The first look of G Venkatesh Kumar’s Blackboard, released last Friday, has nothing but a dark profile of a face. The film traces the lives of two young boys who are poverty-ridden. In a conversation with Silvercreen, director Venkatesh Kumar says, “One of them pretends to be a transgender person in order to earn money, and is subjected to sexual violence which eventually leads to his death.” Kumar adds that his “target audience” for the film are people who harbour “negative opinions” about the community, and that in the film, he intends to portray the issues that plague them.
That’s not all, though. Blackboard would also have transgender artistes essaying roles. While a few films with transgender characters were essayed by actors of the gender themselves in movies like Aruvi, Vaanam – and also the upcoming Peranbu – the rest are portrayed by male actors, rues Venkatesh. The film was inspired by certain incidents that took place when the director worked at a call centre. “They had a powerful impact on me,” he says.
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While Neelam, Venkatesh’s debut feature film that revolved around the Sri Lankan civil war, was banned by the CBFC, his other upcoming feature too, is set in the country. The director is working on a biopic of the LTTE leader Velupilla Prabhakaran. The film is set to go on floors next month, and the cast and crew details will be announced by the lead actor whose identity is a suspense, says Venkatesh. When asked about his association with Sri Lanka, the director explains that he has a “strong connection” with the country and would reveal the details soon.
Apart from Neelam, some of his other films include the arthouse drama Kannadi Bommaigal, Lightman, a documentary fiction called The Beautiful Eye and Unakkul Naan which premiered at the Norway Film Festival in 2016.
Blackboard is produced by the director himself in collaboration with Studio 18.