What occurs when a typewriter falls in love with the typist? Kovarty, the Malayalam short film, explores this unusual relationship.
The short, with Rajisha Vijayan in the lead and directed by Rohin Raveendran Nair, is amongst the 4 short movies chosen for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival’s MAMI Select: Filmed on iPhone programme. This is the second version of the programme in collaboration with Apple that showcases short movies shot completely on iPhones. This 12 months one film every was chosen from Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi and Tamil and the filmmakers are mentored by established administrators. In Rohin’s case it was Lijo Jose Pellissery.
Rajisha Vijayan in the Malayalam short film Kovarty directed by Rohin Raveendran Nair
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Premiered in Mumbai a few weeks in the past, Kovarty is ready in Thozhuthilmukku, a village of the Eighties. A typewriter arrives at the sub-registrar’s workplace, a lot to the delight of the typist, additionally a new worker, Daisy (Rajisha), the workplace workers and the public. She names it Qwerty [stands for the usual layout on English-language typewriter], which ultimately turns into Kovarty for others.
Daisy comes to grasp that the typewriter is in love along with her, a secret that’s identified solely to the wall-mounted pendulum clock. Daisy, who’s heart-broken after her lover abandons her, finds happiness in her relationship with the machine. Chacko, the sexton of the village church, who secretly loves Daisy, occurs to find out about this, which ends up in some critical repercussions.
Kovarty, which fantastically blends love and magical realism, is written by Rohin and Vimal Gopalakrishnan, the co-writer of Mukundan Unni Associates. “Vimal brought this idea and later we developed it into a script. We realised that the story has a great potential for romance and magic realism, especially because we both are huge fans of Marquez [writer Gabriel García Márquez].”
Rohin Raveendran Nair
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Rohin provides that Lijo has been like “a big pillar of support. He told us that the script was so tight that he hardly had any changes to suggest.” Lijo has additionally given the voice for the clock.
It was on Lijo’s suggestion that the film, simply over half-hour lengthy, was shot at Kavalam in Alappuzha district. “We had scouted for locations in Kochi but could not find a spot that was untouched my any kind of construction work. Kavalam was perfect. The building was already there but we changed the interiors.”
Rajisha Vijayan in the Malayalam short film Kovarty directed by Rohin Raveendran Nair
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Rohin says that Rajisha was their solely option to play Daisy. “That is mainly because of her body of work. Also, we have not seen her in such a role. Both Vimal and me were confident about casting her as Daisy.”
The crew of Kovarty includes names from Malayalam and different industries. Among the Malayalis are manufacturing designer Sreelekshmy Sreekumar, who has labored with Krishand, and costume designer Gayathri Kishore, whose current work is Identity.
Rohin Raveendran Nair (proper) with cinematographer Swapnil Sonawane throughout the shoot of Kovarty
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Seasoned technicians Swapnil S Sonawane and Sunil R Borkar are the administrators of images. Besides frames that commemorate the milieu, particularly the panorama and the water, there are some distinctive photographs from inside the typewriter itself, making them the machine’s POV. Using plumeria flowers in the narrative — Rajisha wears one day by day on her braided hair, provides to the allure of storytelling.
Fact file
Rohin began his profession as a digital camera intern in the Marathi film, Chumbak. Among his short movies is the critically-acclaimed The Booth, produced by Vikramaditya Motwane.
As a cinematographer, Rohin has shot quite a few commercials, non-fiction and fiction initiatives. He is the cinematographer of the documentary Testimony of Ana that received the National award for the Best Non-Feature Film (2022). He has additionally labored in the section An Unsuitable Girl, which is a part of the documentary sequence Love Storiyaan on Amazon Prime, and has labored in a single episode of the Netflix sequence, Decoupled.
This 12 months there have been 1200 entries for the MAMI Select: Filmed on iPhone programme. Other short movies chosen are the Hindi film Tinctoria, directed by Amrita Bagchi, Marathi film Mangya directed by Chanakya Vyas, and Tamil film Seeing Red by Shalini Vijayakumar. Mentors for these filmmakers have been Vikramaditya Motwane, Konkona Sen Sharma and Vetrimaaran respectively.
Rohin, presently primarily based out of Mumbai, has roots in Kozhikode, Kerala. Born and introduced up in Delhi, he studied cinematography at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. He has written and directed a couple of short movies. His first main work was the net sequence Sacred Games wherein he was second unit director and cinematographer for each seasons. His current launch is the Netflix sequence, Black Warrant, wherein he directed the third episode.
Rajisha Vijayan in the Malayalam short film Kovarty directed by Rohin Raveendran Nair
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Rohin, in the meantime, plans to direct a Malayalam characteristic film, a thriller set in Wayanad, wherein he’s additionally the co-writer. “Even though I am comfortable in Hindi, in the current scenario it is difficult to make independent movies in that industry. And most of the good content there comes in the long form format. I think that the ecosystem in Malayalam is better for a filmmaker.”
Kovarty is streaming on YouTube.
Published – April 29, 2025 08:04 pm IST
