As Kazhakuttam railway station continues to remain ignored, the techie community who has been campaigning for better rail connectivity and more halts for daily trains has gone a step ahead. Prathidhwani, a socio-cultural organisation of the IT hub, has come out with a short film, Liberators , which moves through the life of a techie, who commutes daily from the capital city to Kollam.
The film shows how the protagonist misses out on spending time with family and deals with practical difficulties of the commute such as walking along the unlit road to the station. “The film was made as part of the second edition of our short film festival, Qisa. But we’ve been pursuing the matter for quite some time and had even initiated campaigns demanding stops for more trains at Kazhakuttam station. It is high time that the authorities take a serious look into the issue, what with Technopark going on an expansion mode and other IT campuses coming up in the area,” says Rajeev Krishnan, secretary of Prathidhwani which now has a membership of over 1,000 techies.
Members of Prathidhwani form the cast and crew of the movie. Ajith Anirudhan, who directed the movie, has written the script. Vinu P.V. plays the lead. Magi Y.V., Reneesh A.R., Joshi, Sivasankar and Rejith are among those in the cast.
As of now, among the long-distance trains only Vanchinad Express stops at Kazhakuttam, which witnesses heavy rush of techies on Friday evenings. “It would be extremely helpful if trains such as the Intercity, Chennai Express, Malabar Express or the Maveli Express halted for at least a minute at the station on Friday evenings and Monday mornings. It is extremely difficult for us travel to the central station on Friday evenings owing to the heavy traffic. It takes at least two hours for us to reach there,” says Rajeev.
Prathidhwani members had got in touch with members of Janakeeya Poura Samithi in Kazhakkuttam which has been demanding better facilities at the station. “They had figures to prove the station hasn’t progressed much even as Kazhakuttam is developing at a fast pace,” he adds.
The 18-minute film was shot in and around Technopark in a week and was screened at the second edition of Qisa.
