Christo Tomy’s feature debut Undercurrent is a deft and delicate exploration of female solidarity. After losing her husband early in life in the monsoons, Leelamma finds her ailing son Thomaskutty claimed during the rains as well. Her daughter-in-law Anju, forcibly made to give up on her relationship with the Hindu boy Rajeev to marry Thomaskutty, finds herself pregnant just as he breathes his last. As they wait for the flood waters to recede to perform his funeral, closely guarded secrets and lies come tumbling out. While Leelamma and Anju confront the betrayal and hurt they have caused each other, they share a reciprocal desolation and pain and find extraordinary strength and support in fellowship. The merciless weather becomes a metaphor for the emotional swamp that the two women are caught in.
The film pivots on the flair and charisma of two powerhouse performers who bring impeccable harmony to their on-screen association: Parvathy Thiruvothu as Anju, caught between an unloving husband and wastrel lover, and Urvashi as Leelamma, selfish in the love for her son but grudgingly affectionate towards her daughter-in-law. A film about fraught emotions that is remarkably gentle and genteel.
Christo Tomy
Christo Tomy is a two-time National Award-winning filmmaker and an alumnus of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata. He is the director of Netflix’s true crime show Curry and Cyanide, which earned a Global Top #2 viewership and was among the top ten most viewed titles in over 30 countries. Tomy’s feature film script for Undercurrent (Ullozhukku) won the Cinestaan India’s Storytellers Script Contest, India’s largest feature film script contest. It was also part of Film Independent’s Global Media Makers Los Angeles residency, the NFDC Film Bazaar Co-Production Market, and the NFDC Screenwriters Lab.
