JOHANNESBURG: A co-production film by India and South Africa on the life of teenage social activist Valliamma Munuswami Mudliar will be made soon.
The announcement was made during the annual Valiamma awards ceremony, hosted by the Tamil Federation of Gauteng at the Indian township of Lenasia on Saturday.
On the occasion, activists Shanthie Naidoo and the late Viramma Thandray were honoured. Valliamma is remembered for her non-violent methods to fight the apartheid regime in South Africa.
She famously marched alongside Mahatma Gandhi during his Satyagraha campaigns in the country. She refused to be released early from jail after she and other women, including her mother, resisted laws which were discriminatory against Indians. She died soon after serving her sentence.
Largely forgotten in the apartheid era, Valliamma’s grave was rediscovered after Nelson Mandela became president.
Gopal Krishna Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma and India’s first High Commissioner to South Africa after diplomatic relations were resumed after a break of nearly four decades, played a vital role along with the local Tamil community to recognise the works of Valliamma.
Valliamma has been earlier honoured with memorials in Chennai and Malaysia, but never in South Africa except for a hall in a Lenasia community centre being named after her.
After her grave was restored, a bust was also installed at a public park in Lenasia. Award-winning Indian documentary filmmaker Sharada Ramanathan explained that she was intrigued to find a building named after Valliamma in Chennai, sparking her search to discover who the person was. Several trips to South Africa over a year to meet community leaders and descendants of Valliamma led to the decision to make the film.
“Script writing is at an advanced stage and funding negotiations are being finalised,” Ramanathan said at a media conference hosted by Consul General K J Srinivasa.
Srinivasa said a Memorandum of Understanding between India and South Africa regarding film production would soon be concluded.
“Indian film production in South Africa was very popular in the first decade of democracy, but has gone down due to high costs which have driven producers to other parts of the world with incentives there. We are confident that this situation will be addressed in the MoU,” Srinivasa said.
Ramanathan confirmed that the film would feature Indian and South African actors and crew. PTI
