A story material powerful enough to make conservative elements rise up in anger is like a jetpack for any filmmaker, who only needs to take it and fly with it. Unni R.’s story Vaanku (Azaan), on which the movie is based, had also spawned a school drama a couple of years ago, leading to protests from certain sections who wanted no questioning of religious practices.
Yet, the movie adaptation, directed by debutante Kavya Prakash, is marked by a certain flatness, both in its form and its script, so much so that it is doubtful whether those who are supposed to take offence at the theme would care about it at all. The whole movie hinges on a wish that Raziya (Anaswara Rajan), a final-year college student, has set her heart upon. When one of the lecturers tells the class that they should fulfil their wishes before leaving college, she reveals hers to her three close friends. She wants to recite the muezzin’s azaan call, which only males are allowed to do as per religious strictures.
Societal backlash
Before the wish part is revealed, we are shown enough hints of what is waiting for her from the family and society. Her father (Vineeth), who once used to be a normal, fun-loving youth as per his wife’s testimonies, is becoming increasingly conservative under the influence of a local Ustad. He shuns bright clothing and insists that his wife and daughter wear face-covering niqab when venturing outside. The script does imply that such practices are recent imports, as his mother is shown advising him against such tendencies. He is also shown to be opposed to the idea of the daughter going for higher education.
The effects of Raziya’s wish in such a household is imaginable. The society, be it the local religious heads, the conservative student groups in her college, or the pesky relatives, all are up in arms. It all held such potential for a taut, emotional ride for the protagonist and the audience rooting for her. Yet, what we have here is a staid, dreary narrative, where one impatiently waits for them to somehow get it over with.
Even the climax is so tame and uneventful, despite all the attempts to make it otherwise, that one is left wondering why Raziya could not have done this much earlier, and saved herself from all the needless turmoil, and thus the need for such a film. It would be surprising if this work creates half the ripples that the school drama based on the same story did.
