Divorce, one of the first Malayalam movies to be produced by the Kerala government as part of a project to fund women filmmakers, is releasing on February 24. The film is written and directed by Mini IG, one of the two women whose films were selected for production in the first year of the project in 2019. Tara Ramanujan was also selected as part of the project, and her film Nishiddho was released a few months ago.
The Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC) is in charge of this women empowerment project of the government. Saji Cherian, Minister for Culture, announced the release of Mini's film two weeks ago as the second one in the project after Nishiddho. The KSFDC invites applications from aspiring women filmmakers every year, and after a selection process, the works of two women are taken up for funding. The project offers Rs 1.5 crore to each selected woman filmmaker.
However, the release of Divorce had been repeatedly postponed, ever since its completion during the peak of COVID-19. Mini had spoken out about the difficulties she faced in getting the film released. She told TNM in November last year that she had been waiting to get the film released for two years. She was promised a release date several times, but then it would get postponed, and she would not even be informed. A KSFDC official told TNM that they had decided to release Nishiddho first, though Divorce was the first to get a censor certificate since Nishidho had won a state award and got featured in film festivals.
Actors Priyamvada, Chandunath, Shibla, KPAC Leela, and Sreekumar play important characters in Divorce, along with others. The trailer, which was released last week, shows women in different stages of their life going through divorce proceedings and separations. The cinematography of the film is by Vinod Illampally and the editing is by Davis Manuel. Sachin Balu has composed the music for the film, while the lyrics are by Smitha Ambu.
Watch: Trailer of Divorce
In 2021, when the KSFDC chose two more women filmmakers for the project, it also decided to fund films of two persons from the SC/ST communities. In 2022, four more people were chosen – two women and two people from the SC/ST communities. Only Nishiddho has come out so far as part of the project, and Divorce is the second to get a release.