Statistics say that roughly 7% of the population of Malaysia, 1.9 million people, are of Tamil origins. Community that big must be dynamic and is somewhat integrated to society, although its cultural representation could be wider. “Metro Maalai”, the debut feature written and directed by Haran Kaveri and Shobaan, revolves around a hint of romance between a Malaysian Tamil man and Indian Tamil woman in Kuala Lumpur. We got it through our Submit Your Film program.

“Metro Maalai” is structured in chapters, chronicling the romance between the anonymous guitarist (first-timer Satish Kumar) and a married woman Nithya (Punitah Shanmugam). The first two chapters serve as an introduction where we meet our characters and their daily life routines. The guitarist is recovering from a painful break-up from his girlfriend, trying to land as much gigs as possible in precarious work conditions to survive the harsh economy, but also the loneliness. On the other side,...