Private Project

Vishu Kani

On the vibrant morning of Vishu Kani, a father and his spirited 7-year-old son awaken to a quiet house, their carefully arranged rituals shadowed by a growling stomach. With the mother working an unexpected shift, the duo is left to fend for themselves in the kitchen—a terrain both unfamiliar and daunting. Amid failed recipes, playful bickering, and a heartfelt rediscovery of tradition, father and son embark on a hilarious yet tender journey to create their own version of the perfect Vishu feast.

  • Smriti S Ramakrishnan
    Director
  • Sameeha Sabnis
    Director
  • Ashwathi Namboodiri
    Writer
  • Syed Sultan Ahmed
    Producer
  • Neha Jain
    Co-producer
  • Nirali Naik
    Cinematogapher
  • Sanjana Vasudevan
    Editor
  • Vandana Ramakrishna
    Sound Designer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    23 minutes 47 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    English, Malayalam
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Smriti S Ramakrishnan, Sameeha Sabnis

Smriti S Ramakrishnan is the co-creator of the Filmfare Award-winning short 'Soul-kadhi', streaming on Netflix India's YouTube, where it has garnered over 1 million views. A passionate advocate for celluloid filmmaking, she co-created and shot Khidki and Happy Honeymoon on 16mm, both of which have won at prestigious festivals, including Best Short at Cannes International Shorts.
With over two years of producing experience, she recently produced an ad for Xiaomi, featuring renowned director Imtiaz Ali. She is also the co-founder of Sí Films, a company specialising in post-production consultancy and festival strategy for independent films, with their first feature film client, Magic, making waves on the festival circuit with national and international accolades. Beyond this, she is also a professional paper-cutting artist and a pitch deck designer, transforming stories into captivating visual art.

Sameeha Sabnis completed her bachelor's degree in Anthropology from St.Xaviers College, Mumbai and a diploma in documentary filmmaking from Auroville film school in Ladakh. She is a scholarship holder in Sundance’s screenwriters lab, where she developed her first feature screenplay. During lockdown, her 2 min-single reel, celluloid short film ‘Happy Honeymoon’, won the festival director’s award at Cannes international shorts section, starting her journey into filmmaking. She also wrote and acted in this short. She was introduced by Netflix amongst top 10 upcoming filmmakers, in 2022. Her short-film produced by Netflix ‘Soul-kadhi’, is the highest watched short film on Netflix India’s YouTube channel. It also won best popular short Filmfare in 2023 and also represented India in Netflix’s Pan-Asia conference in Thailand. She is currently working as a development executive with Director Shakun Batra, at Jouska films.

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Director Statement

The Vishu festival is very close to my heart. As a kid, I too saw the Kani like Muthu does. Being a hybrid child of mixed cultural heritage, I have personally seen my Maharashtrian mother unlearn her experiences to learn the South Indian ways of cooking. This showed me that most of what my mother is praised for is meticulously learned behavior, and not a natural deposition she had. I started to think how easily we expect different things from girls and boys, men and women- from personal preferences to assuming ‘natural talents’... favourite colours even! Which is why this topic excited me! This became an opportunity to explore the mental burdens of the other side. Recently on Instagram, one of my favorite trends was reels about ‘girlhood’. These were reels of women finding their girlhood again. Which is what made me love the phrase ‘boyhood’. I wanted the protagonist, both adult and the teen, to have the same agency and freedom to question what they missed in their childhood and to make new choices that align with their ideas of ‘boyhood’. Hence, I wanted Muthu to also navigate the complexities of identity and tradition with curiosity and resilience in this film.
This film uniquely navigates that through a universal shared emotion- food. I truly believe in the power of meaningful but accessible cinema. I want the audience to feel seen, whilst taking away something special. The adventure and intrigue around whether Muthu and Shankar manage to cook a decent meal is what takes the narrative forward while spicing things up with important conversations about toxic masculinity, internalized sexism and the identity crisis the father-son duo have been experiencing. Additionally, these family dynamics exist in almost all families, no matter how progressive we think we are. That goes to show how internalized and ingrained in culture for generations these toxic beliefs are. Hence, this film also portrays a sense of hope. Watching a family confront their shortcomings and attempting to break the generational cycle all because of pure love for each other is something we would all hope for! Enveloping all of this on the day of a festival adds a sense of nostalgia and warmth to the story. Through its blend of humor, heart, and cultural authenticity, this film invites the audiences to savor the richness of tradition, celebrate the diversity of experience, and embrace the transformative power of love shared over a chilling bowl of Payasam.