When Konkona Sen Sharma praises a script, it’s not to be taken lightly. After all, she judges it not only as an actor, but also as the sharp director she has evolved into. So, when she mentions that Chashma’s script gave her “goosebumps”, that’s tall praise for Nitin Baid’s directorial venture. “As soon as I read it, I told Nitin, ‘I am doing it’. One reason is that the script is so well-written structurally. The second reason is that its themes resonated with me,” says the actor.

Chashma, which is slated to première at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, tells the story of 11-year-old Supriyo with impaired vision, who faces more than his physical challenges when a school conflict compels him to make a tough choice. Sensharma plays his mother in the short film that is set in 1992. In an industry where fleshed-out characters are rare for women, the actor credits Baid and writer Varun Grover for giving her a meaty role. “Ever since I became a mom, I’ve been looking for interesting mother characters. Mothers are often shown in a one-dimensional way in films. Here, we got a sense of this person—not only through her identity of a mother, but also as a woman.”