Malaysian filmmaker Kunjila Mascillamani on entering the TIFF Directors Lab for ‘Guptam’ and the challenges of filmmakers

Expectations for Kunjila Mascillamani’s Guptam (The Last of Them Plagues) have been high ever since ace filmmaker Payal Kapadia joined the film in November 2024 when it was listed on the Film Bazaar Co-Production Market, the National Film Development Corporation of India’s platform that offers financial and artistic support to independent filmmakers. She joins a talented line-up of collaborators – Malayalam film director Jeo Baba and actress Kani Kusruti, who starred in Payal’s award-winning film All We Imagine as Light.

Almost a year later, Guptam is still gaining global attention from Kunjila and is one of 16 female directors participating in the Director’s Lab at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Guptam is also among the 30 official selections for the Asian project market at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, which begins on September 20.

“It’s a great feeling. I’ve never been outside India, attended TIFF or met any practicing foreign filmmakers. It’s been a hugely enriching experience in terms of my filmmaking practice,” says Kunjila.

Since 1999, Guptam has been developing in Kunnamkulam, Thrissur district. It explores the life of a single, working mother who moves to the city with her older daughter after her younger daughter mysteriously disappears from a cemetery. “The main character is a woman from Kozhikode and she is different from other people in her locality. For example, there is only one woman who wears a churidar,” says Kunjila. “All he does is look for his daughter, and yet he ruffles a lot of feathers in his locality, which acts as an aberration in society.

According to Guptam’s logline (a two-sentence summary of the film), the film is set in ‘Keralam’, where the ‘wrath of God’ (with an intentional lower case g) is unleashed on the villagers, allegedly because of the protagonist, and she needs to prove her innocence to them.

Director Kunjila Mascillamani’s latest film Asanghadithar won Special Jury Mention at Kerala State Film Awards 2023. | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Crediting the idea for the story to an epiphany she had, Kunjila called her mother “a remarkably resilient woman and a trailblazer in her own way. I was amazed at her superhuman effort to raise two girls all by herself in a highly moralistic society like Keralam,” the director says in a statement to TIFF, calling the women “accidental revolutionaries.” He adds, “Guptam is a tribute to their battles.”

When asked about making films with strong female leads, Kunjila comments, “I don’t always get the opportunity to tell the stories I want to tell, so this public image remains that I only tell stories about powerful women. I’m interested in doing horror and thrillers, and some of them might be about kickass women, given that there are so many amazing women around us. It’s not a conscious choice to make films about women; it’s that’s just because movies about women are often conscious.

Kunjila’s latest directorial project, Asanghadithar, one of five short films in the 2022 anthology film Freedom Fight, showcased the plight of women working in shops on SM Street, Kozhikode to access toilets, following a 2009 protest led by P Viji, a peace activist. Freedom Fight won the Special Jury Mention at the Kerala State Film Awards 2023.

Challenging battle

Kunjila regrets that sexism still plagues the mainstream Malayalam film industry, which eventually led her to take the international co-production route and visit project markets: “The Malayalam film industry, and the film industry in general, is not driven by merit-based actions that involve affirmative action and reservations. It’s not about how good you are with the filmmakers and how you relate to the film, but it will let you down. You don’t belong to cliques, whose upper caste men always give themselves opportunities.’

The filmmaker recalls the controversy surrounding the exclusion of Asanghadithar from the 2022 Kozhikode International Film Festival for Women. Police detained Kunjila for protesting the exclusion of her film and the lack of transparency in the film selection process. “I always felt that you had to be vocal or praise the ruling party to be considered for an opportunity. I was clear on that and protested,” says the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI) alumnus.

A scene from Kunjila Mascillamani’s ‘Asanghadithar’ in the five-film Malayalam anthology film ‘Freedom Struggle’ | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

“This has not affected Guptama in any way because we are not approaching Malaysian producers. You call this an arthouse film and there is no scope for approaching producers or private investors from ‘Malluland’. But if a producer or private investor approaches us to invest, we could choose that over the international co-production route. All we filmmakers need is money,” he quips.

Cooperation and causes

Her frequent partnership with Jeo Baby stems from the mutual support between creators. “I tell him what I think about his writing and vice versa. He once said he will be a part of everything I make until I become an established director. People like him who are ready to give an unknown filmmaker a chance without prejudice are rare,” says Kunjila, who worked with The Great Indian Kitchen director in Freedom Fight and was the lead associate director for Mammootty – 20 Core Kaatrer (Kaat).

About her relationship with actor Kani Kusruti, who is Guptam’s creative producer, she says, “Kani and I have come a long way; she acted in my graduation film at SRFTI and we have maintained a creative and collaborative relationship ever since.”

Later this month, Kunjila and Kani are going to visit the Asian Projects Market with the first draft of Guptam’s script, which needs to be fine-tuned in the writers’ and directors’ labs, he says.

Published – 10 Sep 2025 17:05 IST