IFFK 2024: Appuram is a nuanced exploration of a woman’s psychological struggles

Indu Lakshmi's Appuram, a sensitive exploration of a woman's psychological battles, premieres at IFFK competition section.

Indu Lakshmi’s Appuram, one of the Malayalam films in the competition section of the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), will be premiered on Saturday.

Told from a teenager’s perspective, Appuram is a sensitive exploration of a woman’s battle with psychological issues and superstition.

Filmmaker Indu Lakshmi’s sophomore film Appuram (The Other Side) sensitively tiptoes into the grey areas of the mind where a woman’s reality is threatened by bouts of depression that torment her. The deeply intimate work maps the family’s emotional battles as father (Venu) and daughter (Janaki) struggle to keep the mother (Chitra) from falling into the abyss of self-harm and depression.

Indu, a poet and novelist, says it is a story that is extremely personal for her. Written by her, Appuram is a nuanced exploration of the woman’s relationship with her husband and teenaged daughter as she teeters between phases of mental turmoil and stability.

Indu says the film also takes on archaic beliefs centred on menstruation and female agency, and the patriarchal ecosystem that confines women to conventional roles within the family and society under the guise of providing care and security for the women. The mother, for instance, is tortured by the memory of her father preventing her from pursuing higher studies even after she topped the examination in her school.

Instead of melodrama and sharp tones, Indu delineates Chitra’s mood swings with empathy; the warm movements the family shares are contrasted with the anguish they experience when Chitra falls into despondency.

“The film, shot in sync sound, has been narrated from the perspective of Janaki as she fights to have her voice heard, especially in her conservative grandparents’ home. In a society that negates a woman’s views, her ambition and wishes, the teenager has to look inside to find the strength to fulfil her mother’s wishes,” says Indu.