The vicious face of society

The story is set inside an packed moving bus. A young girl is seen engrossed on her mobile phone while a co-passenger rues the insensitivity of today’s youth. He is all verbose about how we need more empathy and love, until he proves his only concern is about himself. Aparna Soman’s eight-minute short film ‘Oorampulikal’ deals with the insensitive and venomous face of society.

“The title of my story itself is indicative of how cruel society can be. Oorampulikal means a venomous spider and we are no different. Even if one person wants to be different, the society as a whole gives him little choice,” says Aparna. 

‘Oorampulikal’ revolves around a member of a transgender community who finds herself under attack. Her grit and defence shatters when the whole community decides to team up against her, just because she happened to be different.

“The use of a transgender character highlights the discrimination prevalent here. This is a true story. I have many friends who are members of the transgender community and have to fight for survival. Their right to life is trampled by society and it is for the same reason that I wanted to do a film on this,” says Aparna.

A doctor hailing from Vengara in Kozhikode, Aparna says ‘Oorampulikal’ is her attempt to break the barriers of gender. “I didn’t want to be just a woman director, I wanted to do something worthwhile. It was an extremely satisfying attempt and my friend and co-director Aryan Krishnan supported me with the venture,” she adds.

The film produced by Mundabra Faisalmon has Rajeev Rajendran cranking the camera. The cast includes Amal, Sharon Subramanyan, Nethaji Surya, Mad Madhu, Shibiraj and Sahal Thasneem.
The short film is available on YouTube.