The overwhelming wave of positive feedback for Malayalam short film New Normal has come as a surprise for its writer/director Monisha Mohan Menon and producer Vimal PK. The short film is a love story of two women and the attempt has been to start a conversation and normalise homosexuality. It has already hit more than one million views since its release three weeks ago on YouTube.
“As I do not know much about same-sex relationships, I spoke to people who are in them. What I learned is that love has no sexuality, love is love,” Monisha says. The challenge for the team was normalising without sensationalising.
The narrative follows the trajectory of the relationship - the first flush of love, fights, jealousy and falling out of love. “The budget may not be huge but we did not compromise on the making,” says Monisha, an engineer who quit her IT job to join the film industry. She was the lead researcher on Kayamkulam Kochunni and was a researcher and assistant director on Prathi Poovankozhi and One, and is now working on the script for her first feature film.
“During our discussion, we decided that we wanted a love story, something like 500 Days of Summer or OK Kanmani, but with two women as the main characters. There is a lot of judgement when it comes to homosexuality and the feelings of guilt and wrongdoing that accompanies it. With this film, we are asking audiences to see it as the ‘new normal’,” says Vimal, who is also a partner at Cafe Viibee, Kakkanad. Monisha is part of the community of budding film industry aspirants that Viibee seeks to encourage
“All love stories, irrespective of sexuality, are the same as are all the stages of a relationship. I don’t understand why, usually, in mainstream Malayalam cinema homosexuality is portrayed as something dark and intimacy is not normalised. I wanted to show the relationship differently - as happy and bright as homosexual love also is,” adds Monisha.
The messages she has been getting from young people struggling to come to terms with their sexuality and come out to their families have been a source of encouragement for her. “I get several messages, especially from girls, who tell me that thanks to the film they can initiate a conversation with their families. That they got courage from it,” she says.
“At the end of the day, the film is about acceptance!” says Vimal.
