In Malayalam film ‘Victoria’, a day in the life of a beautician and a rooster

In Victoria, the beauty parlour is both principal location and arena of desire. Sivaranjini’s absorbing Malayalam feature debut is set in the place where women go to get haircuts, facials and pedicures – but also to reckon with their difficult circumstances and crimped lives. A rooster plays witness and catalyst to the events.

The film explores a day in the life of the eponymous heroine (Meenakshi Jayan), whose friend persuades her to keep a rooster at her workplace. The bird, which is meant to be sacrificed at a church, is the only male presence inside the all-female space.

Victoria is troubled by her relationship with her conservative family and her waffling boyfriend. Meanwhile, various customers troop in to exchange gossip, confidences and coping strategies. Sivaranjini’s script was inspired by regular visits to a beauty salon near her home in Kochi, she told Scroll. During one such visit, she spotted a rooster, which was meant to be offered to the historic St George Forane Church in Edappally.

This practice intrigued Sivaranjini. “A rooster in a parlour exclusively for women” was the one-liner that she submitted to the project’s producer, the Kerala State Film Development Corporation Limited. The state government-run organisation has backed Victoria under a Women Empowerment Grant, and will release the 85-minute movie on November 28 across the state.

Sivaranjini applied for the KSFDC grant that is aimed at supporting female and Dalit filmmakers after seeing a newspaper advertisement. The National Institute of Design alum is currently pursuing a PhD in Communication Design at the IDC School of Design, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. “I had made short films during my masters, but I wasn’t sure I had it in me to make a feature,” the 34-year-old filmmaker said.

Production began only after a rigorous process of scrutiny. Two women and two Dalit filmmakers were eventually selected.

Sivaranjini expended her basic idea into an exploration of how women behave when they are free from male scrutiny.

“I observed the women in the parlour that I used to visit like an ethnographer – they would come there to get some work done, sit around and talk,” she recalled. “I found a lot of interesting stories. I wanted to incorporate this everydayness into the film – it needed to touch upon relationships and men and patriarchy, but it also needed to reflect the things that are said during everyday conversations.”

Victoria begins with a long take that follows the heroine from her bus ride to the parlour, during which time she is saddled with the rooster. The use of uninterrupted takes by cinematographer Anand Ravi, apart from creating movement within a single location, also accommodates the spontaneous acting styles of the mostly fresh cast, Sivaranjini pointed out.

“Most of the actors were newcomers, so I felt that it was better to move around with them rather than force them to repeat their actions,” added Sivaranjini, who has also edited the film. “Once they were okay with the camera moving around them, it was easier for them to stay in character for longer. It also worked in terms of bringing out Victoria’s anxiety through handheld camerawork. We feel that we are also there with her.”

Victoria was premiered at the International Film Festival of Kerala in 2024 – a cherished platform for Sivaranjini but also “risky”, she said, given how discerning and cine-literate the delegates tend to be.

“The people at IFFK are very critical, but fortunately, we got very good reviews after the premiere,” she said. “IFFK was a very important journey for us, in the sense that it gave us a lot of confidence in what we were trying to say.”

The film has since travelled to other festivals and has picked up awards in a few places – the interweaving of a beauty parlour, a rooster and womanhood has clearly resonated.

“I wanted to explore how a woman navigates an emotional conflict and then comes to a conviction,” Sivaranjini said. “One layer was female bonding, and another layer was faith. Victoria has a personal, deep faith, and the film reflects her spiritual inner journey.”

The rooster adds an extra layer to Victoria’s experience, Sivaranjini observed. “If she hadn't picked up the rooster that morning and got it inside the parlour, she might not have behaved as she does.”