Krishnendu Kalesh’s directorial debut Prappeda gets into Rotterdam Film Festival

Malayalam films have always had a good run at the Rotterdam Film Festival. The gala being a dream destination for filmmakers, many M’town projects have won big in it, including Sanal Kumar Sasiddharan’s Sexy Durga in 2017.

When this year’s selection list for the festival was out, the Malayalam titles in it seemed interesting. It includes Mahesh Narayanan’s Malik, Rajiv Ravi’s Thuramukham, Sajas Rehman and Shinos Rehman directorial Chavittu and Krishnendu Kalesh’s Prappeda.

Prappeda (Hawk’s Muffin) is the debut movie of Kalesh, which will be screened at the Bright Future category of the festival. The category requires original subjects which have an individual style of representation and a cutting edge of the modern day filmmaking.

Kalesh traced his filmmaking passion from the world cinema screenings of International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in the year 2003. Gradually turning it into a profession, he began his work with the short film Karinchathan. The movie was a cinematic response to the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in France.

Prappeda deals with themes like war, migration and politics. The thoughtful poster evokes a sense of curiosity. It represents a girl moving across a misty waterfall, while the Chinook helicopters could be seen flying above her. Those were used by the US Army during the Vietnam, Iran, Afghanistan wars.

ALSO READ: Minnal Murali: Tovino Thomas wanted to play the villain in the superhero movie; the actor opens up 

In an exclusive talk with The Indian Express, the director spoke in detail about his movie, and revealed that he has used a hybrid narrative style. He also added that there are a few portions influenced by art house cinema, while some other portions are treated musically as well.