‘Aarya’ Actor Vikas Kumar’s Debut Production ‘Sonsi’ in Race for Oscars 2022

Scene from “Soni.” (publicity photo/sharkparkmedia.com)

MUMBAI – The wait for an Academy Award might just end for India as Savita Singh’s “Sonsi” (Shadow Bird), produced by “Aarya” actor Vikas Kumar, is running in the race for Oscars 2022.

The short film became an Oscar Qualifier after winning ‘Best Film’ at the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival, 2021. At the recently held 67th National Awards, “Sonsi” won ‘Best Cinematography’ (Non-Feature category). Earlier, it was declared ‘Best Short Film’ at the Lady Filmmakers Festival in Beverly Hills.

Grateful about being selected for the Oscars consideration, Kumar said, “Not everyone can apply for Oscars. You can only submit your short film if it has won at an Oscar Qualifying festival. Just last week we received confirmation from The Academy that our film has been successfully entered for Oscars consideration. We’re obviously thrilled!”

“At Khan and Kumar, we believe in telling stories where we see ‘the extraordinary in the ordinary’. ‘Sonsi’ is our debut film. The response it has got is a huge encouragement. We are currently working on two projects — a documentary on an annual sporting event held in a village on the border of UP and Bihar, and a short film that is based quite literally, out of this world,” he added.

The 26-minute experimental film revolves around an eight-year-old girl, Nadi (Aarohi Radhakrishnan), her dream-etched shadow bird, and the mysterious village time-keeper (Jameel Khan).

“Sonsi” (Shadow Bird) has been produced by Kumar and his childhood friend, tech-entrepreneur Sharib Khan, under their banner, ‘Khan and Kumar Media Pvt Ltd’.

National Award-winning cinematographer Savita Singh made her debut as a director with this short film.