IFFK 2024: Victoria, a crafty portrayal of a woman’s inner turmoil

The spark that initiates a work of art can come from anywhere. For Sivaranjini J., it came from the unusual sight of a rooster sitting inside a beauty parlour near her home in Angamaly. Victoria, her debut film which was screened in the Malayalam Cinema Today section at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala on Saturday, is almost entirely set inside a beauty parlour.

A rooster, meant for sacrifice at a local church, ends up in the parlour after it was handed over to the protagonist Victoria (Meenakshi Jayan) by her neighbour for safe keeping for a day. Victoria, a beautician, goes about her day with the clients, holding back the mental and physical trauma inflicted by her conservative parents over her love affair with a man from another religion. On the other side is a non-committal boyfriend, who seems unmoved by her constant pleadings over the phone to take a decisive step, whenever she takes a break from work.

Amid this inner turmoil, the rooster with its legs tied creates relatively minor problems, becoming a symbolic presence which is open for multiple interpretations. Just like the display board banning the entry of men into the beauty parlour, the film also does not have the physical presence of men. Victoria’s boyfriend is present only through phone calls, while only the voice of another man is heard from outside the parlour’s door. The rooster thus becomes the only male presence in this very female space, but with its legs tied, shares almost a plight similar to that of Victoria.

The women come, one by one, with their set of stories, insights and personal travails. One of them is paying a secret visit because her father-in-law is in the hospital, but she has to get it done for her brother’s wedding. Another daily wage worker is a frequent visitor to this parlour away from her neighbourhood, because she knows that a visit to a parlour near home can set tongues wagging. An energetic group of young girls, who are visiting a day ahead of a cultural competition, break into an acapella as they wait for their turn. Victoria runs from one customer to the next, while keeping her emotions in check.

The film shifts its focus constantly from her inner turmoil to an ethnographic treatment of this not so high-end beauty parlour and further to the personal tales of the women visiting it. But even without having a conventional narrative arc, it manages to remain tight and engaging throughout, partly due to the heartfelt performances, especially from the lead actor. At no point does it slip into a melodramatic space, although it could easily have. The debutant appears to be someone who is confident of her craft.

Sivaranjini, who is currently pursuing her Ph.D at IIT Bombay, tells The Hindu that film society screenings had kindled interest in filmmaking from her school days. After completing engineering, she joined the National Institute of Design to pursue film and video communication course, following which she made a few short films and worked as a freelance editor. Amid her PhD research work, she submitted the screenplay of Victoria for the Kerala State Film Development Corporation’s project to promote women filmmakers and got selected for funding.

“The project was helpful in many ways, especially because it gave access to the government-run Chithranjali Studio, where I designed the set for the beauty parlour. I could also collaborate with my friends who were all making their debut, be it the cinematographer Anand Ravi or music director Abhaydev Praful. I had taken a conscious decision to make this as an experimental film with a loose structure,” says Sivaranjini.

The experiment seems to have paid off, adding one more member to Malayalam cinema’s small but growing band of women filmmakers.