Director Sivaranjini J on ‘Victoria’ entering the Shanghai International Film Festival 2025

Victoria, the sole Indian entry at the 2025 Shanghai International Film Festival, explores gender, caste, and class disparities in society.

“There was a phase when I accepted that our movie, Victoria, might not be an entry at any international festival, get a limited release in Kerala, and that would be it for the movie,” says filmmaker Sivaranjini J. However, the director is now thrilled that her debut movie has emerged as the sole entry from India to the Shanghai International Film Festival 2025, on from today till June 22. The film will be screened in the Asian New Talent category.

The film is about Victoria (Meenakshi Jayan), a young beautician from Angamaly in Ernakulam district of Kerala, who is forcibly entrusted a sacrificial rooster as she heads for work. She, however, has other plans. She was plotting to elope with her Hindu boyfriend after her Catholic parents come to know about their relationship. Victoria oscillates between maintaining her composure at work and breaking down owing to her relationship troubles. The rooster’s antics at the beauty parlour filled with women adds to the chaos.

“I had this idea when I went to a beauty parlour in my town. There was a rooster at the parlour, intended as an offering by one of the employees to St George Forane Church at Edappally [in Kochi] for the annual church festival. I got a spark for the script here. The image of a rooster in a parlour with only women was interesting,” says Sivaranjini, who is from Manjapra, a few kilometres away from Angamaly. “A lot of people from our part of the town attend this ritual. People offer a rooster to Saint George, especially when they see snakes in their vicinity seeing it a reminder from the saint,” explains Sivaranjini, pointing to a leitmotif in the movie.

However, Sivaranjini only got around to Victoria’s script later; when it was approved by the Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC) for the Woman Empowerment Grant. “While it took a year to finish the approval process, I completed the script in two weeks,” says Sivaranjini. The team received funding from KSFDC in 2023 and had its premiere at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala in 2024, where it won the FIPRESCI award for the best Malayalam film by a debut director.

The film boasts an almost all-female cast, delving into issues including but not limited to gender. “I wanted new faces who could speak in the Angamaly dialect. I like working with new actors as they would not have been typecast and it is fun to work with them. We found Meenakshi, Sreeshma Chandran, Steeja Mary, and Darsana Vikas through auditions. I had Jolly (Chirayath) chechi in my mind when I was writing the character of the middle-aged woman,” says Sivaranjini.

“Meenakshi worked at a parlour to prepare for her role,” adds the director about the newcomer who has delivered a convincing performance as a cheerful young woman, secretly burdened by her family and partner, seamlessly transitioning between the two moods. She won the Best Performance award at the Independent and Experimental Film Festival of Kerala 2025 for her portrayal.

The change in protagonist’s psyche is portrayed through light — its absence and temperature — constantly fluctuating between bright, warm frames and cold, dark frames. “When you are limited to one space, you can only play around with elements like light. I wanted to show that she is someone who hides her emotions very well and when she is alone, she shows her true self.” Set in the women-dominated space of a beauty parlour, women are portrayed as being free.