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Auto Queens

Sraiyanti HARICHARAN

  • India
  • 2025
  • 30min
  • G
  • DCP
  • color

Korean Premiere

Synopsis

Mohana is the president of the first trade union for women auto rickshaw drivers in the southeast Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As well as maneuvering her own auto through the busy streets of Chennai, she has to navigate a sexist and patriarchal system to secure equal opportunities for women drivers. She faces constant resistance—with conflicts and humiliations every day.
Fortunately, she has an ally in her friend Leela, who is also a driver. Leela is totally unintimidated by their many colleagues in this male-dominated occupation. Mohana and Leela form a memorable duo whose eyes are set firmly on their shared goal. Despite their different approaches, they carry out groundbreaking work, and inspire a growing network of Indian women in the process.​

Director's Statement

While the protagonists and I met with the intention of making this film, we have, during the course of filming, become close friends and allies. A one-and-a-half year long relationship has only strengthened post the completion of the film. I consider this film a collaboration of ideas between Mohana, Leela Rani and myself. The way in which all three of our ideas aligned felt to me like they were co-directing the film with me. And in a sense, this becomes the undeniable truth when we get intimately close to the lived experience of another human being, especially those we strongly relate to. Their story could not have been written without the presence of their own authorship.

schedule

Code Time Theater Grade
New Currents Shorts 2034 2026-08-22 | 10:40 - 11:49 MEGABOX Sinchon 8
New Currents Shorts 2118 2026-08-25 | 18:30 - 19:39 MEGABOX Sinchon 8

Director

  • Sraiyanti HARICHARAN

    Sraiyanti Haricharan (b.1993) is a cinematographer and director whose work blurs the line between observation and storytelling. Trained in cinematography, she brings a visual sensitivity shaped by her background in design and her roots in Tamil Nadu, where film and politics have long intersected. Shaped by the rise of authoritarian politics in India, her work sits at the intersections of caste, class, and gender.

Credit

  • ProducerMathivanan RAJENDRAN, Sruti LODHA, Sarabhi RAVICHANDRAN, Shilpa KUMAR
  • Cast Mohana, Leela RANI
  • Screenwriter Sraiyanti H
  • Cinematographer Prem AKKATTU
  • Editor Sraiyanti H
  • Sound Raghav RAMESH
The other films shown within
New Currents Shorts 2