Princess of Athirapally
15-minute short · Fully CG · Unreal Engine 5

The Film

A period action-drama set in the Western Ghats of India in 1799, at the Athirapally waterfall. Four leads, around two hundred combatants, one night.

Logline

Ponni, a fifteen-year-old heir who has never known her father, is being hardened for a war she doesn't understand by her mother Raajamma — the widowed queen of a kingdom in hiding. When Alice, an Irish orphan enslaved to the British officer who killed Ponni's father, is forced to lead his soldiers to the hidden village, the two girls end up on the same side of a night battle beneath the Athirapally waterfall — and Ponni has to become the leader her mother has been demanding.

Synopsis

Expanded only from the logline and the set-pieces

Western Ghats, India, 1799. Ponni is fifteen, the heir to a kingdom in hiding, and she has never known her father. Her mother, Raajamma, the widowed queen, is hardening her for a war Ponni does not understand.

Alice is thirteen, an Irish orphan, enslaved to the British officer who killed Ponni's father. She is forced to lead his soldiers to the hidden village.

What follows is a night battle beneath the Athirapally waterfall: around a hundred villagers against around a hundred British soldiers, muskets and torches in the dark. Lightning strikes a tree. It burns, crashes into the arena and splits the field with a wall of fire. Young warriors leap through the flames.

The two girls end up on the same side of it. And Ponni has to become the leader her mother has been demanding.

The four leads

Ages as scripted

  • Ponni

    15 · the heir

    The heir. She has never known her father. Her mother is hardening her for a war she doesn't understand.

    Played by Pragathi Guruprasad

  • Alice

    13 · Irish orphan

    An Irish orphan, enslaved to the British officer who killed Ponni's father. She is forced to lead his soldiers to the hidden village.

    Played by June Schreiner

  • Raajamma

    32 · Ponni's mother, the widowed queen

    Ponni's mother. The widowed queen of a kingdom in hiding.

    Name to be announced

  • Isaac

    47 · the British officer

    The British officer.

    Auditions underway

Character tiles are abstract. Full cast and crew credits are on the Team & cast page.

Western Ghats, 1799

The film is set in the Western Ghats of India in 1799, at the Athirapally waterfall. The kingdom is in hiding. The village is hidden. The soldiers are led to it, and the battle happens at night, beneath the falls.

The place is not modelled. The environments are Gaussian splats scanned on location in the Athirapally forest and the surrounding Western Ghats, with hero foliage captured individually. The waterfall appears at three scales: the lookout, the top, and the foothill.

Place
Western Ghats, India
Year
1799
The falls
The Athirapally waterfall
The kingdom
In hiding
The village
Hidden
The soldiers
The British officer's, led to the village

How the world is captured

Set-pieces

Five technical showpieces

  1. The night battle

    Crowd combat, muskets and torches. Around a hundred villagers against around a hundred British soldiers.

  2. The waterfall at three scales

    Lookout, top and foothill.

    1 Lookout
    2 Top
    3 Foothill

  3. The burning tree

    A lightning strike ignites a tree. It crashes into the arena and splits the field with a wall of fire.

  4. Through the fire

    Young warriors leaping through fire.

  5. Digital doubles

    The cast, scanned. Digital doubles with scanned faces.

Artwork is added here as it is released.

By the numbers

15minutes
100%final-pixel Unreal
4lead characters
~200crowd combatants
FactDetail
TitlePrincess of Athirapally
FormatNarrative short · fully CG · period action-drama
Length15 minutes
EngineUnreal Engine 5; every frame rendered in-engine (final pixel)
SettingWestern Ghats, India, 1799; the Athirapally waterfall
Lead characters4 — Ponni (15), Alice (13), Raajamma (32), Isaac (47)
Crowd~200 crowd combatants (≈100 villagers vs ≈100 British soldiers)
PurposeFestival-bound; proof of concept for a feature-length Princess of Athirapally

Proof of concept

Princess of Athirapally is festival-bound. It is also a proof of concept: a pipeline and financing proof for a feature-length Princess of Athirapally, in the same world, on the same pipeline, at feature scale.

The film was formerly titled Ponni. A 2020 thesis film under that name won an Epic MegaGrant.

Teaser

Added when it is released · no autoplay

The people who are making it, the kit for writing about it, and where the production stands today.

Meet the team Press kit Where we are