a scene from Victoria.
Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The spark that starts a work of art can come from anywhere. Shivranjini J. For, it came from the unusual sight of a rooster sitting inside a beauty parlor near his home in Angamaly. Victoria, her debut film, which was screened in the Malayalam Cinema Today section at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala on Saturday, is based almost entirely on a beauty parlor.
A cock brought for sacrifice at a local church ends up in the parlor after being handed over to the hero Victoria (Meenakshi Jayan) To be kept safe by your neighbor for a day. VictoriaA beautician spends her days tending to clients, enduring the mental and physical trauma inflicted on her by her conservative parents due to her affair with a man of another religion. On the other side is a non-committed lover, who is not impressed by her constant appeals on the phone to take decisive action whenever he takes leave from work.
Amidst this inner turmoil, the rooster tying its feet creates relatively minor problems, becoming a symbolic presence that is open to many interpretations. Like the display boards banning the entry of men in beauty parlors, there is no physical presence of men in the film. Victoria’Her boyfriend is present only through phone calls, while the only other man’s voice is heard from outside the parlor door. Thus, Cock becomes the only male presence in this female territory, but with his legs tied, his position is almost the same as Victoria’s.
Filmmaker Shivranjini J. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The women come one by one with their stories, insights and personal troubles. One of them is making a secret trip because her father-in-law is in the hospital, but she has to do it for her brother’s wedding. Another daily wage laborer frequents this parlor away from her neighbourhood, because she knows that visiting a parlor near home can cause tongues wagging. An energetic group of young girls, visiting the day before a cultural competition, break into an acapella while waiting their turn. Victoria She runs from one customer to another, keeping her emotions under control.
The film constantly shifts its focus from her internal turmoil to the ethnographic treatment of this less-high-class beauty parlor and the personal stories of the women who then come into it. But even without a traditional narrative arc, it remains tight and engaging throughout, partly due to the heartfelt performances, especially those of the lead actor. At no point does it slip into melodramatic territory, although it easily could. It seems that the budding artist is confident about his art.
Shivranjini, who is currently pursuing her PhD at IIT Bombay, explains The Hindu Film Society screenings had aroused his interest in film making since his school days. After completing engineering, she joined the National Institute of Design to pursue film and video communication courses, after which she made a few short films and worked as a freelance editor. During his PhD research work, he presented the script of Victoria She was selected for funding for the Kerala State Film Development Corporation’s project to promote women filmmakers.
“This project was helpful in many ways, especially because it provided access to the government-run Chitranjali Studios, where I designed the sets for the beauty parlor. I can also collaborate with my friends who were making their first films, be it cinematographer Anand Ravi or music director Abhaydev Prafulla. “I took a conscious decision to make it as an experimental film with a loose structure,” says Shivaranjini.
The experiment seems to have been successful, adding another member to the small but growing group of female filmmakers in Malayalam cinema.
published – December 14, 2024 08:05 PM IST
