Actor, producer and director Anjali Patil has always been drawn to the characters that often go unseen. She used to get angry, she says, when filmmakers kept coming to her with the same kind of roles — the marginalised, overlooked women at the edges of someone else's story. Then she came to a softer understanding: representing marginalised lives in cinema is not a limitation, it is a matter of pride to be seen as a person who can represent the underrepresented.
Known for her roles in films like Marathi drama The Silence (2015), Hindi black comedy Newton (2017), and Tamil actioner Kaala (2018), Patil now hit with Selvi, a Tamil film she has produced (under her banner of Anahat Films) and starred in, which heads to the Busan International Film Festival later this year.
Selvi follows a home care nurse who takes on her best friend's shift after the friend collapses. Over 24, then 48 hours, the film slowly unravels the world around Selvi, bringing to light the migration, exhaustion, invisible labour, and sacrifices of those who move from smaller cities to larger ones in search of a better life.
In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, Patil discussed the film's origins from a personal observation by its cinematographer, the industry masters who shaped it throughout production, the comparison she is not afraid of, and why she believes Indian audiences have been ready for a film like Selvi for a long time.
Edited excerpts from the conversation:
How did you decide to take on Selvi both as an actor and as a producer?
Sailesh Ratnakumar, the director, has been shaping Anahat Films for more than three years. Along with Bhargav, the cinematographer and co-writer, they pitched me a one-pager, and it came from a very personal observation of Bhargav during his mother's major illness, where nurses would come to their home. The story was shaped between Bhargav and Sailesh's observations and their artistic choices.
It was something that we at Anahat Films would take up. The texture of the world, the character. It's a very complex, layered character, and yet it's simple... she's like an invisible character.
Nobody really thinks of home care workers and their inner world and their sacrifices — what they are going through. They're trained to be invisible as well.
For both Sailesh and Bhargav, Asghar Farhadi was their writing mentor, so we very proudly say that it was quite easy to approve this film's development.
Did you join on as a lead first or a producer first?
It's like twins born with the difference of two seconds — I was first given the script as a producer, and then my next question was, 'Can I play Selvi? Sailesh was like, 'Of course, we thought you would be doing it for sure.'
Selvi is my first feature which was developed with my production house, with my collaboration from the very beginning. So there is a very different kind of ownership on the film, the script, on everything.
There is so much objectivity that comes in the producer role... it becomes all the more so all-encompassing. When the first cut came and I looked at the image of Selvi moving, I looked at Sailesh and went, "I don't know who that girl is."
There is a complete disassociation with that image, and that human being. And I still feel it... it's a very interesting psychological process.
With so many National Award winners on your technical team, how much did their collaboration shape the final film?
Working with masters — and I would really say masters is the word — I have learnt to appreciate how they just make so much space around them while working.
Editor Sreekar Prasad sir was our mentor and guiding force from the beginning. When we finished a shooting draft, I sent him the script, thinking, "Oh, why would he pick up something like this? He did RRR and Dil Chahta Hai." He read it in a day or two, while editing all these big films, and told me, "Oh, great. When can we speak about it?"
He's such a master that he just knows what would work and what would not at any point. So we went back, locked our shooting draft after his notes, and when first assembly was done, we realised, 'Oh, this would have never worked otherwise!'
Same with sound designer Anand Krishnamoorthi... the ease of their being has made a huge impact on the film. It's something you have to experience in theatres.
Do you feel the film's synopsis might invite comparisons to Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light as both are festival films centred on healthcare workers?
When we saw All We Imagine As Light, Selvi was already in the making; the story structure and the story itself is very different than Selvi.
So we were never really bothered that both the films are about healthcare professionals. We were very consumed within Selvi and its experience. When it was seen by the festival agency agents, a lot of them did ask, ‘Oh, do you think it will be compared to All We Imagine As Light, are you scared about that?’
But we are very confident. In the way that All We Imagine has a very distinctive style — the way it was made, the way it was celebrated and went across the festivals — Selvi also has a very distinctive trajectory.
And of course, Payal (Kapadia) has also seen Selvi, a year ago. One common thing is just these two films talk about healthcare professionals; everything else is very different.
That's why we are very particular about Selvi's journey not being limited to the global audiences, but also bringing it back to its rightful viewers, which is Indian audiences.
You've worked across festival films and theatrical releases — have you ever felt typecast as a 'festival film actor,' and was that ever a conscious choice?
It was not intentional, and it doesn't really bother me. I kept working as an actor, preferring things which would challenge me or which would have space for my acting capacity. I was not driven by the commercial aspect or the ambition of wanting to be seen by thousands of people. That was never there.
It was easy for a lot of people to look at me and think, "Oh, this is an intense role, let's go to Anjali."
I used to get angry about it a few years ago. And then I came to a softer understanding — people come to me with a lot of marginalised roles and characters, whether it was Newton, Kaala or Mere Pyare Prime Minister. I should take pride in that. When people look at my filmography, they see a person who represents marginalised lives... and that's something.
As Selvi heads to the Busan International Film Festival and beyond, what kind of conversation do you hope it sparks?
The first conversation I really hope it creates internationally is on the space for contemporary Indian stories — nothing which comes with the tag of something "exotic" or catered for the Western eye.
There are already people who have made a tremendous mark in terms of Indian films, more than its stars and Bollywood. Those marks have already been made, but there is always a ceiling to be broken or pushed. My personal desire is to have a conversation and space for contemporary Indian cinematic stories on the global level, where we actually see the present human drama around Indian culture.
Home care, nursing and healthcare professionals and their exhaustion is relevant all across the world; it's not just an Indian story. It's a most relevant topic. If we could tap into the conversation of the invisibility of healthcare professionals, that would be fantastic.
Are you hoping for a theatrical release in India soon?
We don't hope, we know! We have to have a theatrical release, there is no other way.
The idea and positioning with Selvi is very specific — it's not a film which is going to the festival and then coming back to niche audiences in first tier cities. That is something we definitely don't want, we are very clear about that.
It's a Tamil padam. We want it released in Tamil Nadu like a proper Tamil film.
Between the world premiere and India premiere, we will be going to a select few festivals; a North American premiere, an Asian premiere or a European premiere. But we will be coming back to India and, before the theatrical release, take it to the health professional community through impact screenings.
It's been a couple of years since your last Tamil film; is there a particular reason for the gap?
Firstly, because I dubbed for myself in Tamil; I am learning to speak the language as well as a native speaking person... so that's taken time. It will probably take me another year to speak fluently.
I love this language, the culture, and the way people are so spiritual about filmmaking. I come from Maharashtra where there are two industries. But when I came here (Tamil Nadu) post Pa. Ranjith and Rajinikanth's Kaala (2018), I was shocked. I just did one film and there is so much love from this land! I have done around 40 films in Hindi and some five, six films in Marathi, but I've never gotten so much love.
It took time because I also got in producing. I've also been writing and developing for the last six years. So acting has somehow taken a little step back.
What can we look forward to seeing from you next?
There is a script called Average Girl which I have written, and have been working on it for the last six years. It's a speculative sci-fi film and I will be directing it, hopefully next year. We also have a documentary I'm producing called Oh Believers, which is on the women priests in the Hindu and Islam religion, directed by Nazia Khan.
And there's Sailesh's second film, and Bhargav's first film as director — Goliath — we will also be developing that.