Kamali

CinemaSerf

Suganathi is bringing up her young daughter Kamali with the help of her own mother after she was forced to leave her drunkard husband. They live right by the ocean and the youngster relishes both the water on which her uncle Santhosh teaches her to surf and the very basic concrete park in which she hones her skateboarding skills. She is fairly fearless, this girl, but her mum still worries about their future and so sets off on quite a lengthy pilgrimage to pray for something (she thinks it won’t work if she reveals her wish). Though in no way abandoned, this temporary separation gives Kamali a chance to see a little of what life is and will be like away from her mum’s protection whist her very long trek along the edge of a busy highway, with only sandals on her feet, provides Suganathi with space and time to think on her own situation. There’s something really natural about all of the performances here, with nobody seemingly aware of the camera as it follows them around. The dialogue, and there isn’t much of it, is entirely conversational and the film also gives us an opportunity to look at a part of India where religion still plays a very important (if perhaps, from my more secular perspective, not so very realistic) role in the hopes and aspirations of a culture still bound up in traditions that define roles for women centred around marriage and childbearing/rearing. There is plenty of joy to embrace here, this is a family that is struggling in a material sense but is strong, loving, and engaging to watch.