‘Selvi’ Explores the Grueling Hours of a Homecare Nurse at Busan

Set against the backdrop of the Busan International Film Festival’s Vision–Asia section, “Selvi” offers a searing look into the life of a homecare nurse whose working hours escalate from 12 to 72 hours. The film marks the feature-length directing debut of Tamil filmmaker Sailesh Rathnakumar and stars Anjali Patil, who also produces the project through her banner Anahat Films.

The narrative follows Selvi, an aspiring nurse hoping to eventually secure a position in Singapore. Her world shifts when Kavitha, a childhood friend, attempts suicide. In response, Selvi assumes Kavitha’s caseload on top of her own, navigating a relentless routine of moving between private households. She becomes indispensable to families who remain largely oblivious to her personal struggles and humanity.

Rathnakumar explained to Variety that the story’s structure is defined by the expanding timeframe of these shifts. “For someone like Selvi, a crisis doesn’t necessarily arrive as one dramatic event,” he said. “It develops through a series of working hours, additional responsibilities and small compromises that gradually become unbearable.” He noted that the camera remains strictly tethered to Selvi’s point of view, a decision made in collaboration with co-writer and cinematographer Bargav Sridhar so the audience discovers information only as she does.

The film contrasts its opening sequence, featuring Selvi and friends flying kites on a beach, with the confined domestic interiors that dominate the rest of the narrative. Rathnakumar described the kites as a symbol of “looking upwards” and imagining life beyond immediate circumstances. Production designers carefully selected locations to reflect the class dynamics of the households, emphasizing how nurses are often treated as essential yet separate from the families they serve.

Patil, a veteran of Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, and Tamil cinema, drew personal parallels to Selvi’s endless self-sacrifice. After graduating from the National School of Drama in 2010, she became a primary earner for her family and spent the first five years of her production company’s existence producing for others. “Somehow our ambitions grow around circumstances like fungi,” Patil said. “Culturally, in Indian society, this behavior is celebrated. Keeping others before oneself to the point of absolute exhaustion. We are surrounded by so many Selvis, men and women alike.”