BEGINNING OF A DREAM: Shobana, Nasir Abdullah and Preeti Vissa in Mitr; a scene from the film (above)

"Look closely, and Mitr is about second generation Indians"

For the past fortnight, Revathy, the petite south Indian actress turned director, has been cooped up in her friend's house in San Jose, California. She has spent much of her waking hours glued to the Net, keeping her fingers crossed and churning out e-mails to friends and acquaintances as part of a strategy to create a chain mail that would help circulate the word on the global release of her debut directorial venture Mitr-My Friend.

"We are distributing it ourselves. The e-mail campaign is part of the strategy," says the director from her temporary abode in the US. The film-in English-is releasing in 11 theatres across nine cities in the US on February 15: Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Boston, Washington, Chicago, New York, New Jersey and Sunnyview California. From Kodambakkam in Chennai to San Jose in California, with ample help and support from her producer-husband Suresh Menon, it has been a long way for the 35-year-old actress-director.

Revathy's debut film, in her own words "new and different", is a well and simply told story. Mitr-My Friend begins with a wedding and ends in a marriage. The film is about Lakshmi, a girl from small town Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, who marries Prithvi, a north Indian born and raised in America. But look closely, and it's about second generation Indian Americans. The Tamil-speaking Lakshmi's life revolves around her husband and daughter Divya. She sacrifices all her interests-carpentry, dance and music-for the sake of her family.

However, when Divya, her "baby", grows up and takes to her own life, and husband Prithvi does not look beyond his career and his laptop, Lakshmi is suddenly-and agonisingly-confronted with a sense of loneliness. The family gradually begins to grow apart. During one tense moment in the film, Divya rasps at her: "You're living in a world you left 18 years ago. Even in India, people are more forward in their thoughts than you are." Husband Prithvi is also unforgiving. At one point in the film, he swears: "You are the goddamn reason for everything that has gone wrong!"

DEBUTANTE: Revathy shoots as crew member Fowzia looks on

Desperately seeking a meaning in her life, Lakshmi finds companionship in the flowers in her garden who she regularly chats with and, finally, in "a faceless, nameless stranger" named "Mitr" in an e-mail chatroom. The friendship blooms and in the end, so does she. For the tall, gaunt, national award-winning south Indian actress Shobana, who essays the demure, suffering, sari and salwar kurta-clad Lakshmi, it's a role that translates her talent into a convincing performance.

But for Revathy, the entire exercise was one of "passion", a dream that she had been nurturing for a long time, and as she notes in her press release, "a journey of ecstasy, pain, tension and peace all put together".

"The film deals with how distances are formed without the members of the family actually knowing it. And how they eventually get together. I always like happy endings," she says. It's early days yet to say if the film will have a happy ending at the Indian box-office, but Revathy is undeterred: "For me it's a passion and not business."

Costing $400,000, in comparison to most celluloid opuses Mitr is clearly a low-budget venture and targeted at the global Indian Diaspora. A striking aspect of the film is an all-women technical crew: the cinematographer (Fowzia), music director (Bhavatharini Illayaraja), screenplay (Priya and Sudha), among others. "It was not planned that way, it just happened. The assembly of the female crew was both accidental and intentional," admits Revathy. "But for almost everyone, it is a first film, and the enthusiasm is unimaginable."

In due time, dubbed versions of the movie in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam will hit theatres in India. Mumbai model Nasir Abdullah plays Prithvi and Preeti Vissa, trained in Bharatnatyam in America, plays the 17-year-old Divya. American actors Mathew Philip and Blake Ormsby also star in the film. The movie, shot in San Jose over 30 days, generated a lot of goodwill and bonhomie among the crew and cast. "In the beginning, it was intimidating," recalls Vissa, "but very quickly, it got comfortable. Revathy aunty was most helpful and assisted me in expressing my emotions in each scene." Finding time between the exams she is taking in her first year as an undergraduate at UCLA in Los Angeles, the aspiring young actress is keeping her options open for the future. But for now, Vissa is visibly excited.

Revathy slots Mitr as part of the new genre of Indian movies. In India recently, a number of Indian-English films have come to theatres, notably Mira Nair's Golden Lion-winning Monsoon Wedding and Nagesh Kukunoor's Bollywood Calling. "It gives room to go beyond formula," says Revathy. "Mitr has eight songs and they don't involve dancing around trees. The songs are part of the sound track and intended to create a mood."

Zee TV, USA, has acquired the screening rights for the movie in the US. This, however, will happen only after the movie has run its course at the box office. "It is a chance to showcase something new and different," says Dheeraj K. Kapuria, senior vice-president and country head, Zee TV USA Inc. "There are very nice things associated with the movie, for example, an all-woman crew. It was an opportunity for synergy and that is why we tied up." The channel has included regular promos in its time telecast slots in the weeks running up to the release of the movie.

With 16 years of experience in the film, television and entertainment business, more than 125 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada to her credit, a national award for best supporting actress in Kamal Haasan's Thevar Magan, the actress has come far since she was introduced as a gawky girl by Bharathiraja in his Tamil film Mann Vasanai. A part of the audience on the film's opening day, at the first show at the IMC theatre in Sunnyvale, Revathy is keeping her fingers crossed. As Lakshmi discovers in the film, maybe all those e-mails Revathy has been religiously sending out will help.

-with Methil Renuka