Malayalam short film to be screened at Ajyal Film Festival in Doha

The Doha Film Institute’s Ajyal Film Festival for the first time has a Malayalam film in its lineup. ‘Shringar’, a short film directed by Perinthalmanna-native Muhammed Noufal, who is currently based in Qatar, will be screened at the eight edition of the Ajyal Film Festival from November 18 to 23. The film, which has Keralite actors and technicians, will be shown under the ‘Made in Qatar’ category.

Though ‘Shringar’ is a Hindi word, the short movie is in Malayalam and will be screened with English and Arabic sub-titles. The 11-minute long film, canned entirely in Qatar, tells the heart-wrenching stories of hundreds of children who are working in the mica mines in India. Ironically, the mica quarried by the children is used extensively by the cosmetics industry. Indian music and traditional dances forms like Kathak are weaved together to depict the disquieting lives of these innocent miners.

The main character in the short film is portrayed by nine-year-old Ashmitha Mahesh, who is also an accomplished dancer. Besides Ashmitha, who is a Class V student of the Doha Birla Public School, Nithya and Abdul Shukoor are playing meaty roles in the film.

Noufal wrote the script for his story and the cinematographer is Jenshad Guruvayoor. The choreography has been done by Soosadima Earoni and the music is by Sudeep Palanad.

The short film, produced by Vimal Kumar Mani, will be premiered at the Ajyal Film Festival. Noufal, who is working as a finance assistant in a private company in Doha, has won many awards for his short films such as ‘Border’, ‘Louder Voice’ and ‘Roadside’. In 2017, the DFI selected Noufal’s work ‘The Unjust’ as one of the best five one-minute short films based on the theme of Gulf crisis.  

As many as 22 feature films, 50 short films and 31 Arab movies from 46 countries will be screened at this year’s festival. The films will be shown online, at Ajyal drive-in, and Vox Cinemas, and for tickets visit 2020.ajyalfilm.com.