A little bit about the main talent here before I go any further. Devashish Makhija first came to my attention almost three years ago as the director of an Oriya language film titled Oonga. The film played the New York Indian Film Festival in 2013 and of all of the features there, it was the one I felt deserved the most championing from my end. Performed in an obscure language and straddling the line between children's film and grown up nightmare, Oonga became one of my top films of the year and I've spent the time since evangelizing about it to anyone who will listen.
Makhija hasn't made another feature since Oonga, however he has stayed busy as a filmmaker within India's burgeoning short film scene. Two of his shorts, El'Ayichi, in which a dead husband comes back to haunt his wife as part of the online shorts series Terribly Tiny Tales, and Agli Baar, a Skype nightmare of forced eviction and gentrification, have made big waves among Indian cinephiles, though they haven't seen much notice outside of India because they weren't designed for festival play.
Manoj Bajpayee, on the other hand, has become one of India's most in demand actors when it comes to serious drama and films that don't fall within the Bollywood mold. He first came to my attention as the gangster Sardar Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur, but since then he's been all over the place, most recently taking on the controversial true story of a gay professor who committed suicide after being outed in Aligarh. The fact that he's willing and interested to participate in a short film for a relatively unknown filmmaker is impressive, but the results are stellar.
In Taandav, Bajpayee plays a policeman who can't seem to earn respect from anyone. His boss uses him for menial tasks, his child ignores him, his wife loathes him, and even the public that is supposed to respect him sees him as a joke. One night as he's stationed as security at a local dance he's finally pushed beyond his own limits, reaching an state of stress induced ecstasy. He pulls his gun, drags two arguing citizens into the dance hall and forces them to dance, but not before he begins his own feverish dance, finally expelling all of his demons and setting himself free for the first time.
The title refers to the dance of destruction/creation performed by the Hindu god Shiva, and it is often seen as a sort of communion with spirit when performed by mortals. The abandon with which Bajpayee dances is contagious, his dancing is no great shakes, but it's clear that he's giving it all he's got and that is what matter. In the end, his Taandav destroys his bad karma and forges new connections with the people that matter most. It's a beautifully short film with minimal dialogue and it's well worth 11 minutes of your time.