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Thursday, May 2, 2024
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MALAYALAM SUFI PARANJA KATHA
EDITOR'S PICK
Priyanandan's controversial Malayalam film "Sufi Paranja Katha" is all set to release today. after getting a green signal from a courtRead More
A story set in the idyllic locales of Malabar; it explores the mindscape of a society that opened its arms to change. Malabar, a part of Kerala’s divinely beautiful countryside, was the focus of a global maritime spice route from times immemorial. The trading Phoenicians, Arabs, Egyptians, Jews and the Chinese, followed by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English, left behind their native flavour on the tantalising cultural recipe that is Kerala. This cosmopolitanism marinated the tolerance of the people who allowed Islam and Christianity to take their first peaceful steps into India.
Our tale begins towards the end of the 19th century, when the British ruled Malabar, after the invasion of Tippu Sultan. The story explores the myth of the land, the history of its people, the love and passion of the protagonists and the mystical spirituality of tolerance. The plot revolves around the love and marriage of Karthi, the Hindu heiress of a wealthy Nair Tharavaadu, with Maamootty, a wandering Muslim trader in coconuts and spices. On another plane, the film is about the transformation of Karthi to a Biwi, a local Goddess worshipped by the Hindus and the Muslims alike.
The story tries to establish the belief in a lost Faith, by following the evolution of Karthi from her Hindu roots and her growth through her cultural cross-over to matrimony in an alien Islamic setting, buoyed only by her love for Maamootty. Karthi is that perfect, confident woman, who is sufficient unto herself. So magnetic is her personality, that even her own mother venerates her, leading to her alienation and loneliness. The aura around Karthi`s celestial persona is powerful enough to reduce the men in her life to impotence.
The storyline of the movie is an adaptation of the famous Malayalam Novel, ‘Sufi Paranja Katha’ (What the Sufi said) by KP Ramanunni, who is one of the most celebrated Malayalam novelists of today. The film is directed by the decorated Indian Film Director Priyanandanan, who has won several awards for his earlier films and this includes the 54th Swarna Kamal, the National award for the best Indian feature film. Silicon Media produces the film as a part of its stated quest to select themes with a global relevance. Sharbani Mukerji, Thampi Antony, Prakash Bare, Jagathy Sreekumar, Irshad, Valsala Menon, Gita Vijayan, Samvrutha Sunil and Sunita Nedungadi play the key roles.
The film boldly analyses the socio-personal space in the moments of resultant strife that is inevitably born out of the pain of change. It reveals the serene space within the protagonists who are open to mutually internalise the primeval tugs of their diverse backgrounds. Through a brilliantly pictured soliloquy of Avaru Musaliyar, a local Muslim Muezzin, the film exposes the plain and peaceful truth that just a few generations back, warring religions of the day shared a common Faith!
However, beyond this epicentre of calm, a raging storm brews..
