Randeep Jha’s short film Kartaa depicts a world replete with half-truths, deception and desperation and captures the struggle of a man who doesn’t quite understand how it works.

Real estate agent Akhilesh (Digamber Prasad) is running on fumes and chasing dead ends hoping for a break. He has pinned all his expectations on a major deal involving a man who has been accused of committing a crime. Akhilesh is attempting to convince him to sell his property, for which he has already accepted a sizeable amount of money from a buyer. While middlemen, brokers and buyers attempt to get a leg up on each other, Akhilesh misses out a crucial detail, which has consequences. Jha’s sharply written film is buoyed by Prasad’s performance, which transform in a heartbeat from desperately hopeful to hopelessly shattered.

The short film can be viewed on the YouTube channel of Large Short Films.