Athlete P.U. Chithra has been in the news ever since she was denied entry into the World Athletic Meet. Support was showered on her from all corners during her fight against the Athletic Federation. All these incidents and the way Chithra confronted them have inspired filmmaker Praveen I.D. to do a biopic on her life.
“Usually, a biopic of a sportsperson comes after he/she achieves something big. Here, we are looking at the survival of P.U. Chithra. A person fails when she or he believes so. In Chithra's case, every time situations pulled her back, she bounced right back. She was not willing to surrender. This tale of grit is what we are trying to communicate through this movie,” says the director, who is an ad filmmaker. “I am not a sportsperson. Last year, when all these issues happened, I started studying about her and thus zeroed in on this project. It would be an inspirational movie.”
It is Praveen's debut feature film project. The story is written by popular writer P.V. Shajikumar. “I have been to her home and observed her life from close quarters. She hails from a poor family and despite all struggles, she continued her practice,” says Praveen. He has talked to Chithra, her coach and her parents about this and has got the rights for the movie.
“The cast is yet to be decided. One prominent actor will play her coach’s role. Right now I am working on another project. After that, I will start this,” he adds.
