Finding hope through music: Sheetal Menon on her Spotify short film ‘Duet’
Actor and director Sheetal Menon discusses her transition from acting to filmmaking with her second short film, 'Duet'. The film, which explores themes of grief and music during the pandemic, is notable for being the first short film released on the Spotify platform.
Why it matters
It highlights the evolving distribution models for independent cinema, specifically the integration of short-form narrative content into audio-first streaming platforms.
A few years ago, Sheetal Menon was on the verge of walking away from the entertainment industry. After years as a successful model and later as an actor, the agonising wait for good work had left her questioning if there was anything left for her in cinema. She didn’t expect that stepping into an acting and creative workshop to figure out her next step would lead her behind the camera instead.
A story handed to her by her filmmaker husband Bejoy Nambiar for an improvisation session prompted her to develop it into a screenplay. “I didn’t even know how to write one!” she recalls. “I would sit in a coffee shop every day and just will myself to do it. I also met my co-writer Arpita Chatterjee in this journey, and the two of us just clicked,” she says.
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