Malayalam short film ‘Kovarty' explores romance between a typewriter and the typist

The Hindu

29-04-2025

What happens when a typewriter falls in love with the typist? Kovarty, the Malayalam short film, explores this strange relationship.
The short, with Rajisha Vijayan in the lead and directed by Rohin Raveendran Nair, is among the four short films selected for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival's MAMI Select: Filmed on iPhone programme. This is the second edition of the programme in collaboration with Apple that showcases short films shot entirely on iPhones. This year one film each was selected from Malayalam, Hindi, Marathi and Tamil and the filmmakers are mentored by established directors. In Rohin's case it was Lijo Jose Pellissery.
Premiered in Mumbai a few weeks ago, Kovarty is set in Thozhuthilmukku, a village of the 1980s. A typewriter arrives at the sub-registrar's office, much to the delight of the typist, also a new employee, Daisy (Rajisha), the office staff and the public. She names it Qwerty [stands for the usual layout on English-language typewriter], which eventually becomes Kovarty for others.
Daisy comes to realise that the typewriter is in love with her, a secret that is known only to the wall-mounted pendulum clock. Daisy, who is heart-broken after her lover abandons her, finds happiness in her relationship with the machine. Chacko, the sexton of the village church, who secretly loves Daisy, happens to learn about this, which leads to some serious repercussions.
Kovarty, which beautifully blends love and magical realism, is written by Rohin and Vimal Gopalakrishnan, the co-writer of Mukundan Unni Associates. 'Vimal brought this idea and later we developed it into a script. We realised that the story has a great potential for romance and magic realism, especially because we both are huge fans of Marquez [writer Gabriel García Márquez].'
Rohin adds that Lijo has been like 'a big pillar of support. He told us that the script was so tight that he hardly had any changes to suggest.' Lijo has also given the voice for the clock.
It was on Lijo's suggestion that the film, just over 30 minutes long, was shot at Kavalam in Alappuzha district. 'We had scouted for locations in Kochi but could not find a spot that was untouched my any kind of construction work. Kavalam was perfect. The building was already there but we changed the interiors.'
Rohin says that Rajisha was their only choice to play Daisy. 'That is mainly because of her body of work. Also, we have not seen her in such a role. Both Vimal and me were confident about casting her as Daisy.'
The crew of Kovarty comprises names from Malayalam and other industries. Among the Malayalis are production designer Sreelekshmy Sreekumar, who has worked with Krishand, and costume designer Gayathri Kishore, whose recent work is Identity.
Seasoned technicians Swapnil S Sonawane and Sunil R Borkar are the directors of photography. Besides frames that celebrate the milieu, especially the landscape and the water, there are some unique shots from within the typewriter itself, making them the machine's POV. Using plumeria flowers in the narrative — Rajisha wears one every day on her braided hair, adds to the charm of storytelling.
Fact file Rohin started his career as a camera intern in the Marathi film, Chumbak. Among his short films is the critically-acclaimed The Booth, produced by Vikramaditya Motwane. As a cinematographer, Rohin has shot numerous commercials, non-fiction and fiction projects. He is the cinematographer of the documentary Testimony of Ana that won the National award for the Best Non-Feature Film (2022). He has also worked in the segment An Unsuitable Girl, which is part of the documentary series Love Storiyaan on Amazon Prime, and has worked in one episode of the Netflix series, Decoupled. This year there were 1200 entries for the MAMI Select: Filmed on iPhone programme. Other short films selected are the Hindi film Tinctoria, directed by Amrita Bagchi, Marathi film Mangya directed by Chanakya Vyas, and Tamil film Seeing Red by Shalini Vijayakumar. Mentors for these filmmakers were Vikramaditya Motwane, Konkona Sen Sharma and Vetrimaaran respectively.
Rohin, currently based out of Mumbai, has roots in Kozhikode, Kerala. Born and brought up in Delhi, he studied cinematography at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. He has written and directed a couple of short films. His first major work was the web series Sacred Games in which he was second unit director and cinematographer for both seasons. His recent release is the Netflix series, Black Warrant, in which he directed the third episode.
Rohin, meanwhile, plans to direct a Malayalam feature film, a thriller set in Wayanad, in which he is also the co-writer. 'Even though I am comfortable in Hindi, in the current scenario it is difficult to make independent movies in that industry. And most of the good content there comes in the long form format. I think that the ecosystem in Malayalam is better for a filmmaker.'
Kovarty is streaming on YouTube.