"A Journey From Malappuram
to Goa"
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Clint Mathew , a multitalented artist from a village of Perinthalmanna, Malappuram district. By profession Clint is a teacher who has challenges with vision by birth onwards who is passionate about theatre and music. He recollects that people in his family and village were clueless in giving education to the persons with disabilities. However, he was able to manage to get admission in Christian Missionary School. Unfortunately, he was not able to survive there. Later by the recommendation of his aunt, his schooling was shifted into a special school (blind school). After completion of 7th standard, he relocated to Calicut district and Chennai for his further education.
Clint was extremely passionate about managing music instruments from school onwards as he has got talent in music. He said, his grandfather was his first guru in the field of art. He has received lots of prices in both school and college youth festivals.
About his journey in film field, he said a director named Siddique Paravoor was in search for a person to do a character having challenge in vision for a movie named “Tahira”. Due to the recommendation of Mr. Sathyan who was the vice president of Kerala blind federation, the director has reached to Clint. At first, he was so hesitant to accept the role because movies are the world of vision. Clint was anxious, whether he was able to manage acting or not. But, with the support and motivation of his family, he has accepted the challenge. When he has started to engage with the movie, many of the crew members were so wondered, but he said soon after everyone realized his talent and started to treat him with empathy.
The movie tahira was a story of survival of two person with disabilities. Clint enacted the role of a full-blind person named Bichapu who is a beggar initially in the movie. When Tahira, a lead female character enter into Bichapu’s life, the duo started to explore Bichapu’s skill and they were doing another job. The story ends when everyone started to accept Bichapu’s skills and talent.
He said, he wants to convey the message to the society that ‘the person with disability have many skills and talents like everyone. That is the reason made him to act in the movie. Clint criticizes the sympathetic attitude of society and in his opinion, even 21st century there are many people who are not ready to accept person with disability as a common thing. But, society is treating their talent with exaggerations. He wants to convey a message against the misconception through this movie to the audience.
Clint has mentioned the challenges that he has faced while working on this movie. When the director has asked him to dub for his character, he thought it was impossible for him. But he has given full credit to his director for making him comfortable with dubbing. He also added, acting with expressions was very challenging for him because he has not seen the visualization of expressions. But the director caught all the needed expressions Clint was expressing while acting. He said all his crew members were supportive and cooperative.
The movie has got representation in International Film Festival of India, 2021 which will be staging at Goa. But at the same time, the international film festival of Kerala has not given any importance to this movie. There were couple of news channels which have identified the importance of this movie and gave promotions. But at the same time, the commercial media industry has not approached the crew members. Clint concluded his words “this movie was a challenging one and it is giving a message to society about the life of a person with disability. The movie should get its importance and should address as a vital part of change making”.