Kutti Revathy’s new Tamil film, set in 7th century, showcased at Cannes

It’s wheels up for the production schedule of Kutti Revathy’s debut film Vanji, but before she released it in India, she took it out for a spin on a global trip. She was in Cannes this week to show her film to potential distributors. A period piece shot across Genji’s archaeological sites, Vanji is a retelling of Kundalakesi, set in 7th-century Tamil Nadu. The film stars Rukkumani Kumaraguruparan and Rajmohan Subramaniyan in lead roles. Its songs are composed by TAS Thakkesi, with a background score by Tharun Sekar.

Speaking on the sidelines of the festival on how the film came about, Revathy says, “I had long been drawn to the idea of placing a strong woman at the centre of a Tamil film, and Tamil literature offered me no shortage of such women. The challenge was choosing which story to tell.”

Revathy, a debut director working with limited resources, decided to narrow her search for her subject even further by asking, which of these women lived ordinary, common people lives? “That question led me to Kundalakesi,” she adds.

“She is not royalty but a laywoman. The more I read of her, the more I understood that her struggles and her transformations spoke directly to our present moment.” According to her, Kundalakesi’s story of a woman confronting betrayal and choosing her own path bears all the hallmarks of a great story worth telling. “This is not an ancient story, this is a ‘right now’ story,” she says.

Further research for the film involved uncovering the lives of the Tamil people across the globe, she says. “I read and researched about Sheik Hussain and the Maruthu brothers to the seventy-three Tamil exiles of Penang, Velu Nachiyar, Udayal, Kuyili and the women whose names have been written out of every standard account.”

Film promotion remains a challenge for indie filmmakers, and at Cannes, Revathy had to take things into her own hands. She stood on the Palais festival grounds, in a gold-accented sari, her hair in a bun, flashing an optimistic smile and displaying the ink-blue poster of her film to invite the audience. Revathy and her producer attended the Cannes Market screenings, an opportunity for producers to pay to rent screening venues to showcase their films in the hope of attracting prospective buyers and distributors.

Revathy says she is in awe of the way European cultures treat cinema. “I was at a session at the Italian Pavilion and saw how they treat cinema as a cultural inheritance to be polished and presented to the world.” She says she has found new admiration to film festivals like Cannes that allows creators like her to meet global viewers on our own terms.

Revathy is of the opinion that the cultural impetus of transforming India’s great literature is still lacking. “We still measure our films in crores of revenue. Vanji is my attempt to shift that conversation.”

A multi-hyphenate artist, Revathy is a poet, writer, lyricist, and now filmmaker. Which of these is the easiest hat to wear? Rather than viewing her work through the lens of ease or difficulty, she admits that each of these disciplines has prepared her to, “dive more deeply into the other.”

Revathy says she combines the sensibilities she cultivated as a poet and writer in her filmmaking. “Being a poet has taught me to listen. With writing, I learnt the discipline of thought, and with lyrics, I learnt to express economically. And cinema asks from me a combination of all three.

Sivakumar Velusamy (executive producer), Kutti Revathy (director), Dr. Kalaimathee (Producer) and Sonia Rannou (The founder of Indian Cinema Events – ICE) at the Cannes Film Festival
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

“As humans, we have invested significantly in language, literature, and the visual arts. I see my own work as a small participation in that long inheritance,” she adds.

For Revathy, the Cannes trip is a huge success. She screened the film on May 17 in the market section of the festival, where she met and networked with like-minded producers and distributors. The film was already certified by the censor board in India last December. She reveals that a big banner has agreed to release it, without going into further details, since further discussions are still underway. However, before the film releases in theatres in India, she plans to tour other film festivals like Busan and Toronto to show it to a global audience.