Review: The Promise (2024)

The Promise (2025), directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, is a short film about love, sacrifice, and the bittersweet passage of time. The narrative revolves around the chance encounter between Chitra, (Priyamani), a single woman who has bought a villa in a neighbourhood that has a bar, and the bartender George (Jim Sarbh). Both of them are from Delhi and find an expeditious connection in this chance encounter. In an unwelcoming city which can push an individual into the depths of loneliness, their relationship is delicately pious. The film jumps ahead twenty years, and George returns to the same place, with the sole objective of having a promise kept. What he finds, however, is not a joyous reunion, but a more complex and resonant discovery. 

The strength of the film is not in the grand moves or plot twists, but between these two individuals through silence in the space between their time together. Dhulia's direction is measured and uncluttered. He doesn't restore to melodrama but allows the subtle emotional currents to exist just beneath the surface. This makes the short film less about what is said and much more about the power of unspoken words and the mysterious nature of time, as well as the uncertain direction of life. 

Priyamani and Sarbh share instant chemistry, with performances that reflect an authenticity and engagement with their performances dealing with  the intricacies of relationships. Sarbh's George is acted subtly and deeply, revealing a man whose life, while busy with external things, appears comfortably distanced from these same moments of internal reflection. Priyamani's Chitra is also restrained, but it is her choice—her quiet heartbreak—to let Goerge be free to pursue a dream and leave her behind, which establishes the emotional foundation for what is to come. 

The film stands out for its careful handling of the location from a cinematographic perspective. The frames—both in colour and monochrome—created by Rishi Punjabi do not simply serve as a backdrop, but they present as emotional topographies that chart the changes in time and relationship. Each frame is carefully composed, with the overall level of detail generating a sense of grounded realism that has the capacity to invite the viewer to immerse into its tender epicenter. The production design of Pattange and Patturajan makes the setting both a character unto itself, and a subtle visual cue to the emotional state of its protagonists. The editing of Amit Gunjal facilitates the scenes transitions from past to present throughout the narrative with a flair.

The Promise presents a complex, multi-faceted experience of nostalgia, regret, and the capacity to believe that some commitments, regardless of time, are worth keeping. This ten minutes of storytelling builds toward the promise of a reunion twenty years down the road, a promise made with the bittersweet awareness of an adieu that is both fleeting and eternal. It exceeds expectations by igniting a quiet resonance at the heart of its experience, lingering long after the film has ended.

The film is available on the YouTube channel of Royal Stag Barrel Select Shorts.