Rohini, who played Indrani, said she was happy to be part of a film that dealt with an issue that most filmmakers don’t wish to address. “I didn’t know what sort of director Deepak was, but when I read the script, I knew it was very strong. Especially the way the film ends. I had no second thoughts about doing it,” she said.
Rohini is part of the CPI(M)’s cultural wing of Progressive Writers and Artists Association of Tamil Nadu, and has met people from underprivileged sections of society who have faced similar issues in real life. “The one thing I keep hearing is that they just receive compensation for what happened. There is no support system for them to go to court. What sort of compensation can we even give them? Their sadness and misfortune has always stayed with me. The kind of silence you see in Indrani is what I have seen in them,” she said.
Though Indrani and Parvathy are from different social classes, they develop a friendship based on mutual respect that’s rarely represented in Tamil films when it comes to female characters. In one scene, Parvathy goes through an anxiety attack and Indrani talks her through it. The women are allowed to be vulnerable, express their anger, confusion, helplessness and yet operate with agency.
“The scene that left a mark on me is the one where Indrani decides to fight for her son. She hasn’t yet made up her mind, and her brother tries to discourage her. The comrade with her tells her that nobody has fought such a case till now. She’s not an all-knowing person. But she knows in her heart that she wants to fight,” said Rohini. “When she makes the decision to fight, she uses the word ‘thozhar’ (comrade) for the first time.”