Uppu is a 1986 India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n Malayalam film directed by Pavithran

Pavithran

Vattapparambil Krishnan Pavithran, known mononymously as Pavithran was a famous Malayalam film director.-Biography:...

 and written by K. M. A. Rahim. The film is about atavistic Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 practice of male polygamy

Polygamy

Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...

. Film is entirely on the side of the wronged wives, mounting a strong criticism of this aspect of the Muslim religion. It stars P. T. Kunju Muhammed

P. T. Kunju Muhammed

P. T. Kunju Muhammed is a noted director and producer in Malayalam parallel film industry. Magrib was his first film venture. He received a number of awards for his movies at the state level...

, Jayalalitha, Vijayan Kottarathil and Madhavan. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam

The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam winners:...

.

Plot

Story begins when old patriarch Moosa Meleri arrives in a quiet Kerala village with his adopted son Abu and daughter-in-law Amina. He has lost all his money in litigation. Despite their hardships they are happy until their rich landlord covets Amina. Heartbroken, Amina is forced to divorce Abu and become the landlord's second wife. Twenty years later Amina is alone while her father still indulges in litigations, her son leads a dissolute life and her daughter elopes with the chauffer.

Cast

• P. T. Kunju Muhammed
  P. T. Kunju Muhammed
  P. T. Kunju Muhammed is a noted director and producer in Malayalam parallel film industry. Magrib was his first film venture. He received a number of awards for his movies at the state level...
  
   as Abu
• Jayalalitha as Amina
• Vijayan Kottarathil as Meleri Moosa
• Madhavan as Moidutty Mudalali
• Sadiq as Saleem
• Mullanezhi as Nanu Nair
• Valsala Menon as Mariyambi
• V. K. Sreeraman as Abdul Rahman Musaliyar
• C. V. Sreeraman
  C. V. Sreeraman
  C. V. Sreeraman was a gifted Short Story writer and novelist in Malayalam. He was the Vice-Chairman of Kerala Sahitya Akademi. C.V. Sreeraman’s stories stand foremost core to the theme, as exemplified by his Anayasena Maranam , Railway Palangal...
  
   as Khazi (religious leader)
• Bharathi as Khadeeja

Controversies

The film was controversial as it dealt with a sensitive content. Pavithran's comments on the film are revealing: "Salt is a trifle better—the truth always is. The religious laws are almost unknowingly misused by people, leading to the exploitation of those who succumb or resign themselves to religious and social pressures. Our intention was not to victimise or ridicule the Muslim community. Why, in the second half of the film, we also expose a Nair

Nair

Nair , also known as Nayar , refers to "not a unitary group but a named category of castes", which historically embody several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom bore the Nair title. These people historically live in the present-day Indian state of Kerala...

 family who run a prostitution den—but are particular about their prayers." Producer and writer K. M. A. Rahim stated, "The villain in the film is the distorted perception of Muslim personal law. When I wrote the script, I kept it in mimd that I must do my best to translate the reality I know on to the screen. That is why the film does not sound didactic. We did not intend to teach—the reality itself is thought prevoking."

External links

• Uppu at the British Film Institute
  British Film Institute
  The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
  
  Movie Database