Mike Trailer Talk: Anaswara Rajan’s Coming-Of-Age Drama Questions Gender Roles

Anaswara Rajan plays a young teen identifying as Mike, who questions gender roles and responsibilities, as early as the first scene in the trailer of Mike. "Men don't have to worry about period, pregnancy or pain. I wish was born a boy," the titular character says.

Directed by Vishnu Sivaprasad, the film follows the life of Mike (born as Sara), who disputes gender-conforming norms in the society. "Boys always have the freedom for everything. They don't have to be home by 6pm in the evening, and can even roam around at odd hours," says Mike, who often zooms the streets in a bullet and trains in martial arts. This is when she strikes a friendship with Antony (Ranjith Sajeev), who seems to come with a past of his own. The trailer also suggests an exploration of the challenges that come with sex reassignment surgeries.

You can watch the trailer here:

The film, which co-stars Rohini Molletti, Jinu Joseph, Akshay Radhakrishnan and Abhiram Radhakrishnan, has been produced by John Abraham and distributed by Century. The Hesham Abdul Wahab (of Hridayam fame) musical has been written by Aashiq Akbar Ali and filmed by Renadive. The film has been edited by Vivek Harshan and is set to be released in theatres on August 19.