Inside a small roadside salon, three men mock a newspaper photo of a fair-skinned groom who has married a dark-skinned bride. Their laughter is cruel, their views shallow. At that moment, a young man with dark skin walks in. Offended by their remarks, he challenges their narrow ideas and sparks a heated debate. What begins as casual gossip soon turns into a clash of perspectives on beauty, prejudice, and identity. The title “Pottakkinar”—literally “The Frog in the Well”—is borrowed from a Chinese idiom that describes a person too narrow-minded to see the vastness of the world. This intimate, single-location short film is a raw and unbiased reflection on racism and the everyday ignorance that feeds it.

Director: Vinesh Viswanath