Bharati Amma prays exterior the Hira Juma Masjid earlier than her each day work of cleansing up the mosque.
4 a long time in the past, when a Dalit household within the locality was struggling to discover a piece of land to hold out the final rites for his or her baby, Jalaludin didn’t should suppose twice earlier than asking them to do it in his home compound.
Since that day, 19 folks belonging to totally different faiths and castes have had their burial or cremation carried out at his land in Kaipatta in Kollam district. He continued to maintain his doorways open to strangers till two close by panchayats arrange a crematorium a couple of years in the past.
Jalaludin’s is among the six tales of communal amity which are a part of Sanu Kummil’s newest documentary The Unknown Kerala Tales, which, the filmmaker says, was made in response to the controversial movie The Kerala Story that needed to face a storm of criticism for allegedly misrepresenting the State. Sanu selected to reply creatively to the movie, utilizing documentary as a instrument. The documentary is now being screened at public occasions in varied components of the State.
“All of the propaganda overdrive towards Kerala, particularly the movie, made me need to inform the world that the reality is one thing else. That was across the time tags such because the ‘actual Kerala story’ started trending. I’ve been aware of a number of such tales and selected a couple of out of those to make the documentary. Over a couple of days, I travelled throughout varied districts utilizing simply public transport. The intention was not simply to inform these tales, but additionally to present a style of Kerala’s social life and geography to those that are unfamiliar with it, however fall for false tales about it,” says Sanu.
Darul Islam Jama ath and Kallumala Thampuran Devi Temple at Elavupalam in Thiruvananthapuram district share a standard arch.
One of many tales is from Elavupalam in Thiruvananthapuram district the place a temple and a mosque have a standard arch with the names of each—Darul Islam Jama ath and Kallumala Thampuran Devi Temple—on both aspect. On the center stands a cross, as a illustration of the one Christian household within the locality. For the folks within the locality, the arch that was first constructed 20 years in the past is one thing very regular.
From Sreemoolanagaram in Ernakulam district, Sanu fished out the story of 76-year-old Bharati Amma, who has been cleansing up the Hira Juma Masjid earlier than the each day prayers for the previous 20 years. Sharing a snack and a few laughs with the mosque directors, she says faith or caste usually are not her major considerations, though she has perception in all gods.
The much-told story in regards to the uncommon bond of near 35 years shared between Thaha Imbrahim and Sara Cohen, Kerala’s oldest Jewish particular person when she handed away in 2019, provides yet one more dimension to the documentary. Recollecting his earliest reminiscences of assembly Sara as a schoolboy, he says through the years he had nearly grow to be a member of the family. The tales of enmity between Jews and Muslims that he heard within the 1980s nonetheless shock him as a result of his expertise factors to one thing else.
In one other little recognized story, Sanu trains his lens on the Islamic research institute being run on the Malik Deenar Islamic Advanced at Shakthan Nagar in Thrissur, the place Sanskrit can be being taught. Okay.Okay. Yatheendran Grasp, the Sanskrit instructor, in addition to the institute’s directors level at the necessity to have a greater understanding of different religions to cut back the gap between communities. A narrative from Enikkara in Thiruvananthapuram, of younger Priyanka who selflessly donated her liver to N.S. Rajilal, a social employee from the locality, rounds off Sanu’s quest to doc little recognized tales of communal concord.
Sanu had in 2018 received the Finest Quick Documentary award on the 11th Worldwide Documentary and Quick Movie Pageant of Kerala (IDSFFK), organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, for his documentary Oru Chaayakkadakkarante Mann ki Baat (A tea vendor’s Mann Ki Baat ), on the sufferings of a tea vendor attributable to demonetisation.