Open your mind......

Our society has some certain norms, which can’t be oppose so easily. Such norms, social concerns are subjected to be discussed in ‘open your mind’, short film directed by Vishnu G Ragav. The short film is a journey through three different individuals of different age group. How the social customs and social norms are linked into those life.

Throughout the film balloon is used as a symbol of freedom, some what a change. From the very first balloon is there. Our society believes that women can’t be independent; she has to be supported by men. It may through marriage, friendship or brotherhood. It makes me to remember the Lines from "MANU SMRITI,

“PITHO RAKSHATHI KAUMARE...

BARTHRO RAKSHATHI YAUVANE...

PUTHRO RAKSHATHI VARDHAKYE...

NA STHREE SWATHRIYAM ARHATHI"

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The first story talks about purpose of marriage. The plot is a match making function of Sandhya( Bhavana) .   Here the boy wanted to get married only for look after him. The maid costs 40000 rupees which is difficult to pay. Instead of hiring a maid he is just marrying, means wife is just a maid without a pay. Our society thinks that women shouldn’t work after marriage. She should erase all her efforts and just to be a house wife. I agree that there is lot of change these days. But some kind of people will never change. Dowry is also become a topic there. The society still thinks that without dowry marriage is a shame. That’s why our jewellery shops still exist. How the girl reacts to this is worth to watch. I just gave a clap to that scene. Marriage is a great concept where men and women having equal respect. If it is not like that it becomes a compromise or slavery.

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The next story talks about happiness. One must do something according to their happiness. Not just for money, or for society. The story also shows the moral policing. Why the people think a boy and girl can’t share friendship only. If the men and women walk together society will consider them as immoral. The story tells us about following our dreams. Chase your dreams and be happy. If we want to change society first reform yourself. The main protagonist of the story is Manu an IT Professional who want to be a photographer.

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 The third story talks about abuse against women. The story talks through innocent child, who are just a victim of social norms. It is about three guys and one girl. The girl wanted to be independent. But when the question of her protection was raised all of them get into thinking. At last they found that they will protect her. It shows how the society believes that women are weaker than men and not able to protect herself.

These three stories are asked us to think about our customs, so called traditions, and the necessity of change- ‘open our mind’. The films has eminent actors like Saikumar , Bahvanaa, Bindu Panikkar, Ajas etc.. The film is produced by Vinu Mohan and Prajil Manikkoth under the banner of Manikkoth Productions.

The other crew of "Open Your Mind" includes Appu N Bhattathiri (editor), M R Rajakrishnan (Sound Designer), Sreekumar (Colourist), Sachin Senan (Project Designer) Mahesh, Shibhu, Vishnu (Art), Arunlal S Pillai (Visual Effects), Jomon Joshy, Joe Siby Malayil, Ritwik Baiju (Associate Directors),  Alex J Pulickal (associate cameraman), Manu Manohar, Vishnu Prabhakar (stills), Sachin Krishna (costumes), Aji (makeup), Shameer PM, Rajesh Bhaskar (asst cameraman), Sooraj Sunny, Sidharth TK (asst directors) and Publicity Designs by T G Entertainment Studios.

Editing, plot, camera, and music everything is good. All the ingredients are in correct level which makes the movie enjoyable. 

ATHULYA B S

Hang woman: Everyone Loves a Good Hanging

K R Meera is a well known writer in Malayalam literature. The former Malayala manorama journalist penned several books which gained much popularity among Malayalam literature world. She won several awards including kerala sahithya academy award for her famous novel Aarachar (hang woman) . The novel translated into english as well as in Tamil. The English version was done by J Devika . After the much acclaimed popularity of, Aarachar Meera engaged herself into latest novel ‘’ sooryane aninja sthree’’.

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Few days before one of my friend gifted me the book Aarachar. For that book I was waiting for a long time. From the very first moment I started to read.  The book is about executioners of India. The main protagonist chetana is the younger daughter of executioner Fanifooshan Gridha Mallik. Chetana is a strong determined lady with immense courage, who struggled to inherit her profession. Fortunately or unfortunately she becomes the first hang woman of India. The twenty-two year old girl accepts the challenge of being a hang woman. One of the main reasons that forced her to do so is her long lineage of executioners.  Chetana learned building of gallows, from womb itself. It shows she has the lineage of her legends.

Although she earned high distinction in plus two, her poor living condition became a barren for studies. But within her education she learned to be strong and talks in a different manner which attracts others, maybe she earned that quality from her father. Fanifooshan talks well before camera, because he knew how to market his rare job opportunities.

Chetana became the hangwoman of Yatheemdra Nath Banergy. The story talks about the period of execution, and the different incidents chetana has faced. Inbetween this tough time, Sanjeev Kumar Mithra a media person comes into her life as a saviour. But actually he did all favours on her with a particular motive. Those days chetana come in contact with current issues around her.  In actual meaning she becomes the part of society.

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The story is narrated by the central character Chetana herself. It goes through the mental stress and struggle of Chetana, at mean time it talks about death, suicide, its good and bad deeds, death penalty etc. Like we said Chetana is a strong lady, although she is not at all educated, she is capable of forming opinion about things happening around. When Maruthi Prasad Yadav (shop owner where she had worked for two months) tried to molest her, she responds immediately. When Sanjeev ( media person, with him her father had agreement )  did same thing with her initially she reciprocates. But gradually she fell in love with the same person. Once her dhakuma (grandmother) says like this – ‘’a man can love woman only when she loves him, but a woman loves man in his hatred too’’. The relation of Chetana, and Sanjeev is somewhat like that.

The story is about women power. The book is not written in a feminist viewpoint. The protagonist Chetana is one among us. But the story is not told by anyone before. Aarachar is enough worth to read, it will force you to think about happenings around us.

ATHULYA B S

Burning childhood...

Recently I had gone through a piece of news about child marriage that was posted in face book. I was not startled. Because before also I heard lots of news like this. 40year old marries 13 year old girl, 9 year old boy and 3 year old girl get married etc. Such news is become common among the rural areas of India. Whenever I get to know such things I only thinks why these happening in our so called educated society? Why we are refusing the kid’s right for proper education and living condition?

In 1978 the minimum age for marriage in India has been fixed, 18 for a girl and 21 for boy. But across the India the rule is violating. Such child brides lost their rights for education and better living education. Child marriages are mainly occurs in poor families. In many of the northern states dowry is given from boy’s side instead of girl’s side. There is a common believe that grown up girls won’t get suitable groom. Their poor living condition, believes forced them to commit child marriages, lack of education is also one of the factor for child marriage.

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Come to the news which I had gone through is about a 13 year old girl wrote to her school principle to request stop her marriage. The girl, named Duli Hembrom, is a Class 9 student at Milan Mithi Uchha Vidyalaya in Gudabanda in the Jamshedpur district of Jharkhand. She wrote this letter after failing to convince her parents to stop wedding. It is clear from the letter that she is so much worried for her future education.

 

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“I took an oath at the time of admission that I will not get married before I turn 18. I do not wish to get married early.” These are the disturbing words of a 13-year old girl in a letter to her school principal.Education is a basic right of any child in India if it is a girl or boy. Despite being illegal, child marriage is common practice in many parts of rural India. Jharkhand, the state in which Hembrom lives, is one of the worst affected by child marriage in India, with more than 40 percent of women married or in a union by the age of 18, according to UN statistics. The most recent statistics show that only 11 people were convicted for the offence in 2010.

Child brides are losing a normal life. Such girls are becoming mother prematurely which causes lots of health problems. Many of the child brides died due to pregnancy problems. Beside these girls are treating so badly in their ‘sasural’. Several states of India have introduced incentives to delay marriages. For example, the state of Haryana introduced the so-called Apni Beti, Apna Dhan program in 1994, which translates to “My daughter, my wealth”. It is a conditional cash transfer programme dedicated to delaying young marriages by providing a government paid bond in her name, payable to her parents, in the amount of INR25000 (US$400), after her 18th birthday if she is not married.If we try together we can abolish such atrocities from our land. Girls are not a curse they are boon, through which India’s legacy will going on.

ATHULYA B S

കുക്കുർ തിഹാർ!

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വിശ്വസ്തതയുടെ പ്രതീകമാണ് നായ്ക്കൾ. നേപ്പാളിലെ ഒരു വിഭാഗം ജനത ആ വിശ്വസ്തതയ്ക്കു പകരമായി നായ്ക്കളെ പൂജിക്കാൻ ഒരു ദിവസം മാറ്റി വയ്ക്കാറുണ്ട് . നേപ്പാളിലെ നേവാർ വിഭാഗത്തിൽപ്പെട്ടവരാണ് ഇത്തരത്തിൽ വ്യത്യസ്തമായ ഒരു ആചാരം വച്ച് പുലർത്തുന്നവർ . തിഹാർ എന്നാണ് ഈ ആഘോഷത്തിന്റെ പേര് . കുക്കുർ പൂജ എന്നൊരു പേരും കൂടിയുണ്ട് ഈ ചടങ്ങിനു.  അഞ്ചു ദിവസം നീണ്ടു നിൽക്കുന്ന ആഘോഷത്തിന്റെ രണ്ടാം ദിനമാണ്  നായ്ക്കളെ പൂജിക്കുന്നത് .  നായ്ക്കളെ യമരാജന്റെയ് സന്ദേശ വാഹകരായാണ് നേപ്പാൾ ജനത കണക്കാക്കുന്നത് . പൂജാ ദിവസം നായ്ക്കൾക്ക് തിലകക്കുറി അണിയിച്ചു, പുഷ്പഹാരം അണിയിച്ചു  ഇഷ്ട ഭക്ഷണം യഥേഷ്ടം വിളമ്പുന്നു . അങ്ങിനെ നേപ്പാൾ ജനത നായ്ക്കളോടുള്ള നന്ദി അറിയിക്കുന്നു . നായ്ക്കൾ മാത്രമല്ല ഇവിടെ പൂജിക്കപ്പെടുന്നത് . കാക്കയും പശുവും ഒക്കെ ഈ ആഘോഷത്തിന്റെ ഭാഗമാണ് . ഉൽസവത്തിന്റെയ് ആദ്യ ദിനം കാക്കയ്ക്കും , രണ്ടാം ദിനം നായ്ക്കൾക്കും, മൂന്നാം ദിനം ഗോക്കൾക്കും, നാലാം ദിനം കാളയ്ക്കും അഞ്ചാം ദിനം മനുഷ്യനുമായി തിട്ടപ്പെടുത്തിയിരിക്കുന്നു . ലോകത്തിന്റെ ഒരു ഭാഗത്ത് സാധു മൃഗങ്ങളെ ആഹാരത്തിനു ഇരയാകുമ്പോൾ മറ്റൊരു ഭാഗത്ത് അവർ ആരാധിക്കപ്പെടുന്നു . വൈക്കം മുഹമ്മദ്‌ ബഷീറിന്റെ വാക്കുകൾ ആണ് ഓർമ്മ വരുന്നത് ” ഈ ഭൂമി നാം മനുഷ്യർക്ക്‌ മാത്രം അവകാശപ്പെട്ടതല്ല , ഇവിടെ ജീവിക്കാൻ എല്ലാവർക്കും അവകാശമുണ്ട്‌ ”.

ATHULYA B S