Dekha ek khwaab toh yeh silsiley huye. the iconic song from the 1981 movie, Silsila, plays in the background as Noor Bibi and Masterji the tailor are gossiping about Rekha and Amitabh Bacchan. Suddenly, Noor Bibi loses her track of thoughts and asks, “So, where is she?” “Haj Committee,” replies the tailor. They are talking about Aamna, a widow in her late sixties, who lives alone and runs a small boutique named after her daughter Aisha. She only lives by one wish — to travel to Mecca and perform Haj. But that isn’t possible. She needs to be accompanied by a male blood relative, as mandated by the laws in Saudi Arabia. Titled Mehram, the short film captures the struggle and spirit of Aamna, played by the veteran actor Farida Jalal, as she decides to fight the system. “Back in college, I had read about a woman in Kerala, Aminakutty Mohammed, who went through a similar problem and had challenged it in Kerala High Court. Unfortunately, the decision did not go in her favour,” says Zain Anwar, 26, writer and director of the film. He has worked in various media organisations and has been a theatre artist since past eight years. “Although I am a practising Muslim, I wasn’t aware that such a law exists. The more I read about its social and religious aspects, I realised that it was just a patriarchal interpretation of the texts,” he says. The plan was to make a documentary on Mohammed, as his diploma film, but he couldn’t reach her. He created a fictional story. “I got good feedback from my teachers but the external faculty did not like the idea,” says Anwar, who studied mass communications at Jamia Milia and shot Mehram in three days. Mehram won the award for the Best Short Film at the Delhi International Film Festival and got a special mention at the Woodpecker International Film Festival. He says, “We expected the film to invoke a sharp reaction and criticism, but surprisingly there has been a positive response. It talks about gender equality in religion. It’s a Muslim social film but the comment on religion is universal.” Anwar wanted to make a low-budget film with theatre actors from Delhi. A casual discussion between the producers, Gaurav Bhardwaj and Shweta Sethi, and Raza Murad led to a meeting with Farida Jalal. “She heard the story and readily agreed to play the lead. She has 46 years of experience with over 200 movies. Rajit Kapoor saab gave us a lot of inputs that made the film tighter and better,” he says. While Kapoor plays the role of S Ikhaque Siddiqui, Sushma Seth essays Noor Bibi, a friend and confidant of Aamna. “Dekha jaaye toh she is a tertiary character, but the way she gets into the socio-political space of Noor Bibi, and her overall charm add value to the film,” says the director.
