With her subtle expressions and heart-warming conversation, the actress keeps the audience glued to their seats.
Kalyani Priyadarshan in 'Sesham Mike-il Fathima'. (X)
Sesham Mike-il Fathima (Malayalam)
Debutant director Manu C Kumar’s Sesham Mike-il Fathima is about a young woman named Fathima. It has an inspiring story which has similarities with the successful sports dramas released in recent times.
Fathima hails from the Malappuram district in Kerala. She aims to become a commentator for football matches.
In Malayalam, we’ve seen a couple of films based on football — KL 10 Pathu (2015) and Sudani From Nigeria (2018). While these movies speak about football matches, Sesham Mike-il Fathima talks about Fathima’s dreams and the effort she puts in to realise them.
‘Sesham Mike-il Fathima’ is directed by Manu C Kumar. (Supplied)
Since childhood, Fathima Noorjahan aka Fathima (Kalyani Priyadarshan) has been fond of presenting live commentary for TV cartoons and football matches.
A chatterbox, she plays local football matches and even gives live commentary while playing the game.
Fathima joins BSC Biochemistry but is passionate about sports commentary and wishes to do commentary at IFL (similar to ISL matches).
However, she faces several challenges in her journey to become a sports commentator. She realises the fact that sports commentary is a male-dominated domain.
So, Fathima gets in touch with her old friend Remya (Femina George), a journalist who helps the former chase her dream.
Will Fathima become a commentator at the IFL matches? Well, watch the film to find out the answer.
Fathima comes from a Muslim family in the Malappuram district. Director Manu Kumar, who is also the scriptwriter, highlights the discrimination faced by women in everyday life.
The movie showcases several orthodox people who are conditioned by patriarchy.
Muneer (Sudheesh), Fathima’s father, is a a male chauvinist. He vehemently opposes his daughter’s dream to become a commentator as he fears he won’t be able to find an alliance for her in future.
But Fathima is a mellow personality. Even when she faces problems from Jayakrishnan (Sabumon Abdusamad), the president of the Football Federation, she doesn’t protest but looks out for opportunity with a smile.
‘Sesham Mike-il Fathima’ is about the dreams of a young woman. (X)
In this fictional story, Fathima has experience as a local commentator. She has no support from her family members, who want to marry her off.
The director crafts the movie while keeping the image of Kalyani Priyadarshan in mind, and he does it beautifully.
Kalyani, with her subtle expressions and heart-warming conversation, keeps the audience glued to their seats.
The story breaks several stereotypes. Fathima and Femina are bold women who work relentlessly toward making the former’s (Fathima) dream a reality.
All these remind us of women’s football commentator and sports journalist Aditi Chauhan.
Sesham Mike-il Fathima also shows men who seek sexual favours from women under the garb of giving a job opportunity. How Fathima handles such men makes for inspiring sequences.
A still from the film ‘Sesham Mike-il Fathima’. (X)
Sesham Mike-il Fathima has impressive performances by Kalyani Priyadarshan, Femina George, and Sudheesh.
Fathima is a challenging role for Kalyani Priyadarshan, and the young actress pulls it off with elan.
She needs to be appreciated for delivering her dialogue in the Malappuram dialect.
Femina George, as the journalist, delivers a good performance. Her looks and expressions are impressive.
Sudheesh, as Fathima’s father, is spot on.
Sabumon Abdusamad and Shaju Sreedhar delivered what was expected of them.
Gautam Vasudev Menon and Unni Maya Prasad’s entry towards the climax is refreshing.
Shaheen Siddique is decent, too.
The movie also marks the debut of Tamil music sensation Anirudh Ravichander in Malayalam as a singer. His soundtrack and the other songs composed by Hesham Abdul Wahab complement the story.
Sesham Mike-il Fathima is a heartwarming story of a young woman who aspires to become a football commentator. Watch it for Kalyani Priyadarshan!
(Views expressed here are personal.)
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