I found Vaanku (orig. Malayalam w. Eng subs) on YouTube's NeeStream channel . It's a beautiful film with superb background and vocal music by Ouseppachan.
A class of final year students are encouraged by their teacher to fulfil their one main wish before leaving school as they will regret not having done so later on. A group of four close girls mull about what that desire would be. One wants to hug a male teacher and does so but is seen by the teacher who pounces upon her colleague who clarifies that the girl whose parents are abroad, misses her father, he reminds her of her Dad and its an innocent hug. Another two of the quartet go to the cinema with a couple of boys .... The last Rasiya (Anaswara Rajan) is from not particularly orthodox Muslim family but she has attended religious classes as a child where one teaching is stuck in her mind : that the Prophet wanted the call to prayer to be recited in a beautiful voice. When as a child she told the religious teacher (Usthad) that she wanted to recite the Azan, she was scolded and told that only a male could do so. Now she feels that is her one driven desire, to recite the Azan and that is what she must do before leaving school. Her friends advise her not to be so foolish in their conservative small community, the fanatics would surely attack her as their firm belief is that females are forbidden from doing so, but Rasia is undeterred. In the meantime Rasia's father Razak (Vineeth) a small time contractor has been recommended by the Jamaat head for a good 2 year long contract. Because of this, he feels his family should look more conservative like "good" Muslims and he gets 2 burkhas for his wife Jazmi (Shabna Mohamed) and daughter who otherwise dress normally without a burkha. Rasia expresses her desire to sing the Azan to her mother who advises against it. Her father gets angry and tells her to banish such "heretic" thoughts from her mind as "Usthad knows best". One of Rasia's friends Jyothi (Nandhana Varma) innocuously posts Rasia's desire on social media ... and all hell breaks loose. Rasia is brutally trolled, and physically threatened by the so called "conservative" minded boys of her college. Razak loses his prized contract, and the Muslim society shuns their family. Rasia goes into depression and stops attending college despite being a topper student. One day, she strolls into a nearby enchanting forest and sings the Azan by herself. Jyothi feels very guilty at causing Rasia and her family so much trouble. She arranges for Rasia to come to college in a burkha to avoid being harassed by the boys and collect her hall ticket. Razia stands up to the goons this time. Jyothi arranges for Rasia to fulfil her wish in the forest, she gets her cousin to take her there by bike.
A man see's the two entering the forest. Thinking they are a romantic couple, he calls his friends to join him to attack them, taking out his sickle as he enters the forest. Its a scary scene as the four rough looking men enter the forest hunting for the two. The suspense is held for awhile when the men eventually come across Rasia and the boy, but are spellbound by the sacred music through Rasia's divine voice, and drop their sickles. This is an outstanding and truly sacred scene, superbly shot. Loved it. Loved the film. It hasn't got great reviews but for me (and I am neither a Muslim nor a religious person) it was really good cinema. I loved the Azan put to music and also the opening Subhan Allah song and the background scores through the film.
All the characters are convincingly enacted, the scenes are realistic, the settings and locations quite real and believable.
A class of final year students are encouraged by their teacher to fulfil their one main wish before leaving school as they will regret not having done so later on. A group of four close girls mull about what that desire would be. One wants to hug a male teacher and does so but is seen by the teacher who pounces upon her colleague who clarifies that the girl whose parents are abroad, misses her father, he reminds her of her Dad and its an innocent hug. Another two of the quartet go to the cinema with a couple of boys .... The last Rasiya (Anaswara Rajan) is from not particularly orthodox Muslim family but she has attended religious classes as a child where one teaching is stuck in her mind : that the Prophet wanted the call to prayer to be recited in a beautiful voice. When as a child she told the religious teacher (Usthad) that she wanted to recite the Azan, she was scolded and told that only a male could do so. Now she feels that is her one driven desire, to recite the Azan and that is what she must do before leaving school. Her friends advise her not to be so foolish in their conservative small community, the fanatics would surely attack her as their firm belief is that females are forbidden from doing so, but Rasia is undeterred. In the meantime Rasia's father Razak (Vineeth) a small time contractor has been recommended by the Jamaat head for a good 2 year long contract. Because of this, he feels his family should look more conservative like "good" Muslims and he gets 2 burkhas for his wife Jazmi (Shabna Mohamed) and daughter who otherwise dress normally without a burkha. Rasia expresses her desire to sing the Azan to her mother who advises against it. Her father gets angry and tells her to banish such "heretic" thoughts from her mind as "Usthad knows best". One of Rasia's friends Jyothi (Nandhana Varma) innocuously posts Rasia's desire on social media ... and all hell breaks loose. Rasia is brutally trolled, and physically threatened by the so called "conservative" minded boys of her college. Razak loses his prized contract, and the Muslim society shuns their family. Rasia goes into depression and stops attending college despite being a topper student. One day, she strolls into a nearby enchanting forest and sings the Azan by herself. Jyothi feels very guilty at causing Rasia and her family so much trouble. She arranges for Rasia to come to college in a burkha to avoid being harassed by the boys and collect her hall ticket. Razia stands up to the goons this time. Jyothi arranges for Rasia to fulfil her wish in the forest, she gets her cousin to take her there by bike.
A man see's the two entering the forest. Thinking they are a romantic couple, he calls his friends to join him to attack them, taking out his sickle as he enters the forest. Its a scary scene as the four rough looking men enter the forest hunting for the two. The suspense is held for awhile when the men eventually come across Rasia and the boy, but are spellbound by the sacred music through Rasia's divine voice, and drop their sickles. This is an outstanding and truly sacred scene, superbly shot. Loved it. Loved the film. It hasn't got great reviews but for me (and I am neither a Muslim nor a religious person) it was really good cinema. I loved the Azan put to music and also the opening Subhan Allah song and the background scores through the film.
All the characters are convincingly enacted, the scenes are realistic, the settings and locations quite real and believable.