Pakka - Iniyavan Elumalai

In his short film world-premiering in Palm Springs, four queer Indian friends living in The Netherlands - Kathir, Rinkoo, Vasu and Jiva - express their love for each other while playing cricket on blissful summer evenings. But one day Kathir drops the bombshell that he is contemplating a return to India for an arranged marriage. He is conflicted, feeling the pull between love for his friends and loyalty to his family. But equally disturbed are his three friends who, even though they join him on an impromptu stag night before the day of his proposed departure, are deeply upset and disappointed by what they see as Kathir’s betrayal of them. Will he go or will he stay?

“I'm an Indian gay man myself,” director Iniyavan Elumalai tells SEE NL of his film that has personal undertones. “I came to the Netherlands 13 years ago and my coming out was here. My family was back in India and telling them was not an easy process.”

Around that time Elumalai started to meet gay Indian men on Grindr in his new country. What he noticed was that many of these men were in marriages and leading like double lives. “It created feelings of anger and judgement in a way,” the director says. “Coming out for me involved a lot of loss.”

It was a subject therefore that demanded closer analysis.

“To get to that place of radical empathy, I think that was the intention behind the film...I think the essence that I was trying to convey with this film is to look at authenticity as more fluid, more a thing that you can empathise with, and not really a fixed label and make judgements based on that, because that has been used against the queer community throughout time.”

He also tells SEE NL that the idea for the film derived from an initial, simple image, that of “four gay Indian men frolicking on a Dutch cricket field.”

“Then everything, the characters and the story came later. That’s what was so exciting for me and for everyone in the film. Because it was so fresh and exciting.” The cricket scenes were shot over three days in the Dutch town of Bloemendaal.

Elumalai is an autodidact filmmaker, meaning that he taught himself (and is still learning) the craft. His first film, the romantic short Required Reading (2023) won, among others, the Audience Award at the Pink Film Days LGBTQ+ Film Festival (Amsterdam). “I have been an engineer in my life but a few years ago, I decided to do this film,” he says. “I just made the short with my friends and family. That pushed me to go bigger in scope, and also keep it more personal.” 

He describes his approach to subject:

“I want to make stories of characters from marginalised communities, queer or otherwise. I'm trying to find a cinematic form that does justice to our lives.”

For Pakka, which is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, the four actors turn in excellent performances, even though the pool of Netherlands-based Indian actors is a very small one. “I always wanted to work with a mix of actors, some with professional training and some with no experience. That was the plan from the beginning because we really wanted a genuine authenticity to the characters and their relationships,” Elumalai says.  

“And of course we had to also make this friendship believable because these four guys have never met each other ever. So we took them out camping. It was actually the most exciting and challenging process.”

The film’s title is derived from a word used across many languages and dialects in India, even Tamil, which Elumalai speaks. “In Tamil it means 100% sure. In Hindi, it has similar connotations also. You have it meaning authentic, perfect, solid, determined. We wanted to have a powerful word that brings all these characters in this world together, showing whatever happens, whatever conflict may arise within this small pot, they will be perfect, it will all be fine.”

Elumalai is working on a feature (Amudhan), which he describes as “a spiritual successor to Pakka involving two of the characters from this world,” as well as another short film, this time about the experiences of a female Indian student in The Netherlands. 

Needless to say, he is delighted by Pakka’s selection for Palm Springs ShortFest, which will mark his first visit to the States. “When recognition like this comes, it's just so joyous. It means that this is a story that's speaking universally - and that's exactly what I wanted,” Elumalai signs off.

Find out more about Palm Springs International ShortFest here.