Vimala Perumal

Dr. Vimala Perumal is a Malaysian director who became one of her country’s most successful cinematographers. She has worked on several independent short films and feature films throughout her career. Vimala was born in Kedah, Malaysia to a multi-ethnic family. Her Indo-Chinese ancestry was vital in ingraining her with values from two of Malaysia’s most predominant cultures. Life as a cinematographer came out of the blue to a young Vimala who had aspired to be a chemical engineer. At her brother’s insistence, she signed herself up for a film making course at Multimedia University and was awarded a scholarship to study there. This course in her life was unexpected but not unwelcome, she continued pursuing her Master’s degree in media studies and discovered a great love for cinema. She began working on music videos and short films in parallel with her studies during her time there.

Her work received wide acclaim and was screened at International Film Festivals in recognition of their comical relay of Indian life in the country. Vimala continued chasing after her passion by joining a Ph.D. course at the ‘Universiti Putra Malaysia.’ It took her seven grueling years, with a two-year hiatus during which she started her family and her own production house, to get her doctorate. Feature films soon followed her success with short movies.

Her first three motion pictures, ‘Vilaiyaatu Pasangge,’ ‘Vetti Pasangge,’ and ‘Vedigundu Pasange,’ were a huge success. The movies were the brainchild of ‘Veedu Productions’, the production house set up by Vimala with her husband and director, Denes Kumar Denes Kumar is an actor who primarily acted in Tam >> Read More... . They worked together with a small budget and an even smaller crew to bring beautiful movies onto the screen. Her 2020 film, Vedigundu Pasangge, was the first-ever Malaysian Tamil movie to surpass the 1 million collection mark. It also won the award for Best Film at the Norway Tamil Film Festival.

She rejoined academia at her alma mater, MMU as a lecturer. She went on to become the Head of the Creative Multimedia Department and pushed her students to learn to love cinema the same way she did. Vimala draws out her stories from the people she meets around her and uses cinema as a platform to showcase social injustice and everyday strife. She has played a major part in bringing recognition to her country’s movie industry.