Archive of films In the Name of God / Daivanamathil

India
2005, 105 min

Section: Another View
Year: 2006

The film treats the theme of terrorism as viewed from a personal and emotional angle through the eyes of a newly married couple. Religious fanaticism and primitive belligerence not only spoil Anwar’s and Samira’s honeymoon, but also destroy their chance to live an ordinary, happy life…

Synopsis

The Indian girl Samira comes from a traditional Muslim family, where the girl’s family chooses her husband. After her father dies, Samira is showered with love and attention from her enlightened grandfather who makes a stand against all-pervading and destructive religious extremism. Grandpa wants to provide Samira with a good education, to free her from this kind of society and open her eyes to the world. While the family tries to force her to marry someone suitable, it is eventually due to him that Samira ends up marrying her ideal…Today, when she recalls a moment of her short happiness, she asks herself the question: what kind of victory was it, not to succumb to the will of others? She won for herself the handsome, well educated, liberal Anwar, the grandson of a prominent politician and great freedom-fighter. Soon after the grand wedding ceremony, however, the bridegroom leaves to study in the north of India. Samira only receives her first letter from him several months later and she is shocked by the change in him.

About the director

Jayaraaj [also known as Jayaraaj Rajasekharan Nair] (b. 1960, Kottayam, Kerala, India) studied electronics and telecommunications in Trivandrum where he also entered the world of film as an assistant to director Bharathan. Since the 1980s he has been directing his own films, sucessful at both domestic and foreign festivals. He began winning awards with the film Journey to Wisdom (1996), also screened in competition at the Karlovy Vary IFF in 1997, and the subsequent films The Play of God (Kaliyattam, 1999) – Othello, as conceived by a local traditional theatre, Pathos (Karunam, 2000) and Tranquil (Shantham, 2001). He managed to make two films in 2005: To My Daughter (Makalkku) and In the Name of God (Daivanamathil).

Contacts

Ste Cleare Image
Kinsotel Building, Hospital Road, Nilambur, Malapuram, 679 329, Kerala
India
Tel: +91 49 312 238 24
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.aryadanshoukath.com

About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Another View

Director:	Jayaraaj
Screenplay:	Aryadan Shoukath
Dir. of Photography:	Sunny Joseph
Music:	Praveen Mani, Kaithapram Viswanathan
Editor:	Beena Poul, Vinod Sukumaran
Producer:	Aryadan Shoukath
Production:	Ste Cleare Image
Cast:	Prithviraj, Bhavana, Radhika, Gopi, Zeenath,
Contact:	Ste Cleare Image

www:	www.aryadanshoukath.com

Guests

Aryadan Shoukath

Producer

Phyllis Mollet

Festival Consultant