Director Shalini Ushadevi, whose film ‘Ennennum’ is featured in the Malayalam category today, expressed disappointment that women filmmakers are still not recognized as the norm. She stated, “When I came to the IFFK in 2011, I was asked the same question about being a woman filmmaker. Twelve years later, I’m still asked the same question. It saddens me that things have not changed. We still have a long way to go for women filmmakers to be accepted as the norm. Hopefully, in the next IFFK, I won’t be asked this question.”

The filmmaker, who co-wrote the script for ‘Soorarai Pottru’ and won a national award for the same, has directed the movie ‘Ennennum,’ a sci-fi film featuring Santhy Balachandran. “I would primarily call it a love story. I was exploring various themes and had heard about the singularity project in 2011. That made me think about the concept of immortality. That’s when you start pondering about who you could spend your time with and what is forever love. I am trying to address these emotional questions. Sci-fi is the narrative device I use,” she explained.

Shalini Ushadevi, who enjoys writing and directing movies of various genres, worked on ‘Soorarai Pottru,’ loosely based on a real-life story. Her first feature film, ‘Akam,’ was a psychological film. She expressed her excitement about being part of a film festival in Kerala, highlighting its larger cine-literate audience.