Watch Kutty

Directed by Janaki Vishwanathan with co-writers Ramesh Arunachalam and Sivasankari, Kutty is a Tamil language film that was received with wide critical acclaim for its raw honesty of the face of child abuse and cruelty so prevalent in the Middle East. A young girl Kutty (Ramesh Aravind) lives the typical life of a Egyptian girl: she is uneducated, illiterate, unschooled, and submissive to the wills and needs of a family she loves unconditionally. In order to help her family financially, Kutty allows herself to be forced into child labor. She thinks that in return she will be able to finally afford good food and clothing, things she is not typically accustomed to. The family she is meant to serve lives in the city, meaning she must leave her mother behind.

At first, the family is kind to Kutty and it seems her life has improved. When the mother-in-law of the family arrives, everything changes. The old woman is terrible and critical. Kutty is denied food and subjected to constant abuse. When she fears she cannot take it anymore, Kutty tries to send a letter to her family to come get her. A local store clerk offers to help, but Kutty cannot provide any useful information. Because she has been uneducated for most of her life, she does not even know the name of the village where she came from.

During an impromptu visit by her family, the mother-in-law plays along like the life Kutty leads is fantastic. Kutty is so traumatized by the abuse she has endured that she cannot say a word otherwise. One night, Kutty is overcome by a desire to be free again and makes up her mind to finally run away and make her way back home. A neighborhood stranger finds Kutty while she is making her escape and offers to help, but it remains to be seen whether his intentions are good or otherwise.