A LittleShilpa Film

Directed by Ashim Ahluwalia

Conceptualised, styled and written by Shilpa Chavan, aka littleshilpa, HUM(we/us) is a film that fuses seemingly dissonant worlds and ideologies to expose and challenge societal norms.

Akin to her work, Fashion is utilised in this colour-coded visual journey that examines gender, class identification, mental health issues, community, self-discovery and above all, audacious self-expression.

Disrobing the layers of social construct, HUM(we/us) peers through the lens of identity-attesting fashion, as a catalyst of change, of acceptability. Directed by Ashim Ahluwalia, this film is in truth, about honouring the resilience of communities that have been marginalised and faced untold discrimination.” 

In HUM (we/us), through the love of artifice and exaggeration, it challenges the societal tropes and stereotypes of gender, class, adornment and beauty. It asks a fundamental question- are you free to express your authentic self? 

In the complex stylization of these characters, there is a consciously artistic interlacing of elements–serious and playful, hidden and blasé, pain and pleasure–but in the final analysis, it is the rejection of invisibility and a return to oneself in a truer form that becomes the overarching message of this film.

Simply put, when what one does and what one ought to be are one–we are free.

HUM (we/us) is the re-imagination of everything that was cast away, people and things which, from the depths of mockery and humiliation, gives rise to new avatars– proud, dynamic and fierce, and most importantly un-isolated– as a sense of camaraderie and community gets forged when the narrative progresses

HUM (we/us), is a story of freedom. When society supersedes the integrity of an individual, when the power of interpretation is given to the majority, it cuts out the influence of the ungendered Self.

HUM (we/us) is about claiming your space with pride, recognising our everyday lives are not linear, that they do not fit into a template. When we recognise this, we rekindle fresh ideas and mindful actions.

HUM (we/us) reinforces the fact that fearless individuals make the dynamic collective, and that without the kinder you, there is no compassionate us.

“Well, now that we have seen each other,’ said the Unicorn, ‘If you’ll believe in me, I’ll believe in you”

—Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass.