Malayalam film ‘B 32 Muthal 44 Vare ’, is an emotional drama and a satire on body shaming, says debutant director Shruthi Sharanyam

Malayalam film B 32 Muthal 44 Vare is on body shaming says debutant director Shruthi Sharanyam

Five women and a transman in urban Kochi. What they have in common are insecurities about their body. Shruthi Sharanyam’s debut feature film B 32 Muthal 44 Vare, releasing on April 6, is about how these characters deal with their emotional, physical and psychological issues.

Explains the director: “The title of the film refers to the bust sizes of women’s innerwear. The movie is a satire and emotional drama that discusses how the mammary glands of women are the subject of fascination, voyeurism, symbolism and the male gaze, and how women react to it. Moreover, women get harassed and physically violated on account of their gender. How do they deal with it?”

A well-known lyricist and short filmmaker, Shruthi says the story is a summary of the collective experience of women. “I doubt if there is a single woman who has not been subjected to some kind of body shaming or the other. It could be her weight, her features, her complexion, her anatomy... I have experienced it and have also heard a lot of stories from my friends, family and colleagues. That became the theme of my narrative.”

The narrative focuses on the complex and intriguing relationship the characters have with their breasts. Malini (Ramya Nambeeshan), a woman from an upper-middle-class family, has had a mastectomy. As a result, she feels inadequate and upset as she senses her husband withdrawing from her. Nidhi (Raina Radhakrishnan) has had a teenage pregnancy. A school student, she has to deal with the aftermath of being a teenage mother. Iman (Zarina Shibad) feels being flat chested might stand in the way of a coveted job while the transman Ziya (Anarkali Marikar) has breast dysphoria. Jaya (Aswathy), a domestic help, undergoes a significant transformation due to a series of events connected to body shaming while Rachel (Krishna Kurup) is an aspiring film actor who is violated.

Shruthi had the thread of the story in mind since 2018. When she shared it with “close friends” actor Ramya Nambeeshan and music director Sudeep Palanad, and later with cinematographer Sudeep Elamon, they encouraged her to develop it into a full-fledged script. Nevertheless, Shruthi was aware that getting a producer for such a film would be difficult. “There is the discrimination one faces as a woman telling a woman-centric story. I did not bother trying to find a producer and left it there,” recalls the director.  

In 2021, she learnt about the decision of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation to fund two films by women directors to encourage more women to tell their stories. She applied for it and got selected. “I was elated because I had the story I wanted to make,” she says.

Sajitha Madathi, Neena Cheriyan, Harish Uthman, Sajin Cherukayail and Gibin Gopinath are some of the actors in the cast in addition to the six key roles.