Real-life Fathimas were my first audience, says Feminichy Fathima director Fazil Muhammed
Mail This Article
Fazil Muhammed, the 27-year-old director of Malayalam film Feminichy Fathima, a satirical take on patriarchy rooted in religious orthodoxy, said he was not worried about dealing with the sensitive topic. A native of Ponnani in Malappuram district, Fazil said he portrayed the daily-life episodes he comes across in his film based on his understanding of feminism and gender equality. Featuring Shamla Hamza in the title role, the film narrates the story of a young Muslim woman, married to a local cleric, who becomes forced to find financial independence following what looks like a simple incident in her life. The film has been getting good responses after it was premiered at the ongoing 29th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in Thiruvananthapuram.
“I shot the film in Ponnani and there were many women to watch the shoot. While we were filming some sequences I could sense that the women enjoyed them because they saw their experiences in them. So those women are my first audience. They are all Fathimas of real life,” Fazil told Onmanorama after the screening of the film at Tagore theatre. Feminichy Fathima is Faizal’s debut feature film which he has also written and edited. Earlier he has made short films.
Faizal has found his actors from his on locality. Apart from Shamla and Kumar Sunil, who played the role of Fathima’s husband Ashraf, the other actors come with no previous experience in films. Buoyed at the positive responses following the IFFK screenings, Fazil said the possibilities of theatre release will be explored now.