Chaithra J Achar on playing a lesbian in the short film Love and Let Love

On February 14, Shailaja Padindala, the director of Naanu Ladies, released a new short film called Love and Let Love. All of 7 odd minutes in duration, the short film stars Geetha Kailasam and Chaithra J Achar as a mother-daughter duo, each on their own journey of finding love. While the mother, a widow, has a new man in her life, the daughter is queer and in a relationship with a girl. When both sets of lovers run into each other at a café, how they react to the situation is the crux of the short, which does not feature any dialogues.

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Speaking about doing Shailaja’s short film, Chaithra says, “A friend who knew about Shailaja’s plan asked me if I’d be game to work with her, so I reached out and asked for a synopsis, which she sent promptly. Shailaja explained that the film would be very short and that I would not even have lines to speak. She said that Love and Let Love would be an emotionally-rich tale of two people, who are in love in their own way.”

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Chaithra’s character is in love with another girl, and her mother has just begun seeing someone after years of being widowed. “That caught my eyes. Usually, people stop themselves from doing somethings, for the fear of how society would react. In the mother’s case, finding love again is right for her, gives her happiness and does not harm anyone else; this is shown very beautifully in the short film. Everybody has a right to a partner, irrespective of gender, age, etc., and society has to accept this,” adds the actress.

When Shailaja, an openly queer filmmaker and strong voice of the community explained the concept of the film, Chaithra was sold immediately. “When she asked me if I’d be okay to play a lesbian, I said okay almost instantly. I didn’t read too much into it. As far as I was concerned, it was like any other character I would do,” says the actress, adding that she is paired with Malini Jeevarathinam, a theatre personality and LGBTQIA+ activist from Chennai, who identifies as they/them.