Labour (2021)

"Labour", set in a working-class Chennai (a city in Southern India) neighbourhood, traces the lives of four different set of characters who work as blue-collar building construction labourers. In a developing country like India, internal migration (from relatively poorer states to the bigger Cities and Megacities) and other macroeconomic developments weigh down heavily on the working class; eating into their jobs and income levels. In this context we follow certain people from the working-class community. Pandiyaar, a senior worker struggles to arrange money for his son's College fees and his daughter's near-in-the-future marriage; investing in informal chit funds to raise the money. A young couple, Murugan and Annalakshmi, with a two-year-old baby are being torn apart because of the husband being drunk. They even struggle to pay the monthly chit fund due because of Murugan's drinking and this puts their domestic life under stress. Patrose, a transwoman, has ambitions of becoming a teacher and is saving up by working as a blue collar worker but she faces conflicts due to her identity as a transwoman. Vellai, a migrant worker from another part of the country, forced to work here and send money home is part of this group of friends. Labour talks about the lifestyle, culture and struggles of these specific characters and the larger community around them in their particular geographical area. The characters and the community around them are forced to confront and endure a destabilizing crisis, but still move on with and face life regardless of the potentially devastating outcomes.