Kalieswari Srinivasan reps Dheepan at IFFC

Text and pic by Shiran Illanperuma

When acclaimed French filmmaker Jacques Audiard sent a casting director to Chennai in search of talent for his refugee drama, an apprehensive young theatre actress, Kalieswari Srinivasan decided to audition.

About a year and several international accolades later, she stands in front of a packed audience at Colombo’s iconic Regal Cinema, sheepishly excited to introduce her film. It’s Sri Lanka’s first public screening of Dheepan – a Palme D’or winning drama about Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Paris – and Kalieswari is the only link to the film present.

Though the film stars author, poet, actor, refugee and former LTTE child soldier Antonythasan Jesunathan (alias: Shobasakthi) in a searing performance as the titular character, it was Srinivasan, with an understated turn as Yalini who was the breakout star of the film.

Yalini is a complex character to be sure – a woman forced to take an orphan under her wing and feign marriage to an LTTE deserter to ensure safe passage to France. When asked about the preparation she had to undergo for her onscreen debut, Srinivasan says she is no stranger to the ethnic conflict that raged across the Palk Strait during her childhood. 

“There’s more than a political connection between Chennai and Sri Lanka. I grew up with the news of the war which ended right after I finished college. So the war is as old as I am in a way,” she said.

Unfortunately Shobasakthi who has a more direct stake in the broader socio-political ramifications of the film was unable to attend the festival due to concerns over his safety and refugee status. Srinivasan therefore, took it upon herself to ensure that a representative from the crew was here to interact with local audiences.

“It’s very important for me to meet the public here. I need to see how the audience is going to accept or receive our hard work. This is a story of the people of this land and I needed to be here when the people see it,” she said.

Judging by the snaking queue outside Regal Cinema, which developed well over an hour before the screening and roaring applause after, it’s perhaps safe to say that Colombo’s reception of the film was positive.

International Film Festival Colombo Director Asoka Handagama, upon observing public enthusiasm for the film premier, made calls to distributors to try and secure a second screening. Unfortunately this was not possible.

Whether or not Dheepan will receive a full theatrical release remains to be seen. But Handagama is hopeful that the film will reach a broader audience outside of the select 500 or so who managed to pack themselves into Regal Cinema for the free event.

With Sri Lanka’s own cinema industry still struggling to find the political space and resources to reflect the complexity of the island on screen, Dheepan offers a rare glimpse of a uniquely Lankan-origin narrative that has been deprived of mainstream representation.

Given the thematic subjects of the film, Dheepan’s reception has been heavily politicised. With increasing concern over Europe’s treatment of asylum seekers as well as ongoing scrutiny on Sri Lanka’s post-war reconciliation process, this was perhaps inevitable.

Srinivasan however, while being attuned to the sensitivity of these issues, resists a wholly political reading of the film. “To me the film is not about a political message alone. It’s a story – it’s all about feeling. Probably the only message would be love; just human love. That’s all.”