Director Halitha Shameem begins the conversation with a cheerful ‘hi’ sent over a voice note from somewhere outside Tamil Nadu before recording her carefully thought out replies on her sophomore project Minmini. “It’s a complete film, I can’t wait to share it with the audience,” she says. While Halitha started filming Minmini in 2015, the first half set in Udhagamandalam, she decided to pause the film for seven years to wait for the child actors to enter their teenage. Halitha had, in a tweet, suggested that it was a ‘creative decision’. “The young actors were so awesomely natural that we decided to wait for a few years for them to grow up rather than casting some other actors to play their elder versions.”
Last year, after wrapping up the second schedule, she tweeted from Ladakh : “How real is survivor’s guilt? How far would you go to live the dreams of your loved ones? That thin line between love and hate? Why are teens more emotional than adults?! Minmini is a tranquil cloud that descended upon me and I’ve been working all these years to do justice to it.”
Halitha Shameem | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Elaborating on the drive to write a story on this subject, she shares it was a ‘heartening’ experience. “This (teenage) phase of life is inclined to purest emotions, mostly found in extremity that might look ambiguous for others outside the zone. Be it the celebration of success, the joy of love and pain of loss, adolescents are prone to high doses. This raised myriad questions in me.”
Minmini picks up from Halitha’s first film Poovarasam Pee Pee(released in 2014), a coming-of-age drama where three inseparable childhood friends Harish (Praveen Kishore), Kapil Dev (Vasanth) and Venu Kanna (Gaurav Kalai) spend their summer vacation together in the hills. They climb trees, catch exotic insects, turn radio broadcasters, talk about Harry Potter and forensics, and also witness a crime. But they decide to bring the guilty to book. “Minmini takes this journey onwards and talks about survivor’s guilt that sets in at a tender age. It talks of friendships, sensitivity, and how far one would go to live the dreams of their loved ones.The film has nothing to do with teenage romance.”
The cast includes child artistes Gaurav Kalai, Pravin Kishore, and Esther Anil (who acted in Drishyam and Papanasam) in lead roles. Halitha hand-picked her child actors for Poovarasam Pee Pee after auditioning 2000 children, and they inspired her to write Minmini. “I was amazed by their calibre and acting skills. They deserved more. In Minmini, they got into the skin of the character like a dream and gave a measured performance. It’s a proud moment for me.”
A still from the film | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Halitha’s filmography so far includes Poovarasam Pee Pee, her first film in 2014, followed by Sillu Karupatti, an anthology of four stories with a common motif of love, Aelay on father-son relationship and a short called Loners, a story of two broken people helping fix each other for Tamil anthology Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa. Halitha trained under Pushkar-Gayathri, Mysskin and Samuthirakani before venturing out on her own. “My fans often write to me after watching my films saying how a particular film (Hey Ammu from Sillu Karupatti) helped them understand their partner better or Aelay helped heal a bruised father-son bond. It’s all about personal connections. Minmini takes the same line of thought.”
A still from the film | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The film also brings on board Khatija Rahman, Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman and Saira Banu’s daughter as the music composer. “Khatija is a fresh voice and she is set to revolutionise the music industry. Her exposure in world music comes alive in sounds that have a global appeal in this musically-demanding film,” says Halitha, who has made the film in both Tamil and Malayalam, considering her growing fan base in Kerala.
The 36-year-old filmmaker is inspired by her mother Mariyam Ul Asia who made a mark in her political career (she served as an MLA in Aravankurichi constituency). “My mother who is from Kumbakonam is a strong personality. Her journey made it easy for me to choose my path in films. My father Jailani is from Coimbatore. Most of our conversations at home is peppered with Coimbatore kusumbu and Kumbakonam slang and its so much fun,” she laughs adding that she will continue to make films that gladden hearts. While her writing process is effortless, she spends more time on research to pack in the details. “In Minmini, the lead actors are bikers in the second half. So I learnt to ride a bike. Working on such details gives me the kick and makes the writing process as exciting.”
Looking back at her own childhood, Halitha who is from Dharapuram near Coimbatore says it was liberating to leave the innocence behind and enter adulthood. However, she enjoys the company of children. “I love their humour, self-parody and a carefree attitude towards life.”
