What happens when a 26-year-old woman crippled for life after being afflicted with polio; a musician who lost his vision at the age of 11; a photographer with a limp, and a host of other physically challenged people come together?
"They decide to make a full length commercial movie and name it ‘Maa’, a Tamil alphabet with 27 different meanings including change," says Madan Gabriel, Head, Department of Film Acting, MGR Government Film and Television Institute, Chennai.
He has handpicked a large crew of differently-abled persons and trained them in all aspects of film making to give shape to a story penned by him on the travails faced by a physically challenged person in all walks of life.
“This is not going to be a documentary or a short film. It will have commercial aspects such as songs, dance and comedy. At the same time, it will try to change the way society treats the physically challenged,” he hopes.
While S. Fathima Beevi, afflicted with polio, of Tirupparankundram near here would direct the movie; Gideon Karthik, also from Madurai, would handle the music. All others involved in the film, except the female protagonist, suffer from physical infirmities.
The team is led by K. Chidambaranathan, president of ‘Kalai Vizhi’ (meaning creative eye), a division of the Federation of the Associations for the physically challenged. The movie would be shot around Madurai between October 21 and November 27.
“Inaugurating Kalai Vizhi in Chennai on August 29, film director Cheran had also expressed his wish to work in the movie at least for a day by tying one of his hands to feel the difficulties faced by those who do not have any,” says Mr. Gabriel.
The inaugural function of the movie was held at Kumarappa Kudil, a thatched roof at Gandhi Memorial Museum here on Friday on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi. A 94-year-old veteran freedom fighter I. Mayandi Bharathi presided.
“The film will be shot in digital format. There is no fixed budget. The expenses are met through donations and the proceeds will go to the Federation. My aim is to prove that given a chance, the differently-abled can definitely make a difference,” he asserts.
