Little Wings, a Tamil short film written and directed by Naveen, premieres on YouTube on February 27 through Dream Warrior Pictures. The film won the National Award for Best Cinematography (Non-Feature Film) at the 71st National Film Awards, with the honour going posthumously to cinematographer Saravanamaruthu and to his co-cinematographer Meenakshi Soman.
The 20-minute film explores two intertwined ideas: unfulfilled desires that die with a person, and how one person’s death can become another’s liberation. Set in rural Tamil Nadu, the story was written during the COVID lockdown, when sudden deaths made the director reflect on what happens to the things people want but never get.
“When I started writing, I didn’t plan to reach this point,” Naveen said. “But the dream of sending it to international film festivals was always there.” The story drew from a work by Tamil writer Kantharvan, and Naveen developed it while reading regularly at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai.
The film’s origin is unusual for a Tamil short. Naveen’s friend connected him with Toronto-based producer Dilani Rabindran, whose Viewfinder Film Productions was running a screenplay competition for Southeast Asian filmmakers. Naveen’s script won first prize, and the prize money, combined with co-production support from Raju Murugan’s Comrade Talkies, funded the film on a 30 lakh budget. For context, editor Philomin Raj, who has worked on major Tamil features including Maanagaram, called it the biggest budget short film he had ever worked on.
The production used live sound recording throughout, meaning every scene had to capture its natural audio in real time with no dubbing. The demanding process required multiple retakes and tight coordination between the sound and camera teams. Music was composed by Santhosh Dhayanidhi, an associate of A.R. Rahman.
Little Wings went on a strong festival run. It was selected for the Indian Panorama at IFFI Goa, won Best Short Film at the Kerala International Documentary and Short Film Festival, and screened at festivals in Chicago, New York, Toronto, and Mumbai. It also picked up five nominations at the Critics Choice Film Awards.
Raju Murugan, the National Award-winning director of Joker who mentored Naveen as his assistant director, recognised the story’s ambition early on. “Though it’s only 20 minutes, the psychology it explores is enormous,” he said. “It talks about hunger, relationships between men and women, our culture.” The connection to Dream Warrior Pictures mirrors Raju Murugan’s own history with the studio, which released Joker and is now backing his former assistant’s debut.
Actor Ramji, for whom this was also a first short film, found a personal connection with the project. “The title is Little Wings, and I’m little too,” he said, drawing laughs. “My family was happier about this National Award than when I acted in big films.”
Two members of the crew will not be present for the release. Cinematographer Saravanamaruthu, whose work earned the National Award, and actor Kalidass, a street theatre veteran of 30 years who played a key role in the film, have both passed away since the shoot.
“This film will exist as long as YouTube exists,” Naveen said. “It will remain as their memory.”
S.R. Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures framed the release as part of a broader effort to support emerging filmmakers. “We see short films as a platform to identify new talent, not as a revenue exercise,” he said.
Little Wings premieres on the Dream Warrior Pictures YouTube channel on February 27 at 5:00 PM.