On a rainy afternoon, three young girls spend time together in a home. Surrounded by lush greenery and the sounds of the monsoon, they play hide-and-seek, experiment with makeup, and gossip about boys. As the afternoon stretches on, they choreograph a slow dance that carries the charge of desires they are only beginning to sense, and cannot yet name. They part from their shared afternoon, with their hearts full of secrets.
In Ruse, Rhea Shukla captures the electric space between innocence and awareness, where friendship becomes fertile ground for experimentation, performance, and gentle revelations. Tender, poetic, and deeply visceral, Ruse is a luminous portrait of girlhood and its many awakenings.
Rhea Shukla
Rhea Shukla is an Indian writer and director based between New York and India. Her work delves into themes of gender, sexuality, and identity. Rhea is currently pursuing her MFA at Columbia University, New York, and is developing her first feature.
