SYNOPSIS
Fankaar (Urdu for “Artist”) is a surreal psychological drama that blurs the lines between performance, identity, and exploitation.
A disoriented man wakes up in a locked room wearing a rabbit mask. With only an hour on the timer, he discovers a cryptic note challenging him to “know your true self.”
As he frantically searches for escape, he is forced to engage with three character performances dictated by mysterious bags labeled “The Way Out.”
First, he must embody a violated woman, confronting trauma through Manto’s words. Next, he becomes a regretful father lamenting his son’s abandonment for him and his own identity. Finally, he performs as a desperate street beggar who hasn’t eaten in 13 hours.
Each performance strips away his defenses, forcing him to confront different aspects of humanity and society that neither he nor anyone else wants to accept through raw claustrophobic vulnerability.
When the timer stops, the door unlocks, revealing the shocking truth: he’s been the unwitting star of a live-streamed performance art piece called “Fankaar.” The audience applauds his “exceptional performance” while casually critiquing him like any disposable entertainment.
In a chilling ending and a chilling monologue by the presenter, As he exits through the audience, they’ve already turned their attention waiting for the next ‘spectacle’. As he walks away, personifying a dystopian-like version of cinema, art, and entertainment.
Fankaar examines the commodification of suffering, the performance of facing one’s societal reality, race/classism, and the thin line between art and exploitation in our voyeuristic digital age.