Cinema is not a man’s world: Halitha Shameem

Barring Farah Khan, women directors have always been associated with ‘artsy’ films. “PPP happened because I saw four kids roaming about the Amaravathi River without any parental guidance, and next day I hear that a woman was raped and murdered in the same spot they were merrily playing. I couldn’t push away the thought that maybe the kids had seen something but didn’t make much sense of it, naturally,” she says of her debut being non-commercial purely for an inadvertent reason.

Working with child artistes, that too kids who had never faced the camera would have been challenging, but Halitha was lucky. “I have always loved children. I made advertisements in local cable TV across small towns in Tamil Nadu and auditioned over 200 children. The ones I found were quite natural. The other kids in the film were just as sparkling.”

Not having sent the film to international film festivals, Halitha says the response from children organisations was overwhelming. “I have given seminars and helped in setting guidelines on how children should be portrayed in popular media,” Halitha says, who’s all-time favourite film is Jessie Nelson’s I am Sam while she looks up to music composer Rachel Portman for inspiration.

Starting out as a lyricist, it was director Samuthirakani who pushed this Electronic Media student towards direction. Through her good friend, Arya she started assisting Pushkar and Gayatri for Oram Po while still in college. Later she also assisted Mysskin for Nandalala and Samuthirakani in Nadodigal before returning to Pushkar-Gayatri for Va Quarter Cutting. In the meanwhile, the 28-year-old was into short films as well.

“It irks me whenever someone poses the question of whether being a woman in the supposed male-dominated industry is tough. The question is probably as old as the Methuselah. For those in the industry and also for the ones who aren’t, talent is the hierarchy here and therefore, I have never faced any discrimination,” she says.

Her next project, Minmini (Fireflies), which will start rolling from December 11, is also in the young adult genre, with two boys from PPP and Esther Anil of Papanasam fame playing the leads. “Minmini will be an emotional rollercoaster ride with a high dose of friendship and sacrifice,” she says on a concluding note, adding that it is too early to divulge any details. Other than that, she also has three scripts ready.