“I have never lost my way in a moon-lit night. But I missed my way many times, when I used torch lights to light my path when it was dark. I have been late many times when I walked through the forest area between the Administrative Centers to solve the issues of tribal people. But moonlight always showed me the right path. I have met wild animals in these journeys. But, I remember those encounters without any fear. I think humans are to be feared more rather than the animals!” These words encapsulate the life and thoughts of a feisty lady Daya Bai, born as Mercy Marthew in Pala, who chose to shun a life of comfort to lead an austere life among the tribals in Madhya Pradesh. The social activist has hogged national headlines many a time, fighting for the rights and upliftment of the tribals in a ‘Gandhian’ fashion. Her life will now be translated into an eponymous biopic, thanks to the efforts of young Malayali director Sree Varun who has written the screenplay as well as the dialogues. The director, cast and
Daya Bai were in Kochi to unveil the first look of the film.
Though the film’s technical crew are Malayalis, the movie is made in Hindi with Bengali actress Bidita Bag from Bollywood portraying Daya Bai. Sree Varun explains the reasons for choosing Hindi, “Daya Bai’s struggles have happened largely in North India and I believe that the film would be complete and do justice to Daya Bai and her story only if made in Hindi.” The actual locations where Daya Bai lived and worked have been incorporated in the film as locations. The original house where she lived in Kerala, the people she interacted with and the places she travelled through will be seen in the film. Sree Varun also did extensive research for two years meeting Daya Bai, listening to her speeches while in Kerala, reading books on her and watching YouTube videos of her before plucking courage to go and talk to her about the biopic, meeting her at Wayanad. Daya Bai takes up the narration from there, “When they told me about the biopic, I was not very happy but they stayed there for a day and I relented. My only conditions were that they portray only real incidents from my life and that they send me the script. I was confused since I shun the spotlight and I was in a state of conflict then I thought to myself, if this is God’s way so be it!”
The beautiful Bidita, who was finally zeroed in on account of her willingness to go the extra mile where dedication and hard work was concerned, says that she did watch some videos and read books about Daya Bai as homework. “I like to do socio-political films and playing Daya Bai was not difficult; what was difficult would have been living the kind of life Daya Bai lives. She can swim, ride horses, and walk miles— now that would be a tall order!”
