Bengaluru: Apart from everything else that it is, the 12th edition of the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) has served as a platform for regional languages to step into the limelight.
Just as Pingara, a Tulu language movie, wowed audiences here, a movie made in Beary, the language spoken by the Muslim community of Malabar region of Kerala and parts of coastal Karnataka, has attracted notice. Titled Triple Talaq, the film’s screening at BIFFes opened up possibility of a wider commercial release.
The film is based on a story written by Kannada writer and progressive activist Sara Aboobacker, who hails from the Beary community. It deals with the practice of divorce in Muslim society in the context of the Supreme Court judgement on triple talaq.
Shot in Kundapur, Gulvadi and Kodi, the movie has three central characters, Fathima, Sabeena and Mushtaq. Twice a victim of triple talaq, Fathima is a mother of two who struggles to educate her daughter Sabeena and gets her married to Mushtaq. But Mushtaq strays into human trafficking and uses triple talaq as a weapon of his trade. But Sabeena is a strong woman who recovers from her husband’s behaviour and fights back.
The movie mirrors the plight of Muslim women who are dispossessed by three words spoken in haste, sometimes conveyed by relatives or through nervous phone calls or even text messages.
The movie also aims to correct the wrong notions about talaq and what the Quran says about it.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, director Yakub Khader Gulvadi said: "I’m very happy the Bengaluru International Film Festival has given us an opportunity to showcase our movie. The movie is based on a true incident. We just made an attempt to explain the Supreme Court judgement on triple talaq. The BIFFes may prove to be a launchpad for a bigger release.”
The movie is produced by Yakub Khader Gulvadi and Narayana Suvarna and will be released in a few days. Navya Poojary and Azhar Sha star in the movie, along with Roopa Varkady, Ravi Kiran Murdeshwar, Baby Fahima, Master Fahad and others.
