Indhu V. S – Budding female director of Mollywood with ‘19(1)(a)’ to her credit

Indhu V. S is a budding female director and screenwriter of Malayalam cinema, who made an impressive directorial debut with 19(1)(a) starring Vijay Sethupathy & Nithya Menen, in the year 2022. She wrote the script as well. The movie released on OTT platform, received favourable reviews for its script, direction and performances. She has 12 years of experience in the entertainment field.

Indhu V. S belongs to a family of movie buffs

Indhu hails from Olassa locality, Kottayam. All her family members are huge admirers of movies. Yet she belonged to a conservative era during her teens, where film world is a taboo to girls. Only way left in front of her to get into the film world was to learn cinema. In fact she had to fight with family and finally convinced them to take admission at Chetana Film Institute, Thrissur. As Thrissur gives good vibes to arts and cinema, she decided to continue there for a while, after studies were over.

Indhu V. S had a magical entry as an assistant director through Salim Ahamed’s Adaminte Makan Abu

Indhu’s entry to film world was nothing short of a fairy tale. She began her career as an assistant director through Salim Ahamed’s Adaminte Makan Abu in 2011. The movie won numerous accolades including 4 National awards (with Best director & Best actor). Starting her career with a good film helped her a lot throughout her film journey. Movie marked directorial debut of Salim Ahamed too. Her association with the film helped her to learn how a movie is being formulated and presented on a big screen in front of wider audience.

She continued her association with same director for his next projects such as Kunjananthante Kuda, Pathemari etc. Along with feature films she also shot a few short films and ad, for earning a supportive income.

She roped in big stars for her debut film – 19(1)(a)

To rope in big stars of Tamil like Vijay Sethupathy & Nithya Menen for a debut movie, that also in a Malayalam film is not so easy. The powerful script helped her a lot. As an assistant director, she did 3 films till then. Yet 19(1)(a) was completely out of her comfort zone. She planned a film on low budget. Already she had to leave 5 projects for different reasons. Though 19(1)(a) was a small project, director Indhu put her soul in the film. As the lead character is a Tamilian, Vijay Sethupathy came to her mind for doing this role. It was actress Remya Nambeeshan who helped her to connect with the big star. In fact Remya gave Indu, Vijay’s manager’s contact number and also called him.

Once Vijay Sethupathy came to Kavalam, Kerala for a film shooting. At first he said, he doesn’t have dates. Indhu asked him if he can give her just 5 minutes to listen to her story. The team was residing in a hotel at Alappuzha, and the actor invited her to join his team on his return journey after shooting to the hotel. She was planning to make use of those valuable 5 minutes, brief him the story and then return by bus.

While she got into the car, everyone were Tamilians and she briefed her story in Malayalam. After 2 minutes itself, she realized Vijay and his team is showing interest in the story. They even forgot the 5 minutes given to her, and she felt, they got connected to the story. After traffic block, when they reached hotel, she got 2 hours to explain her story. Even after reaching hotel, they invited her to join tea and they continued film discussion. Vijay gave her dates for shooting before she left hotel.

It was costume designer Sameera Saneesh who connected Indhu to Nithya Menen. They have worked together in Pathemari. Indu went to Bangalore to meet Nithya and after listening to the script, she nodded ‘yes’. Thus Indu gives credit to a few female artists of the film industry, who helped her throughout.

Indhu V. S – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She won best debut director award at Thiruvananthapuram International Film Festival. Through her film she expressed her opinion that all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression.

2. The lead character of her debut flick, doesn’t have a name.

3. During her childhood days, she happened to read scripts of M.T from library at her village. That’s how she got attracted to screen writing.

4. She loves to do films with humour background – her dream project.