I WANT AABHYANTHARA KUTTAVAALI TO INVITE DISCUSSIONS'

Director Sethunath Padmakumar speaks about the struggles he faced to get backers for his debut film, why he feels its themes are rarely spoken about, why he chose to cast Asif Ali, and more

- VIGNESH MADHU

HE RECENTLY released trailer of Asif Ali's Aabhyanthara Kuttavaali begins with the dialogue, "Section 498A was designed to protect women, not to ruin men's lives." The law introduced in 1983 to address cruelty and harassment in marriage has often been criticised for being misused to settle personal scores between couples and their families. Director Sethunath Padmakumar travelled with this subject for over four years, determined to debut with a film that will be spoken about.

"Even though I had a few other subjects, I persisted with this one as I wanted my first film to be special. I wanted people to discuss it because it's a common issue today. I completely agree that 498A has been instrumental in protecting women's rights and bringing down domestic violence, but there's also another side to it. Are all these cases genuine? What happens to a person who is wrongly framed in such a case? These are some questions we are trying to put forward with this film."