On Instagram last week, comedian Aditi Mittal announced that her short film In That Top is a part of Financial Times’ Democracy 2024 project—a series of articles and short films marking an extraordinary year ahead. The short, seven-minute film explores the charged debates and arguments that take place in most Indian households over the embattled idea of democracy.

“In That Top is a love letter from an Indian woman to all the democracies that she cherishes/combats in her day,” wrote Mittal in her Instagram caption. In the film, she plays the role of both the father and daughter, and examines loaded topics including freedom, rights, representation and government. “2024 is going to be the maha-dhamaka type of year for democracy with seven nations across the world going into elections,” she wrote. “The aim of this film was to highlight the utterly personal nature of this incredibly public exercise.”

“I got a call from Juliet Riddell, Head of New Formats from the Financial Times,” Mittal told DeadAnt, speaking over the phone on 17 January. “I had worked with her in 2014 on a project about street safety for women. The brief for this one was ‘What’s it like to be a woman in a democracy like India in 2024?’ When I mentioned that I wanted to make a sketch-ish piece she was hesitant because it’s Financial Times, and they’re a serious news source. But she advocated for the idea like hell. The power of having someone on your side in a ridiculous idea, makes it seem… very doable.”

Speaking about the inspiration for the script, Mittal said “[it] was a discussion that I had with my dad very often.” Initially written as a rant from an Indian dad, she quickly realised that she needed to add the character of the daughter to keep it true to her life. “Then, when our director, Rupesh Tillu (genius honestly) came on board, he insisted that I play both the roles since deep down inside we are all our fathers and mothers,” she added. “Just the thought of it was so fun and silly that we went with it.”

The film was shot in 24 hours with the help of Gaurav Anand, Director of Photography and Aaditi Hirani, Assistant Director. “They really had their work cut out for them,” said Mittal. “By the time the shoot ended we were all just smiling like blank zombies.”

“The main hurdles arose when we prepared for the outdoor shoot sans permissions,” added Hirani. “It was a gamble to board public transport and walk around the streets of Mumbai with a minimal camera setup to achieve the output we desired.”

In That Top was a part of a series of four films, featuring alongside work by prolific Canadian author Margaret Atwood, Turkish novelist and essayist Elif Shafak and Nigerian poet and author Lola Shoneyin. “When Financial Times first tweeted about the project it read, ‘Three award winning authors and a comedian’ and I was just so blown away that I got to have my mug next to three stalwarts,” said Mittal.

You can check out the film here.