Loop Line Review | A Jolting Elegy On Womanhood, Survival And The Bruise of Repetition

Renuka Shahane바카라�s animated short Loop Line (Dhavpatti) (2024), screening at the New York Indian Film Festival, arrives as a cinematic delight. Shahane바카라�s directorial shift behind the camera is not abrupt; rather, it is an intuitive progression for an artist whose acting oeuvre spans theatre, television classics and films. Her foray from acting in Marathi and Hindi films into direction eventually led to the acclaimed Netflix film Tribhanga (2021).

Created by Padachinha Productions, Loop Line has been brought to life by Paperboat Design Studios and Art Director Shailesh Ambre, best known for Bombay Rose (2019). The film leans into a hand-painted, frame-by-frame approach, conjuring the quiet pleasure of flipping through a graphic novel on a summer afternoon. 바카라�Dhavpatti바카라�, meaning loop line in Marathi, refers to a parallel train track alongside the main one바카라�allowing trains to stop or skip stations. It implies there바카라�s a way out, that life isn바카라�t a singular track to follow until one dies. To be able to switch gears at the right moment is all it takes to arrive at a different destination.

Excavating from the forever imbalanced power dynamic of a conservative Indian marriage erupts this marvellous little feminist short film that follows two unnamed protagonists: a husband and a wife. Poetically enough, Loop Line begins with the opening frame jolting one straight into Dadar station바카라�s early morning commotion바카라� clattering train tracks, hardworking vendors, and awaiting passengers. Through their window, a rustic and untouched corner of Mumbai emerges바카라�contained within the modest confines of their flat, where most of the film unfolds. However, the flight of imagination within this film바카라�s world goes far beyond their pale yellow four walls.

The matte textures, colour contrasts, and clean lines enrich the world of this film with a tactility that feels deeply intimate. The neons in Loop Line are extraordinarily detailed, heightening immersion바카라�whether it is the red of the train station바카라�s digital clock, the bright blue of a gas flame, or the stark fluorescence of white tube lights. What stands out in Loop Line, beyond its stunning visuals, is the attention to ambient sound. Be it the simple act of brewing and pouring a cup of chai or the delicate clinking of bangles. The lack, and at times complete absence, of dialogue, particularly from the woman, quietly speaks to the distance between married couples, obligated to stay together while rarely existing on the same wavelength, despite sharing beds and last names. Having lived this way for decades, it seems their only daughter바카라�s marriage has left them to each other.

Many men, in general, use conservatism to mask their hatred of and diminished perception of women. They also unflinchingly pass on locker room talk or reduce women to mere baby-making machines and cooks in the guise of control and care. While this story focuses on the couple, it speaks broadly for women stuck in marriages, many of them abusive, with no conceivable way out. Women who retaliate are punished far worse. Imagination, thus, becomes a rebellion of the mind바카라�a sanctuary where no one can steal your autonomy to dream. The visual of a wall hanging with dangling artificial birds, as the smoke from chai and a cigarette diffuses into the spirit of a woman dancing carefree, is enchanting. It is here that she is allowed to exist without the interference of a man, away from the noisy city, into serene and pristine lakes dotted with waterlilies, or even a luminously golden field alongside a running train.

Loop Line etches this hollow, abusive, repetitive cycle into the fabric of its narrative, making it palpable how such mundanity becomes the defining experience of womanhood itself. While the film may not depict anything out of the ordinary or unfamiliar in terms of plot, this restraint feels justified바카라�especially in the context of feminist narratives that confront injustices against women, which have, unfortunately, remained persistently relevant. An empathetic lens, blended with creative flair, is often both necessary and sufficient. What distinguishes it, however, is the execution, heart, and very evident effort invested behind it all.

Loop Line resists resolution, much like the lives it reflects바카라�caught between inertia and the faintest glimmers of escape. Shahane바카라�s film does not offer easy answers or catharsis. Instead, it invites us to sit with the quiet tension of uncertainty. The film is a mirror to Indian housewives바카라� most intimate struggles and a quiet meditation on whether their autonomy is ever truly realised or valued. In the end, there are no tears, no breakdown: just the routine morning doorbell from the newspaperman and trains running past the screen in the closing frame. Whether she gets up and continues her life the same way or walks out the door is simply an indication of a possible exit from a life that feels like a looping nightmare. Yet, one might never know what becomes of her. It is in this unresolved space, this delicate balance of hope and resignation, that the film바카라�s true cinematic power resides.

Loop Line is being screened at the New York Indian Film Festival.

Sakshi Salil Chavan is a documentary filmmaker and an entertainment writer based in Mumbai.