Thaainilam trailer: a Sri Lankan Tamil father starts over, October 9
A father and daughter lose everything and cross to Tamil Nadu in 2016. The debut film arrives with festival wins, one of them for Ouseppachan's score.
Thaainilam, a debut feature about a Sri Lankan Tamil father and his young daughter rebuilding their lives in Tamil Nadu, opens in theatres on October 9. Its trailer went out this week, and the film comes to its release with a festival run already behind it.
Abhilash G. Devan directs. The story is set in 2016, against the backdrop of the war in Sri Lanka: a father who has lost his family and his land is left with no choice but to cross over, arriving with a little girl and very little else. His one ambition is to give her a better life than the one they left. The film follows the struggle to start again in a new place, the kindness of the people who step in to help, a kind of freedom he never had at home, and the pull of a homeland that does not let go of him even as the new life takes shape.
Dr. Amar Ramachandran and Neha Amar play the father and daughter. Balasingh, Deepak Prabhakar and Nimisha Nambiar lead the supporting cast. The name that jumps out on the crew list is Ouseppachan, the veteran Malayalam composer, who handles both the songs and the background score. Prashanth Pranavom shoots the film, with Kailas Tripunithura on art direction and Rajakrishnan on the mix.
That score has already been noticed. Thaainilam won Best Original Score at the Seventh Art Independent International Film Festival, and Abhilash has picked up debut-director honours at both the Tamil Nadu International Film Festival and the Cosmos International Film Festival. The film also took Best Indian Film at the Crown Wood International Film Festival, a Best Narrative Feature special mention in Tamil Nadu and Best Cameraman at Cosmos, and was an official selection at the Toronto Tamil Film Festival, Sweden’s Luleå International Film Festival and Belgium’s Catharsis International Film Festival.
The trailer puts its weight on what comes after the crossing: the state of mind of people rebuilding far from home, and the relationships and hopes they carry with them. It also touches on losses in Sri Lankan Tamil lives that rarely get talked about on screen.
Thaainilam releases in theatres on October 9.