CHENNAI, INDIA / BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA —Selvi, the debut feature by Tamil writer-director Sailesh Rathnakumar, starring and produced by Anjali Patil (Newton, Kaala) – recipient of the National Film Award of India – will have its World Premiere in the Vision – Asia section of the 31st Busan International Film Festival (6 – 15 October 2026).
Set within the largely unseen world of home-care workers, Selvi explores care, migration, friendship, guilt, exhaustion and the determination to keep moving forward.
The film was written by Sailesh with cinematographer Bargav Sridhar, from their observation of the home-care nurses who attended Bargav’s mother through months of critical illness – migrant women from smaller towns in Tamil Nadu, living in modest hostels, working daily in homes nothing like their own. Sailesh, himself a migrant to Chennai from Coimbatore, recognised the tension immediately.
“Selvi is about a woman moving through an ordinary day. I wanted the film to move with her, to stay close to her life without explaining it or asking it to mean more than it already does.”adds Sailesh.
Vision – Asia is Busan’s platform for new Asian directors, and one of the most closely watched discovery slots in world cinema. Anjali, the lead and the producer of the film, produces under her banner Anahat Films. Founded by her in 2021, Anahat Films is dedicated to creating meaningful stories for both Indian and global audiences, with a slate of diverse productions across fiction and non-fiction formats – which includes The Moogai (Sundance 2023) and Baksho Bondi(Berlinale 2025). Selvi is their first full length Tamil feature.
“As an actor and producer, Selvi became my way of reclaiming creative independence for stories that need patience to be told. It’s a personal, intimate observation of the ordinary people in healthcare who spend their lives caring for others, even as their own lives quietly wither. Premiering at Busan is a milestone we’re incredibly proud of. We would be bringing Selvi back home, to the people to whom it truly belongs.”says Anjali.
Backed by the best in the industry, the film is edited by A. Sreekar Prasad, winner of nine National Film Awards, and sound designed by Anand Krishnamoorthi, National Award winner for Ponniyin Selvan: Part I.
Selvi is Co-Produced by the Red Sea Fund, a Red Sea International Film Festival initiative, and is supported by Hong Kong Asia Film Financing.
