KOCHI: The premise and centre of the 25-minute-long short film Dear Diya is true love — one that is beyond the confines of caste, creed or physical attributes. It is a much-needed respite from the judgements and stereotypes set by society.
The movie is the tale of Diya, a romantic soul at heart. She is looking for that elusive true love, like the one in her favourite movie Kadhal Kottai. She is on a video chat with a guy with a high-paying job in the US, a suitable match her parents found for her. But her heart isn’t there. Diya loves travelling, music and movies, but the guy likes to stay at home and exects a wife who cooks for him. Soon, Diya finds a friend on a social media platform called lonely-traveller, and he turns out to be a travel bug and music lover just like her.
“I wanted to tell a story about true love — a warm story about two people finding each other overcoming all odds. It was a theme I had in my mind. A story of deep love. I was scared of the resumption, as the relationship shown in the movie is not conventional in some ways,” says scriptwriter and lyricist Sreerekha Bhaskaran. Dear Diya is her first foray into scriptwriting. The short movie is directed by her brother Sreekumar Sampath.
The movie also talks about the difficulties and insecurities faced by a differently-abled person. “I wanted to show that love is not all about just looking a certain way. It’s deep and true. Some of my characteristics have come out in Diya, her love for travel, music and movies are similar to mine,” says Sreerekha.
Diya’s friend, though a practical woman, a complete opposite to Diya’s romantic and whimsical heart, supports her friend without any reservation all the time. The short film portrays a positive image of friendship between women. However, above all, it portrays the power of love to give confidence to those who suffer due to their notion of personal shortcomings.
The short film is the maiden attempt of the siblings Sreerekha and Sreekumar and Radhika Ravi, who plays the titular character. Thejas Jyothi plays Divya’s virtual lover Adarsh, who is hiding his pain and suffering behind the virtual world. Kailas Memon composed lyrics penned by Sreerekha. The soulful romantic song adds to the charm of this romantic short movie.