBI and wasn’t released in theatres. It travelled to various festivals, including the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2019, where it won the Best Short Film.

Watch the film here:

The first aesthetic decision Behl took was to have a dialogue-less film. “The idea was to fully immerse yourself in the thoughts of this protagonist who was pretty much an antagonist.”

The film covers many grounds — the contortion of desire, ambition, disappointment — and how the forever-expanding urban cosmos affects and shapes the young. Binnu ka Sapna is incisive about middle-class youth and their inability to cope with love, sex and hope. Unlike Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2023 multi-crore Ranbir Kapoor-starrer, Animal, Binnu plumbs into how patriarchal wounds play out in a man’s life — in spirit, the film is mellow and far less gimmicky. Behl’s fascination with the mindset of a young urban man intent on the destruction of both his own and another’s life is evident. His latest film, Agra, which also screened at the Cannes Film Festival last year, has similar underpinnings.

“I found the idea of doing a silent, voiceover-driven film both compelling and challenging. It took me about three months to write the 12-page script and then another two months to prepare for Binnu,” Behl said.

The film was shot over 34 locations in eight days by a crew of 30 people on a “small” budget. “We ran around the city practically every day, sometimes shooting as many as five different set-ups in a day, braving difficult weather — half a day lost to rain — amongst other challenges,” Behl recalled.

Kanu Behl chose the 1:1 aspect ratio to complement Binnu’s severely myopic vision. “We were very aware of the thin line presented to the audience with a film like this and never wanted to justify his dastardly actions. “The combination of the still frames with the square aspect ratio was our attempt to glue his headspace into the film. He was obviously not a clear-headed man and tended to freeze moments in his life and convince himself of certain absolute truths,” Behl said.

This, combined with the eerie, drone-like sound design was Behl’s way of plugging into the dangerous chaos inside Binnu’s head. Does Binnu get a shot at redemption he seeks? Watch the film to find out.

Binnu ka Sapna will be available for viewing on HT Premium till February 15. Short Stream, curated by film journalist Sanjukta Sharma, will present an independent short film that is making a buzz in film festivals. The film will be available only for a month in Hindustan Times’ subscription-only section HT Premium.