''Udalaazham'' (lit. ''Body Deep'') is a 2018 Indian

Paniya Paniya is one of the Malayalam languages spoken in India. It is spoken by the Paniya people, a scheduled tribe with a majority of its speakers in the state of Kerala. The language is also known as ''Pania'', ''Paniyan'' and ''Panyah''. It belong ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by Unnikrishnan Avala. It features actors Mani, Remya Valsala,

Anumol Anumol is an Indian actress, predominantly acting in Malayalam and Tamil films. She appeared in Malayalam movies such as '' Chayilyam'' (2014), ''Ivan Megharoopan'' (2012), '' Akam'' (2011), '' Vedivazhipadu'' (2013) and '' Jamna Pyari'' (2015 ...

Indrans Indrans is an Indian actor and former costume designer, who appears in Malayalam films.His mentor was Shiyas M S, a law college student. He started his film career as a costume designer and actor in 1981 and got a breakthrough in 1994 with the ...

Sajitha Madathil Sajitha Madathil is an Indian film and theatre actor. Her performance in Joy Mathew's feature film '' Shutter'' (2012) won her the State film award for second best actress. She is the head of the department of Acting at the K. R. Narayanan Na ...

Joy Mathew Joy Mathew (born 20 September 1961) is an Indian film and theatre actor.He is also a film director, playwright and screenwriter.He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Career Joy Mathew is best known for playing the lead role in John Abra ...

and

Nilambur Ayisha Nilambur Ayisha is an Indian actress in Malayalam movies. She started her career as a theater artist. Later she became a supporting actress in the Malayalam movies in late 1960s and 1970s. She has acted in more than 50 movies. She was the firs ...

in the lead roles. Produced by Dr. Manoj K. T., Dr. Rajesh Kumar M. P. and Dr. Sajish M. under the banner of Doctors' Dilemma, it is Avala's debut feature. The film premiered at 20th Mumbai Film Festival in October 2018 before doing rounds at the festival circuit including the

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

and

Indian Film Festival of Melbourne The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) is a Victoria State Government-funded annual festival based in Melbourne founded in 2012. It is presented by Film Victoria, and the provider is chosen through a tender process. The current tender pro ...

. The film presented by

Aashiq Abu Aashiq Abu (born 12 April 1978) is an Indian film director, producer, actor, and distributor, who works in Malayalam cinema. He is best known for his films such as '' Daddy Cool'' (2009), '' Salt N' Pepper'' (2011), ''22 Female Kottayam'' (20 ...

is scheduled to release theatrically on 6 December 2019.

Plot

Gulikan, a tribal transgender from the deep jungle settlement in Kerala was married in childhood to Maathi. Born and brought up as a boy, he has the soul of a girl. He is constantly being abused whenever he steps out of the forest looking for work. Two unfortunate love affairs culminates into destruction. Hounded by the society that wants to capture and kill, he is on the run.

Cast

*Mani P. R. as Gulikan *Remya Valsala as Maathi *

as Dancer *

as Moorthy *

as Rameshan *

as Vagabond *Vettilakolli Mathi as Mathiyamma *Abu Valayamkulam as Fishmonger *Rajeev Vellur as Deputy Ranger *

as Housemaid *Suresh Thiruvali as Tea Vendor *Anil Kumar A. P. as Cook *Suni R. S. as Kuttichoppan

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by

Sithara Krishnakumar Sithara Krishnakumar (born 1 July 1986) is an Indian playback singer, composerlyricist classical dancer and an occasional actor. She predominantly works in Malayalam cinema in addition to Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. Sithara is a well kno ...

and Mithun Jayaraj. The album consists of 4 tracks featuring lyrics by Manu Manjith and Unnikrishnan Avala. The background score is given by

Bijibal Bijibal Maniyil is an Indian music composer and playback singer who works predominantly in Malayalam films, documentaries, short films and television commercials. He has composed for more than 150 feature films, several documentaries and televis ...

Production

Development

Avala, when he began working as a teacher in

Nilambur Nilambur is a major town, a municipality and a Taluk in the Malappuram district of the Indian state of Kerala. It is located close to the Nilgiris range of the Western Ghats on the banks of the Chaliyar River. This place is also known as 'Teak ...

, travelled mostly in buses. He would observe a lot of tribal people during his journeys and began to study them. Their lives and stories which he found interesting led him to make a documentary called ''Last Page'' and ''Womenses''. During that time Avala met Raju whom he says was "a woman inside and a man outside." His experiences inspired Avala to write the story of Gulikan, a tribal

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

person whose life was a constant battle against humiliation and abuse by a parochial racist story. Raju was part of the initial discussions of the film and wished to be part of the project. However, he died due to chronic ailments before the film making began.

Filming

For the lead role of Gulikan, Mani P.R was selected. Mani who had earlier won the 2006

Kerala State Film Award The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State C ...

as a Child Actor in his debut feature ''Photographer'', was initially reluctant to take up the role having been disillusioned after facing rejections from the film industry and personal tragedies. It was only after his wife's intervention, he finally accepted the role. Grooming the actor for the role took six months. Mani also helped to translate the script to

language as required by the story. Three doctors viz, Dr. Manoj K.T, Dr. Rajesh Kumar M.P and Dr. Sajish M because of their passion for cinema, came together and formed the banner ''Doctors' Dilemma'' to produce the film. Remya Valsala,

and

were cast in key roles and principal photography began in 2017.

Reception

International Film Festivals attended

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It ...

* London International Motion Picture Awards *

* Madrid International Film Festival * The Bangalore Queer Film Festival

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt8924804, Udalaazham
Facebook Page

Official trailer
2018 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Transgender-related films Indian drama films Films shot in Wayanad Indian LGBT-related films 2018 LGBT-related films