IFFI 2021: Simple story told in the simplest form touches the audience, says Koozhangal director PS Vinothraj

PS Vinothraj’s Koozhangal (Pebbles) lays out the hardships faced by a child and his mother who are both victims of abuse.

The Tamil feature, which will represent India in the Best International Film category at the Academy Awards next year, was screened in the Indian Panorama section last week at the 52nd  International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.

Speaking at press conference, the first-time director said, “It’s a simple story told in the simplest form. And it is borrowed from my life itself. The film is based on the sufferings that my sister and her small child went through due to an alcoholic husband.”

Vinothraj, who started out by assisting National award-winning filmmaker A Sarkunam and director N Ragavan, based his feature on the strained relationship between an alcoholic father Ganapathy and his young son Velu and their journey to bring back his wife, the boy’s mother, who has gone away to her father’s house.

The child artiste Chellapandi, who is new to acting, was also present for the screening and was the centre of attention.

“I shot the film in my own village as both the story and the landscape were close to my heart,” the director explained. “The landscape depicted in the film forms the third character as the behaviour of human beings is also influenced by the climate and geography where they live. The arid landscape and sweltering hot sun in which the entire plot is set are important elements conditioning the conduct of the characters.”

He went on to say that initially the team did not have sufficient funds to complete the feature. “We had sent a rough cut of the film to the NFDC [National Film Development Corporation] Film Bazaar with the hope of finding a producer," he said. "It was noticed by noted Tamil director Ram, who came forward to support us. Subsequently, the film was produced by director Vignesh Shivn and actress Nayanthara.”