A short and quirky effort on AIDS

A rough-edged but well-intended new short-film on AIDS awareness titled (aids+b) 2 caught my attention , not so much for its message, but for the fact that it dares to take a lighter look at the ignorance about the AIDS virus.

Directed by Venky A.V., the 10-minute film chronicles the adventures of a 10-year old boy Morris (played effectively if somewhat self-consciously by Morris Jaychandran) who combines his father’s domestic wisdom about viral diseases with his own google-acquired knowledge on the HIV virus and concludes that he is suffering from AIDS.

This, after consuming paani puri from an old, rasping vendor who, coughs right into the goodies he sells to kids. The quirky, well-edited film’s best moments have Morris sharing his tiffin and AIDS-gyan with his best friend who swears on Morris’ mother (since his own mother has forbidden him from swearing on her) that he won’t tell anyone Morris has got AIDS.

The treatment is sweet, but seems overdone at times and lacks the finesse of the AIDS trilogy of short films in the AIDS Jaago series by Farhan Akhtar, Mira Nair and Vishal Bhardwaj. But (aids+b)2 is a well-intended effort nonetheless.