It’s not on a regular basis {that a} movie from the south, minus publicity blitz, a megastar hero, and world-class VFX, attracts audiences to a cinema corridor in north India. However on Friday, when a small-budget Malayalam movie was screened in Delhi, the theatre was nearly packed to capability.
Not one viewers member appeared unmoved as “Ennu Swantham Sreedharan” (Yours really, Sreedharan) was screened at Jawahar Bhavan on Rajendra Prasad Highway within the capital after capturing hearts with its few exhibits in different elements of the nation.
Narrating the story of Sreedharan, a boy from a Hindu household, who alongside along with his two elder sisters, was raised by a Muslim couple within the coastal state, the movie is being hailed for telling the “actual Kerala story” amid the noise surrounding Hindi movie The Kerala Story.
Launched earlier this month, the Adah Sharma-starrer, narrating the story of three women from Kerala who joined the ISIS, has left the viewers divided with one part claiming that it confirmed the “actuality” of the southern state, and one other dismissing it as propaganda geared toward maligning a state and a spiritual minority. However whereas the Hindi movie is, going by the makers’ personal disclaimer, a fictionalised account, “Ennu Swantham Sreedharan” relies on an actual story, the protagonist of which was seen watching his life story performed out on the display from the entrance row.
Director Siddik Paravoor (left) with Sreedharan.
“For me, Umma is my mom and was my world… I don’t have any reminiscence of my Amma (his organic mom),” stated a teary-eyed Sreedharan as he remembered the lady who raised him. By Umma, he was referring to Thengadan Subaida, the lady who raised him after his mom died a long time in the past.
Sreedharan’s distinctive story first got here to gentle in July 2019, when he shared the information of the demise of his “Umma” (a time period used to handle a mom in Muslim households in Kerala), on Fb. The put up raised queries about how a Hindu man had an Umma. In a second put up, Sreedharan informed the readers how.
A part of his put up in Malayalam learn: “…The day my mom died, this umma and uppa (father) introduced us to their home. They gave us an schooling, identical to they did for their very own youngsters. When my sisters reached a marriageable age, it was uppa and umma who married them off. They took us in not as a result of they didn’t have youngsters. That they had three youngsters. Regardless that they adopted us at a younger age, they didn’t attempt to convert us into their faith. Individuals say that an adoptive mom can by no means match as much as one’s organic mom. However she was by no means an ‘adoptive mom’ to us, she was really our mom.”
Movie director Siddik Paravoor chanced upon this put up, and “Ennu Swantham Sreedharan” was born.
Calling himself a “dwelling instance” of brotherhood in Kerala, Sreedharan stated, “I’ve heard that umma used to breastfeed me and Jafer collectively.” Jafer is a organic little one of Subaida.
For Subaida, identified for her philanthropic works, Chakki was extra of a companion than a home assist. When she died, pregnant together with her fourth little one, Subaida and her husband Abdul Aziz Haji took three of her youngsters, together with Sreedharan, who was a child then, to her house. Sreedharan’s organic father, who couldn’t assist his youngsters, felt they might be safer with Subaida and household.
The couple who lived in Malappuram district of Kerala raised the trio together with their very own three youngsters, with out getting them transformed to Islam. Later, they even received Sreedharan’s sisters – Leela and Ramani – married in line with Hindu traditions.
“I might by no means watch this film in full… I’d at all times break down and depart in between… immediately is the primary time I watched it in full… (I) cherished Umma a lot…,” stated Sreedharan.
The movie was screened in Delhi by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Belief (SAHMAT) and Janasamskriti, a socio-cultural organisation. Cherian VK, a buddy of playwright and director late Safdar Hashmi, who performed a key position in getting the movie screened in Delhi, stated, “Through the debate on The Kerala Story, I felt the necessity to display this actual Kerala Story made by my buddy, Siddik. This isn’t a counter to The Kerala Story as a result of that is regular Kerala for Keralites.”
Stated the director: “I’ve been on a quest for tales that speak of affection and humanity.”
Not one to pit his work in opposition to one other filmmaker’s, he stated, “It’s not in opposition to The Kerala Story or every other movie. The actual story began 48 years in the past when Sreedharan’s Umma took the choice (to undertake the three youngsters).”
Siddik, who stated he doesn’t even have sufficient funds to launch the movie in theatres, stated he simply wished to inform a “story of brotherhood, unity and human values”.
Sreedharan, who now lives in Parassery, Malappuram, with spouse Thankammu and 17-year-old son Anshyam, says he nonetheless goes to the mosque each Friday, or each time “Umma” seems in his desires, to wish for her.
When the controversy surrounding The Kerala Story was raging, former Kerala minister Thomas Isaac tweeted, “We didn’t ban it. It doesn’t matter. Not many in Kerala watch it…” Possibly as a result of many Subaidas and Sreedharans nonetheless dwell their lives in Kerala.