IFFK 2024: Appuram is a nuanced exploration of a woman’s psychological struggles

The deeply intimate work maps the family’s emotional battles as father (Venu) and daughter (Janaki) struggle to keep the mother (Chitra) from falling into the abyss of self-harm and depression.

Indu Lakshmi’s Appuram, one of the Malayalam films in the competition section of the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), will be premiered on Saturday.

Told from a teenager’s perspective, Appuram is a sensitive exploration of a woman’s battle with psychological issues and superstition.

Filmmaker Indu Lakshmi’s sophomore film Appuram (The Other Side) sensitively tiptoes into the grey areas of the mind where a woman’s reality is threatened by bouts of depression that torment her. The deeply intimate work maps the family’s emotional battles as father (Venu) and daughter (Janaki) struggle to keep the mother (Chitra) from falling into the abyss of self-harm and depression.

Indu, a poet and novelist, says it is a story that is extremely personal for her. Written by her, Appuram is a nuanced exploration of the woman’s relationship with her husband and teenaged daughter as she teeters between phases of mental turmoil and stability.

Indu says the film also takes on archaic beliefs centred on menstruation and female agency, and the patriarchal ecosystem that confines women to conventional roles within the family and society under the guise of providing care and security for the women. The mother, for instance, is tortured by the memory of her father preventing her from pursuing higher studies even after she topped the examination in her school.

With empathy

Instead of melodrama and sharp tones, Indu delineates Chitra’s mood swings with empathy; the warm movements the family shares are contrasted with the anguish they experience when Chitra falls into despondency.

The warm movements the family shares are contrasted with the anguish they experience when Chitra falls into despondency.

“The film, shot in sync sound, has been narrated from the perspective of Janaki as she fights to have her voice heard, especially in her conservative grandparents’ home. In a society that negates a woman’s views, her ambition and wishes, the teenager has to look inside to find the strength to fulfil her mother’s wishes,” says Indu.

She adds that the film zooms into Janaki’s “love for her mother and the fear of losing her.”

Jagadish (Venu), Mini I.G. (Chitra), and Anagha Maya Ravi (Janaki) play the key characters in the movie. “I am thankful to my actors because they walked the extra mile to support my film. There were days when a senior actor like Jagadish sir worked for more than 12 to 18 hours to ensure that our film was completed on time,” says Indu.

Praising her actors, Indu adds that Mini and Anagha lived their characters on screen.

Also in the cast are theatre actors from Soorya Krishnamoorthy’s troupe. 

Main location

Shot in and around Thiruvananthapuram on a shoestring budget within nine days, the film’s main location was a house in Vengannoor. “A few more days were required to shoot a few scenes in the Himalayas and of the highway,” she adds.

Appuram has been produced by Indu and Ravi Sreedhar under the banner of Indus Cinemas. Filmed by Rakesh Dharan and edited by Appu Bhattathiri, Appuram’s music has been composed by Bijibal.

Appuram has come as a shot in the arm for the techie-turned-filmmaker. One of the filmmakers chosen under a scheme of the State government’s Kerala State Film Development Corporation to promote female participation in filmmaking, Indu says her travails during the making of her debut movie Nila is a chapter she wants to forget.

Indu is also the scenarist of the critically acclaimed movie Daayam, which was screened in the MAMI festival and in the 2023 IFFK. She has also directed three short films.

Appuram will be premiered at 9 a.m. in Tagore Theatre on December 14 and screened again at 6 p.m. in Kairali on December 16 and at 11.45 a.m. in New Theatre (screen 1) on December 18.