From kitchen to films: Julaina Ashraf

At the other end, Julaina Ashraf sounds excited and at the same time, a tad nervous. Her mindset is that of a student who is waiting for the examination results. She has taken a new step in her life, which she seldom imagined would happen. As the film Marupadi starring Rahman and Bhama hits the screens next month, it will mark a new chapter in Julaina’s life. A housewife from Kozhikode, it is her debut project as a scriptwriter.

“During leisure time, I used to scribble my thoughts. But, I am not a professional writer. Marupadi is my first scripting attempt,” says Julaina, a mother of three settled in Mangalore with her family. Her husband Ashraf Bedi, a PWD contractor, is the producer of Marupadi. He earlier had produced two movies — Adaminte Makan Abu and Shambu.

Marupadi takes a look at the struggles faced by women in our society and their helplessness. “Like every housewife, I read newspapers after sending my children to school. And, there you come across a lot of news on abusing women. It was almost two years ago I read about harassment faced by jail inmates and I was sad. I decided that I would write about women’s issues at some point in my life,” she recalls.

When her husband began searching for a new story, she presented it to him. “We were listening to stories. Then, I shared with him this idea. He liked it and the project was on. I took cues from the real-life incidents I had read about, for the movie.” Julaina studied the issue — she went through various articles, visited places and discussed it with people close to those surroundings to get a better understanding of the issue. “I had to learn different aspects such as the legal side for writing the story. It took me one and a half years to complete the script and we showed it to Vinu (director of Marupadi) ettan. I rewrote the script with the changes he suggested,” says Julaina, who was not confident at first.

“My exposure to the outside world is limited. I watch movies but I have no deep knowledge about it. I had confusions and lacked confidence while writing. But my husband was very supportive. I went through the scripts of other movies to comprehend the style.” Julaina is grateful to her husband and her three girls for letting her pursue her interest. And, now she is waiting for the audience response.