Nivin Pauly’ Moothon To Be The Closing Film At Indian Film Festival Of Melbourne 2020

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2020 that went virtual this year owing to the ongoing pandemic, officially closed its special eleventh edition with the screening of Geetu Mohandas’ visceral and imaginative film Moothon that stars Malayalam actor Nivin Pauly in lead, along with Shashank Arora, Sobhita Dhulipala, Roshan Matthew amongst others.

The film that is co-written by Anurag Kashyap along with Sreeja Sreedharan and Geetu herself has been lauded widely for the novelty of its idea and Rajeev Rai’s brilliant cinematography. Geetu’s last outing Liar’s Dice was celebrated and even became India’s entry to Oscar that year.

Moothon, however, is the story of a young boy who swims across the ocean from Lakshadweep to Mumbai in search of his elder brother. The city’s grime entraps him and he ends up in Kamathipura. The plot examines a host of ideas starting with cross-dressing, gender, identity, and the prevalent notion of destiny. Balancing realism and symbolism effectively, Mohandas tells a potent tale of love, loss, identity, and a sense of belonging.