Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Young director depicts problems caused by marital discord

K.Timple

ERODE: Protagonist Priya returns home with a Bharathiar book and miniature veena – prizes she had won at school. As she enters the house to share with her parents the joy, a plate of rice comes flying near her.

With Priya going in, her father exits the house in a huff following a heated argument with mother – thus goes the story of the short film, Veenai, directed by K. Timple.

The 20-minute film talks about the effects of marital discord and its impact on Priya, essayed by Ms. Timple, who told The Hindu, “I directed the film to highlight the impact of frequent fights at home on young minds.”

Veenai, portrayal of an incident in her friend’s life, took the young director three days and Rs. 3,000 to shoot.

“My mother Chitra Kumar financed the movie and father Kumar, a cameraman by profession, assisted,” she says.

In fact, the movie is two years old. “It was shot in 2005 during the second year of my diploma programme,” says the girl, who was then only 17 years old. On the urge to direct the movie – her first – Ms. Timple says she had the story in mind for long but did not have a medium to express it.

“I write poetry and the story was in that form until I met friend Pon. Kumar, who suggested that I take to short films,” she said.

After scripting the story, the Salem-based girl roped in friends to act. “The man and woman who played Priya’s parents are our family friends,” she says. After completing the movie, Ms. Timple used her skills to edit the movie, add music – she has used two of Bharathiar’s songs – and for the entire post-production process.

What she did not know was what to do with the movie. “Having finished the movie, it was lying idle until Mr. Pon Kumar came to my rescue. Using his network of short film directors, he helped screen the movie in various platforms,” she says.

Today, Ms. Timple has screened her movie in all the important film platforms in the State and won awards from noted directors.

What next? The young director says she is working on two films, one of which is animated. The other, funded by an NGO, is on the problem of population.

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