Saali Sharafat - A Quirky Lens on Toxic Workplaces

What did Rumana Molla say about this film?

At Rum & An, storytelling is more than craft, it's a collaboration of voices behind and in front of the camera. Our latest music video, Saali Sharafat, is a satirical, high-energy take on the often- overlooked issue of toxic work environments, where employees are undervalued and underappreciated. The video explores this theme with irreverent humour, colour, and chaos, a tone that demanded experimentation from start to finish.

Unlike most music videos, Saali Sharafat didn’t follow a known visual template. The song itself was unlike anything we had encountered, so we embraced the unknown, creating a world that was as eccentric as it was expressive. From bizarre characters to stylised movement and a narrative-driven structure, the video was designed to entertain, while making you uncomfortable in all the right ways.

Saali Sharafat was directed and written by Rumana Molla, who also performs in the video, and musically brought to life by Anirban Kashyap, a partnership that began with their collaboration on Minimum (starring Naseeruddin Shah, Saba Azad, Geetanjali Kulkarni, and Rumana herself). Together, they founded Rum&An as a space for cinematic experiments rooted in sharp, relevant storytelling.

This is Rum & An’s second music video and our most ambitious yet, featuring an amazing cast, including Rumana Molla, Jayaa Virlley, Fatima Arrif, Digvijay Savant, and Rahul Raina. The behind- the-scenes journey was just as dynamic. Shot by the brilliant Pooja Gupte, the visual language was elevated with every frame. Jayaa Virlley, an actor with an exceptional body of work, joined Rum&An as a creative producer, immersing herself in the production process and proving that passion is the most powerful training ground.