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April 3rd, 2021 
Awake Goy 
Dr Siju Vijayan is passionate about his new film, Insha, which is a story that is true to this world that we live in. This is the reason why Insha is a trailblazer because stories about disabled people are not often told and are not often told with this much authenticity.
Dr. Vijayan’s impetus of his debut film – Insha, goes back to his childhood stories of ambitions with sincerity and tenderness.
In times where there is a continual competitive scramble for making movies and present it to the public, Insha manages to captivate us with its authenticity. The director’s empathy to the main character is a reflection of his own journey, replete with challenges and overcoming them. This is an instance of how far one can go if they have a will to achieve their dreams.
As a young Homeo practitioner, everything was a challenge for Dr. Vijayan, and he had to seek help for any little chore. This all changed once he got an automated wheelchair. It gave him newfound freedom to achieve his dreams. He embarked on a journey to learn filmmaking. Like the mythical character Ekalavya, he too did not have a guru to advise him against the faltering steps.
The family stood behind him all the way. His father, once a well built handsome man when I met him first five years ago, is almost bedridden now. He is the man who encouraged and egged his son to excel in his endeavours. He literally carried him to the campus of Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam and later to the Homeo Medical College at Thiruvananthapuram. He smiles at me weakly but the pride he has in his son shines through his eyes. Also, encouraging him strongly were his mother and brother who never said no to any of his wishes. If you visit Arookutty, a suburb of Aroor, on Kerala’s highway and inquire about Siju Vijayan, you will see the pride in the villagers, who along with the family, stood by his dreams to overcome his disabilities and shine as a filmmaker.
And this is the inspiration behind ‘Insha’, Dr Siju’s debut feature film released through the KSFDC theatres on March 19, 2021. Initially, it plays in the Kairali Theatres at Thiruvananthapuram, Cherthala and North Paravur and later to Trichur, Palakad and Kozhikode on different dates.
With a dozen short movies under his belt, this debut feature is an incredible and deeply personal story of a few children who belong to a fishermen village.
‘Insha’ explores the lives of 12 year-old-girl Insha and three friends. Their conversations, childish pranks, dreams and the journey to fulfill it rare handled well in the movie. Also in focus are the lives of less fortunate inhabitants of the village and their struggle for survival. The viewer is drawn into the engrossing theme of a physically challenged young girl’s dream to see the ocean, bringing forth tears and laughter.
The underlying message of the movie is that physical challenges are not an obstacle to success and the director and the lead character Insha prove just that.
Prarthana Sandeep who has a credit of a dozen movies comes to the screen as Insha with her brilliant histrionic skills. Aditya Menon, Ananthu Narayanan and Mebin Isaac are her bosom friends, drawing parallels from the director’s village mates. There are a few known and amateurs like Arya Salim (Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Ee-Ma- Yow), Anil Perumbalam (Flowers TV- popular sitcom-Uppum Mulakum), Maneksha (Thottappan & Kayamkulam Kochunni), Rajeswary S Kumar, Suresh Nellikode, Parvathy Krishnakumar, Sumesh, Prashanth etc.
Praveen Raj has wielded the camera for the movie which has been edited by Nareen Vijayan. Aghosh Babu and Thomas Mathew of Dreams Vision bring it to the theatres.
Dr Siju gratefully acknowledges the help offered by Kerala State Film Development Corporation for facilitating the theatre release.
And, whether working from home or spending quality time with family, Insha provides a poignant cinematic break while you’re social distancing during the pandemic.
Sunitha Palaveettil is a travel writer
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