Ananth Narayan Mahadavan Wraps ‘Phule,’ Film About India’s First Mahatma (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comNaman Ramachandran Eminent filmmaker Ananth Narayan Mahadevan is in post-production on “Phule,” about the pioneers of women’s education in India.
Jyotirao Govindrao Phule and his wife Savitribai were social reformers known for their efforts against India’s endemic caste system.
Phule’s first school for girls was founded in Pune, western India, in 1848. In 1873, Jyotirao Phule and his followers began the Satyashodhak Samaj (Truth-seekers’ Society) to campaign for increased rights for the underprivileged.
In 1888, the honorific Mahatma (great soul), a term later used to describe Gandhi, was accorded to Phule. “The two of them are lethal, the husband and wife, because at a time when the girl child was being refused education and just pushed into marriage, Jyotirao chose to actually educate his little wife – she was just 11 at that time, he was 17 when they got married, because it was the time of child marriage,” Mahadevan told Variety.
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