In this free-wheeling interview, filmmaker Fahim Irshad of Aani Maani fame talks about the depiction of Indian Muslims in media, film, and society and his vision to change this.
Basil Islam | TwoCircles.net
With his debut feature film Aani Maani, Fahim Irshad cleverly centres the narrative around a Muslim family’s day-to-day struggles and simple joys to tell an evocative tale of identity and Hindutva violence in the country. The film premiered at MAMI in 2019 and bagged the Best Asian Film and the Best Director from India awards at International Film Festival Kerala 2019. After gaining critical acclaim at the festival, the film was screened in many places across the country – universities, anti-fascism festivals, and public gatherings. The film is now available on MUBI, a global curated film streaming platform
This interview was conducted on Fahim’s visit to Kerala to participate in the Watchout Akhila Bharatiya Anti-Nazi Film Festival at Kozhikode.
Excerpts from the interview:
What is Aani Maani about? How does the story unfold?
Set in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Aani Maani narrates the story of Bhutto – a beef kebab seller. He is trying to re-establish his life after getting released from jail after being incarcerated for eight years on false charges. So, he recently got married, and along with his wife Tarannum, he’s dreaming about a better life. This is all while he is trying to meet his family’s ends, including his sister, mother, and father. When the government announced a ban on beef and the shutting down of slaughterhouses, Bhutto had to run here and there and bribe cops to find meat for kebabs. His shop gets vandalized by the goons. While all this is happening, he finds time to be part of the family.
The film is named after a game played by children in Uttar Pradesh – Aani Maani. They turn in circles while reciting the rhyme Aani Maani – the film denotes the tailspin that enters Bhutto’s life as portrayed in the movie.
It is rare to see films with such a theme made. What made you do this?
It is a love story, a family drama. Moreover, it has some political connotations that deal with the current situation. I did this to tell things in a way that can affect people and can evoke empathy among the audience. Especially those who don’t know about Muslim lives and believe in a narrative that they are all the villains. They don’t know about the Muslims living in the ghettos. I want to break the othering.
I studied journalism and started working in films to one day tell stories that have not been told. We as minorities are marginalized, and the same is with our narratives. It is not there in the mainstream or even in the parallel cinemas. They don’t know what is happening in our houses or our localities. This is the case at hand. And if I don’t tell those stories, then who else will? That is why I am doing this. My next project is also a story from my locality. I know them better; I can tell it in a better way.
Though the film addresses a sensitive issue, the way you presented it was entertaining. It had a lighter mood. Was it a conscious choice?
I like poetry, and everybody likes beauty. There is a lack of love among us. In that sense, I consciously chose to make this film this way. I wanted to make it poetic. But this approach was not the market strategy for making sugar-coated movies. There is no market for this kind of Muslim story.
We see violence every day in the media. We are uncomfortable with that violence. We also have a life; we struggle to make our ends meet and share the joy with family and friends. We don’t sit and eat biriyani and do talaq all the time. They are coming and telling us that these all are your problems. These are not our problems; the problem is how you see our lives. They are not only stereotyping the characters but the issues also. They are neither pointing to what matters nor interested in solving any. They want to defame, vilify and terrorize us. Unfortunately, people are convinced about it. Cinema makes people think and behave in a particular way. It addresses a larger audience. So let us not condition them to hatred and violence.
You are from Azamgarh and have studied in Jamia Millia Islamia. How have these places and episodes such as the Batla House encounter shaped you as a filmmaker?
The media was busy vilifying Muslims after the encounter. They were giving out the same stories without even caring about the facts. Even Ravish Kumar did the same. I felt very concerned about this because the media must be fair and accurate. It took a long time to clear the air. But still, justice hasn’t been served. The demand for an independent judicial inquiry has not been met till now.
This particular event shaped us. We are now convinced that we have to tell our story. We have to bring forth the narrative. We have to get it from the margins to the mainstream. So, somewhere down the roots, it is there.
Does the mainstream provide space for the marginalized voices?
The mainstream has failed in its duty and marginalised communities are facing the consequences. Now we have to take charge. We have to assert it. Everyone is now reclaiming their rightful presence.
You haven’t told our stories, so I have to talk about them exclusively. I have stories from other communities—Dalits, Hindus, Christians – everyone. I want to put them in my films. I have written three scripts.
I have to tell Muslim stories frequently because they are underrepresented or misrepresented in the media. They demand more presence. There need to be full-length films made on them. Then only others can connect with them in a better way. Because the Muslim community has been ghettoized for a long time, others don’t know or see them every day. They only see them named terrorists on TVs and in newspapers. So, I have to tell them, and I will.
It is the characteristic of a society’s development into the genocide—classifying and othering?
Yeah, it is scary. In Kerala, you might not have seen separate colonies for different communities. There is much less hatred here when compared to my state and other northern regions. There can be political differences, but hate is different. You will feel it burning our lives. Being able to understand and empathize with each other is crucial.
You must have noticed the citizenship protests led by the students from different universities like Jamia Millia, Aligarh, and JNU. As a Jamia alumnus, how do you view this new student politics?
It is a good thing and gives us hope. Mainly because there was no student’s union in Jamia Millia Islamia. The administration is scared of student bodies. They don’t want anything of that sort to happen. But finally, the students came out. They understood the need to take up the movement. They felt that they also could be killed or lynched any day. The government is now legalizing the steps to make a whole community stateless so that the manuvadis can have the power to exterminate them from this land.
All I have to say is that be brave and stand up against oppression. Why should we be scared? We are with the oppressed, and truth is on our side. A girl from Jamia resisted them with a bare finger. They were scared because they were wrong.
The film is about cow-vigilante violence against Muslims. How correct is it to term it mob lynching?
The media indeed give names like mob lynching, communal riots, clashes, etc. However, I feel that to call these attacks mob lynching would be reductive. Because the mob is faceless, you can’t hold them accountable and bring them to justice. Nobody gets punished. It is the same with pogroms that continue to happen. Commissions will be set up to study, and then nothing happens. That is why it happens again and again. Sreekrishna commission report on the Bombay riot came out; nothing happened. Bhagalpur, Maliyana, Moradabad – it is all the same. Why? Because the mob doesn’t have a face. Not only do these killings happen, but the state facilitates them. Police remain silent and courts release them on bail as soon as possible. So I feel that we have to put the narratives the right way.
As a filmmaker, how do you think cinema can make changes?
Cinema is very effective. My father used to say this. His advice to me was that if I pursued mass communication, I should study films. When he was young, he saw a movie depicting the plight of widows in our society, and it moved him so much that he came out of the theater with the intention of marrying a widow. I had another experience. I met a man in Chhattisgarh who wanted to kill all the Muslims here. He said Hitler was right, and Muslims should be treated like that. We showed him Schindler’s List. After seeing the movie, he changed completely. So cinema has the power. It makes you soft, like poetry. Any illiterate can connect with it.
Basil Islam is an independent journalist and researcher based in South India. He tweets at @baasiie