Producer Thanikachalam SA, fresh off the success of “In Retreat” at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, has selected debut feature director Payal Sethi’s “Kurinji” in India’s Film Bazaar co-production market. We are supporting.
Sethi’s previous works include the award-winning short “Leeches” (2016), which won the International Grand Prix at the Brussels Short Film Festival, and “Grant St. Shaving Co.” (2010). She studied at Vassar College and the Tisch School of the Arts and collaborated with Mira Nair on films such as “Monsoon Wedding” and “The Namesake.”
The film tells the story of Larry, a housewife from Kerala whose husband, a migrant worker from the Gulf region, suddenly stops calling her home after years of separation. When a moneylender appears demanding repayment of an unknown debt, she begins searching for answers with the help of an unexpected person: her lover, who is her husband’s brother-in-law.
“I feel like it’s a really fun movie that deals with serious themes and has untold stories,” says Thanikachalam. variety. Producers say the festival recognition has opened new doors for the film after its breakthrough at Cannes. “After Cannes, films with bigger ambitions came to me.”
“I first started thinking about this story when I saw the words ‘Gulf Wives’ in a news article,” Sethi says. “A closer look at Human Rights Watch’s report on Gulf migrants in India reveals that these wives are all in unique types of long-distance relationships with their husbands.”
The project grew out of Sethi’s observations of critical gaps in media coverage. “What struck me most was the lack of attention to Gulf wives. There is very little media attention about these women who are deeply affected by the immigration process,” she says.
The film has already received international attention, with participation at Cine Qua Non Lab, Produire au Sud (Kolkata) and Berlinale Script Station. Seti was awarded the Companion Fellowship from Berlinale Talent in 2022.
The production team is targeting filming in the winter of 2025-26, subject to a co-production partnership. “Film Bazaar is an important co-production market for us as 90% of films are shot in India,” Thanikachalam points out. “We look forward to meeting potential film production partners from India and the world.”
Film Bazaar (November 20-24) is part of the project market of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI, November 20-28) in Goa.
