B Selvi & Daughters trailer: A sweet enterprise

The 25-minute B Selvi & Daughters, written and directed by Drishya, promises a touching tale of mother-daughter bonding and female empowerment.

The film was picked from 100 entries for a production grant under the Her&Now film campaign, an initiative to promote the idea of women-led startups in cinema by the German federal ministry for economic cooperation and development and the Indian ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship. 

The trailer features veteran artiste Kalairani and Gayathrie Shankar from Super Deluxe (2019). The story begins with a montage of B Selvi (Kalairani) engaging in the business of selling sarees and garments door-to-door. However, the elderly woman seems to be at a disadvantage with her buyers and competitors adopting newfangled technology. Also, we learn from her daughter (Gayathrie) that while B Selvi is the owner of her shop, she still runs it in her deceased husband's name. 

This glimpse of patriarchy is enough to make a powerful statement. Another key moment is when her younger brother suggests that she can't run the place by herself, while the daughter insists that she should, leading to the titular partnership.

The crisp trailer is quite impactful with its short montages. 

Produced by Tarana Reddy and Mathivanan Rajendran, B Selvi & Daughters is slated to be premiered at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. It is the only Tamil short film at the festival. The release date of the film is yet to be announced.

Watch the trailer below and let us know if you are keen on watching the film.