Rima-Parvathy film Lalanna's Song gets entry into US market through Cannes

Megha Ramaswamy’s Malayalam-Hindi film, Lalanna’s Song, starring Rima Kallingal, Parvathy and

Nakshatra Indrajith

, was sold at

Cannes

for distribution to the North American market. The writer-director is pleased that a “fiercely experimental film” has managed to make inroads into the arthouse cinema. “This is a significant victory for a small film that was made during the pandemic to get a theatrical release in the arthouse circuit. It’s a film with an all-women cast and I believe women should be recognised for our achievements,” says Megha about the film which has been screened at festivals.

“I have always been very concerned about the politics of being a woman in India, and the politics of race and culture, which are all intertwined and insidiously affect our physical and domestic presences,” says the Malayali-Tamilian director. Rima and Parvathy play young mothers and “extremely strong women”, who attend a child’s birthday party where they encounter 12-year-old Lalanna— played by Nakshatra — a precocious girl who unwittingly irks them with her intrusive questions and unapologetic gaze. Wanting to set her straight, the women bully her into singing a song, to disastrous effect.

By the time you are 40, you finally understand what aligning yourself to feminism and feminist movements truly means in the long run. So when these two women meet a youngster with so much agency, they are shaken,” says Megha.