Vikas Khanna may be known for his khaana. But there is plenty more to his talents than the celebrated culinary skills.
He is an author and a fiercely dedicated social activist and a passionate philanthropist. Vikas discovered the filmmaker within himself rather late. But when I had seen his first feature film The Last Color in January 2021, I couldn’t believe it was his first film. Vikas took on the horrendous ancient tradition of abandoning widows in Varanasi, leaving them to fend for themselves and die. The film, based on Khanna’s own novel, wove a beautiful relationship between a derelict widow and a spirited urchin who in her own naïve way, teaches the widow the value of life and the preciousness of every breath.
Now in The Barefoot Empress, a truly heartwarming tribute to the spirit of resilience, Vikas Khanna wants us to know the story of Karthyayani Amma a woman from Kerala who at the age of 96 decided to educate herself.
Vikas’ camera follows the unvanquished matriarch into a school where she sits with determined concentration amongst the giggling staring admiring little girls. It is the most inspiring, motivating image you are likely to see in recent times. Vikas treats the story of Karthyayani Amma with tender affection. He is awed by her resilience, so are we. He invites us to share his admiration for this very old very motivated woman who sweeps the streets outside temples in her village Haripad in Kerala.
The temples that she couldn’t visit women are not allowed. “So what if I can’t enter temples? God enters my home every day,” Amma lisps with heartbreaking innocence.
Who says you can’t make your dreams come true beyond an age? Vikas’s gem of a film connects societal prejudices of gender, caste and age in his brief summation of Karthyayani Amma’s glorious grit to make her dreams come true.
Amma not only went to school for the first time at the age of 96, she also topped her class and went on to become a Commonwealth of Learning Goodwill Ambassador. She was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar by President Ram Nath Kovind on Women’s Day in March 2020.
At the end of the ineradicably moving film, we are informed that Karthyayani Amma is now 100 and preparing for her Class 4 examination. This is the most inspiring story I have seen. Vikas Khanna needs to be thanked from the bottom of our hearts for bringing it to us.
Vikas sees Karthyayani Amma as the truest hero of all times. “We have to look beyond the format of the muscular macho male hero in our visual arts. While Karthyayani Amma is a physically frail woman she defeats all skeptics and cynics with her determination and resilience.”
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out.
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