Get Shorty

With its built-in audience, low barrier to entry, and visual-first interface, Instagram Reels is no longer just a content format

- By RISHABH THAKUR

When filmmaker Abhash Singh began experimenting with Instagram Reels, it felt like a dare. The idea of telling a complete story in under 60 seconds was both restrictive and oddly liberating. "The short length felt brutally limiting at first. But weirdly, it's those exact limits that made me focus, simplify, and find clarity faster," he says. In May this year, his entry film, Kaalnirmaata, went viral, garnering over 2,00,000 views and more than 6,000 shares. This is the new world of independent filmmaking, brief, often dialogue-light, and built to meet the viewer mid-scroll.