Malaysian filmmaker Gogularaajan Rajendran undertook a two-month residency at Rimbun Dahan from June to July 2024.
About the Artist
Gogu (Gogularaajan Rajendran) is a filmmaker based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He focuses on telling stories about Malaysian Indians, blending horror and humor through both provocative and poetic approaches. The short film “Walay Balay”, which he co-directed, premiered at the 2024 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. He received the Krishen Jit Fund for his ongoing project “Araro Ariraro”, documenting the stories of Malaysian Indian plantation workers. Gogu is also currently developing his first fiction feature film, “Kaali: Depth of Darkness”, which received the inaugural mylab FINAS Award and was featured at the 2021 Seapitch Bangkok and the 2022 Film Bazaar Co-Production Market in India.
https://www.instagram.com/gogularaajan/
Research project: https://www.instagram.com/plantation.life/
Tumblr: gogu will die one day.
About the Residency
Gogu developed his feature film project “Kaali” during a two-month residency at Rimbun Dahan. The peaceful and calm natural environment played a crucial role in helping him find the essence of the story and build its structure after conducting intensive research on how folklore, fairy tales, and myths can be translated into the medium of cinema. Below is the logline for the film, “Kaali”:
1966, a plantation bordering a lush forest in Malaysia. Kali (24) is a young wife and plantation worker of the Indian diaspora community who struggles with her mother-in-law Chellammal’s impatience to have an heir. She begins to feel accepted when she eventually gets pregnant, but a wrong decision triggers a miscarriage. Suddenly, Kali faces the wrath of Chellammal, who turns everyone against her. Left alone, Kali discovers her divine connection to the forest and uses it to take revenge.
Scenes from the Residency
Showing on Open Day, 25 August 2024
“Every day when I wake up, I open the window panels that overlook a beautiful pond filled with lotus flowers. This pond has become my best friend. I gaze into it, share my thoughts with it, and it returns some back to me. I observe it daily, noticing how it changes and connects with the people and animals around it. This is a love letter to the Rimbun Dahan lotus pond.”