IMMIGRANT
A FILM BY LITTIL SWAYAMP
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Confidential · For development review only · © Littil Swayamp 2026
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IMMIGRANT A FILM BY LITTIL SWAYAMP
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INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS
The hardest border he ever crossed
was his own fear.
02 / 21
IMMI GRANT
A FILM BY LITTIL SWAYAMP
LOADING
03 / 21
LOGLINE

Hunted across Los Angeles by
an unraveling roommate who was
meant to be his visa sponsor,

a fearful Malayali grad student must finally cross the only border that ever held him: the one his mother drew around him in childhood.

04 / 21
THE STORY

ACT ONE — ARRIVAL

Mathai arrives in Los Angeles in 2018 to study at a cheap business school, carrying a bank loan in his mother Mariyamma's name and an arranged fiancée in Florida he has never met. He washes dishes at Mercy's, a tiny restaurant run by a bitter older Malayali woman. He moves in with two casually racist American girls and a quiet roommate named Ryan who works at a company that hires international students. Mathai hears that as a lifeline.

ACT TWO — UNRAVELING

Ryan begins to come apart. Food disappears. A knife appears in the dark kitchen. Ducklings in the bathtub. Gas left running while a roommate lights a cigarette. The house calls the cops on Ryan. The bust goes catastrophically wrong. Ryan slips out a window, the LAPD nearly shoots Mathai by mistake, and the department buries the incident off the record. The next morning Ryan calls. He knows who reported him.

ACT THREE — RECKONING

Ryan stalks Mathai across the city. The chase ends in Mercy's empty restaurant, where Mathai is locked into a walk-in freezer to die. The childhood well memory finally plays in full — he climbed out by himself, scratched and bleeding, and when his mother arrived, her relief came out as anger, not as an embrace. He climbs out of the freezer the same way he climbed out of the well. He calls his mother. He tells her he is coming home.

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"The greatest border he ever had to cross
was not on any map."
— THE FILM'S THESIS
06 / 21
THE PEOPLE

MATHAI

The lead. Malayali grad student performing as "Matt." Small, polite, drowning quietly inside the dream his family bought him.

RYAN

American roommate. Functional, then unraveling. Was meant to be Mathai's visa sponsor. His collapse starts the deportation clock.

MERCY

Single old Malayali woman, never married. Owns the restaurant. Bitter, controlling, takes her broken life out on the men who work for her.

MARIYAMMA

Mathai's mother. Voice on the phone for most of the film. The woman who arrived late to the well, and whose relief came out as anger instead of an embrace.

ROSIE

The arranged fiancée in Florida he has never met. Calls relentlessly about flowers, bridesmaids, three receptions. Always at the worst moment. The recurring comedy beat.

JOSHY

2nd gen Malayali American college kid. Pure puccham. Gold chain, terrible advice, flexes for a girl who never gives him the time.

ANJU

2nd gen Malayali American college girl. The only person who calls Mathai by his real name. Sees through the performance. Offers him a way to stay.

OFFICER OHLONE

Native American LAPD officer. The quiet wisdom watching everything. The only adult in the city paying attention to Mathai.

OFFICER ADAM

Older LAPD officer, near retirement. Gray mustache, soft body, well-meaning fuck-up. Has his shoulder dislocated by Ryan's slammed door and keeps trying to take charge anyway.

OFFICER JACKSON

Adam's partner. Younger, big, tactical SWAT energy. Shouts "three, two, one" and kicks down a door that was already open. The institutional overreach in human form.

KATIE

White American roommate. Long blonde hair, always smiling, hands in namaste. Calls Mathai's culture "exotic" and herself an ally. The kind of racist who'd cry if you told her she was racist.

JESSY

White American roommate. Auburn curls, arms always crossed, head always tilted. The well-actually corrector. Read one essay about privilege and uses it against everyone except herself.

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THE WORLD — FOUR LOCATIONS
THE HOUSE
Highland Park. Three white roommates, one of them coming apart. Where Ryan's collapse becomes Mathai's problem.
MERCY'S RESTAURANT
A small Indian restaurant where Mathai dishwashes. Steam, grease, the immigrant labor underworld. Where the freezer climax lives.
THE COLLEGE
A cheap business management school in central LA. Where Mathai meets Joshy and Anju. Where his visa rides on a GPA he can't hold.
THE STATION
LAPD Hollywood Division. Where Adam and Jackson dismiss Mathai's plea for protection, and where Officer Ohlone quietly watches everything.
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THREE LOAD-BEARING SCENES
SCENE 22

THE SWAT BUMBLE

Twelve squad cars, a dislocated shoulder, an already-open door kicked down, the suspect escaped through a window. The film tips from horror to dark comedy in real time. Ohlone walks up with a coffee and cleans it all up.

SCENE 29

THE BUS STOP CHASE

Ryan walks across four lanes of traffic, eyes locked on Mathai. Five backyards, a wet sheet, a dog on a chain, ending at the restaurant. Ryan on the other side of the locked door: "Mathai." First time he uses the real name.

SCENE 33

THE FREEZER / THE WELL

Mathai locked in a walk-in freezer dying, intercut with the childhood well memory playing in full for the first time. He climbed out himself, then. His mother arrived too late, her relief came out as anger. He climbs out himself, now.

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SCENE 32 · THE PIVOT

DON'T TALK ABOUT MY MOTHER

Ryan: "Your mother will be happy to see you dead." Mathai snaps. The first violent gesture of his entire life. The Yellow Sea promise of the film, paid in full.

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SCENE 13 · A COMIC MOMENT

THE ELECTROCUTION

Mathai shuts off the main switch. Ryan flips it back on for the AC. The ladder does not survive.

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WHAT GROUNDS HIM — TWO MOMENTS
SCENES 5 · 8 · 28

THE TRIO

Mathai, Joshy, Anju on the Santa Monica boardwalk. The first time Mathai laughs in the film is at this table. The college friendship that quietly holds him together while everything else comes apart. Joshy with his terrible advice. Anju who actually sees him. The only place in Los Angeles where he gets to be himself.

SCENE 36 · CODA

THE WEDDING

Some months later. An LA beach at golden hour. Mathai's wedding. A small Christian Malayali ceremony on American sand. Mariyamma flies in from Kerala, in a sari on the Pacific, on American soil for the first time, finally letting go. Ryan walks down sober to apologise. Joshy with the white Malayali girl. The film lands soft. Who the bride is, the deck keeps to itself.

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TONAL COORDINATES
2016

LION

Diaspora longing. The mother thread. The journey back to who you were before you started performing.

2011

DELHI BELLY

Three roommates in over their heads. Dark comedy tipping into chase thriller. Hinglish dialogue, urban realism, the tonal whiplash that IMMIGRANT is built on.

2019

KUMBALANGI NIGHTS

The warm open ending. Family as both prison and home. Comedy underneath the survival.

2010

THE YELLOW SEA

Korean immigrant trapped in hostile geography. Raw two-man fights — exhausted men beating each other to unconsciousness and back, no choreography, just survival. The brutal realism IMMIGRANT's final restaurant sequence is built on.

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VISUAL STYLE

Reactions over dialogue.
Anyone who doesn't speak Malayalam
still gets the story.

Handheld realism
Natural lighting
Claustrophobic interiors
Neon reflections
Steam-filled kitchens
Late night LA
Rain-soaked sodium streets
The Pacific in the final shot
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FORMAT
LENGTH
90 to 95 minutes
LANGUAGES
English & Malayalam
GENRE
Psychological thriller · Dark comedy · Diaspora drama
SETTING
Los Angeles, 2018. Kerala in flashback.
SCENE COUNT
36 scenes, three acts (10 / 13 / 13)
FORMAT
Feature film, theatrical
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DIRECTOR'S NOTE — INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS

I came to America in 2019. I worked late nights. I knew what it was to send money home, to perform a version of myself in English that I didn't recognize in Malayalam.

My own mother passed when I was six. The mothers in my life were the ones my friends had — Malayali mothers loving their sons fiercely across oceans, through phone calls, through expectations, through prayer. That love is sacred and complicated, and it is the engine of every immigrant story I know. IMMIGRANT is built from those women and the men they raised.

The story is inspired by true events. Not mine alone. A composite from a decade of friends, cousins, roommates, and the late night phone calls I overheard. The immigrant story without the inspirational arc. The comedy underneath the survival.

The world has enough films about people who succeeded in America. This one is about a man who had to stop performing it to find himself.

LITTIL SWAYAMP
Littil Swayamp
BACKGROUND · WHY THIS FILMMAKER

Cinematographer on Parava, Koode, and Varathan. Grammy winner for art direction. Direction team on Bangalore Days. Camera crew on Ustad Hotel before that. Hundreds of commercials and music videos across India and the United States. Seven years in Los Angeles as the immigrant this film is about. The craft on one side, the lived story on the other.

LITTIL'S WORK GRAMMY · ART DIRECTION PARAVA KOODE VARATHAN BANGALORE DAYS USTAD HOTEL

Writer, director, cinematographer, editor — one head from page to picture lock. Audio engineering training from Musicians Institute Hollywood means sound design and the mix live in the same head too. The film moves on a tighter schedule: fewer handoffs on set, pre-production that already knows post, picture and sound that start cutting on day one, and a delivery date that holds.

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CAST WISH LIST · IN DISCUSSION

Lead role: Naslen.
Indie American supporting cast.

MATHAI
Naslen
Restraint, vulnerability, comic timing. The post-Premalu register.
MERCY
Revathy · Shobana · Urvashi
Severity, depth, presence
RYAN
Caleb Landry Jones · Lucas Hedges · Joe Cole
Indie American character actor
MARIYAMMA
Mukta · Maala Parvathi · Sona Nair
Mostly voice. Brief on-screen for the coda.
ANJU & JOSHY
Open casting · 2nd gen Malayali talent in LA + NY
Discovery casting opportunity
OFFICER OHLONE
Gary Farmer · Tantoo Cardinal · Wes Studi
Small role, real Native American actor
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BUDGET AND FINANCING
USD 2 MILLION INR 16 TO 20 CRORE BRACKET Final number locks with the lead producer. Allocation and recoupment model below stay fixed.
WHERE IT GOES
38%
LA
PRODUCTION
18%
ABOVE THE LINE
and CAST
16%
POST
and MUSIC
12%
MARKETING
and FESTIVAL
8%
KERALA
UNIT
8%
CONTINGENCY
TWO MARKETS, TWO PILLARS
UNITED STATES
  • Lead indie equity from an LA based producer
  • US sales agent in the Cinetic, Endeavor, UTA Independent tier
  • Diaspora theatrical via Bharat Box, FunAsia, Tugg
  • Festival path into A24, Mubi, Searchlight class acquisitions
INDIA
  • Malayalam production partner aligned with the film's creative vision and indie sensibility
  • Kerala theatrical presale
  • OTT presale across JioHotstar, Netflix India, SonyLIV
  • Music and satellite rights with Asianet and M and M Records
WHAT IT COMPARES TO
MINARI 2020 · USA USD 2M budget USD 15M global
PAST LIVES 2023 · USA USD 12M budget USD 22M global
PREMALU 2024 · MALAYALAM INR 4 Cr budget INR 136 Cr global
MANJUMMEL BOYS 2024 · MALAYALAM INR 20 Cr budget INR 240 Cr global
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THE ASK

In active development.
Seeking lead producer and financing
for principal photography.

STAGE

Story locked. 36-scene chart. Three set pieces drafted in full screenplay form. Treatment, logline + synopsis ready. Director and writer attached (Littil Swayamp).

BUDGET BRACKET

Indie feature. Budget to be set with lead producer. Production designed for tight, location-controlled shooting in Los Angeles with a brief Kerala flashback unit.

PARTNERS WANTED

Lead producer (US or Kerala-based). Financiers comfortable with bilingual diaspora cinema. Casting attachment for the Malayalam lead. Festival sales agent.

FESTIVAL PATH

Targeting Sundance, Toronto, IFFI Goa, IFFK Kerala. Distribution channels include theatrical (Kerala / US diaspora) and streaming (Netflix India / Mubi / A24-tier acquisitions).

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LET'S MAKE IT

LITTIL SWAYAMP
Writer · Director · Cinematographer
The hardest border he ever crossed was his own fear.
Confidential · For development review only · © Littil Swayamp 2026
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