Geetha J's directorial debut feature 'Run Kalyani' world premiered at the Kolkata International Film Festival this year and bagged the Special Jury award.
Spread over four days, ‘Run Kalyani’ follows a young cook who lives with her ailing aunt and works in three houses in Thiruvananthapuram, including hers, to make ends meet. The everyday interactions with the residents might seem monotonous on the surface but as the film progresses it builds into an intense crescendo of grief and grit, sorrow and strength.
According to Geetha, the film’s pattern-like structure articulates the gradual progression in the story until the final day, when events radically transform the life of the protagonist. The resilience with which she faces her increasingly complex situations reiterates the realistic theme of hope and grit. A print media film journalist and documentary filmmaker at one time, Geetha has proactively covered the aspect of gender in relation to cinema and her Malayalam debut feature gently delves into the nuances of gender dynamics and contemporary social issues.
"The idea for the film originated from a sense of feeling trapped. Of looking around and seeing how all our lives fall into a pattern and observing how people managed to cope and even change their lives" she narrated.
With poetic musical interludes, the film defines freedom in a rather different way. Geetha wanted the background score to be inspired by European composer Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ and Sreevalsan J Menon helmed it with finesse. The iconic piece was redefined with Indian instruments resulting in a unique soundscape. Madhu Neelakandan was on camera, while editing was done by B Ajithkumar.
With A.R. Rahman launching the trailer, 'Run Kalyani' is off to a promising start and was in competition at KIFF under the Indian Language category.