K. Rajagopal on making films for and on the ethnic minority in Singapore

This interview was motivated by an interest in exploring how Singapore film directors perceive the three major Chinese cinema awards, mainly the Golden Horse Awards (GHA), Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) and Golden Rooster Awards (GRA), and what they might signify for Singapore cinema, especially for a nation that is predominantly ethnic Chinese. Compared to the number of Singapore Chinese-language films produced in the last two decades, there have been considerably less Indian-language productions. K. Rajagopal’s A Yellow Bird (2016) alongside two other Tamil films, namely Eric Khoo’s My Magic (2008) and T. T. Dhavamanni’s Gurushetram: 24 Hours of Anger (2010) offer critical takes on the vicissitudes of Singapore Indians struggling with issues such as socioeconomic inequality and racial prejudice in a booming Chinese-majority city-state.