Private Project

The Imam

IMAAM
SYNOPSIS

God has no gender!!! God is worshipped as a “HE” or as a “SHE” and in many other forms, depending on the choice of the worshipper. So why should the leader of a prayer be determined by the gender? Why are world over, in all religions its only men who occupy the place of leading a prayer, be it an imam, a pope, a pandit, or a priest! Why can’t an Imam be just an Imam – ‘a person who leads prayer,’ irrespective of their gender?

Six year old Saher, who is the daughter of the Imam of a village mosque aspires to follow in her fathers footsteps.Sahars innocent declaration in her madrasa annual function that she wants to be an Imaam like her dad , creates an uproar in the conservative village society.When her granny slaps her for going out of her limits , an obstinate Sahar creates a ruckus and cries buckets.
Her sweet father trying to placate her promises that if in the course of one day Sahar gets one person in the village to support her and come n tell her father to make Sahar an Imaam,he will do so.
Innocent Sahar sets out on a quest to find that one person and this leads her on a journey which raises several questions on the patriarchal interpretation of religion, the non-inclusivity of women in the religious sphere, commonly held and stereotypical views of women in society, and the all pervasive gender inequality.Sahars innocent questions to the people she meets in the course of the day,delivered with tongue-in-cheek humour smash patriarchy and how!
Connected with Sehars story is the story of Naseem a teenage girl in the village,whom Saher befriends and who is forced to live in the shadows of patriarchy and secretly aspires to be free and to experiment with all that life has to offer.Will Saher be able to help Naseem in her quest or will they both bow down to patriarchy?

  • Saba Mumtaz
    Director
    Disha 16mm film
  • Saba Mumtaz
    Writer
    Disha
  • Saba Mumtaz
    Producer
    Disha
  • Shivanya Bandral
    Key Cast
    "Saher "
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    39 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 14, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    20,492 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Hindi
  • Shooting Format:
    DIGITAL
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • K vishwanath memorial short film festival
    hyderabad
    India
    November 8, 2023
    BEST FILM
  • CARAVAN INTERNATION SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

    BEST MONTHLY FILM
  • SOUTH EAST ASIAN SHORT FILM AWARDS
    CALCUTTA
    India
    July 11, 2024
    BEST DIRECTOR
Director Biography - Saba Mumtaz

Saba Mumtaz has been working in the television industry for past 20 years .. She started her career with a 16 mm film Disha as Writer and Director and then shifted to television, since then she has written famous Hindi soaps for Star Plus , Sony Tv , Zee TV and also produced three serials .. Some of her acclaimed serials are Ye Rishta Kya Kehlata hai ( the longest running soap on Indian Television ) .. Bade Achche Lagtey Hai ..Sapney Suhaney Ladakpan Ke and several more. She has produced three shows for television named Ek Boond Ishq , Moh Moh Ke Dhage and Meri Sasu Maa.
Saba Mumtaz is a pass out of Jamia Millia Islamia University and has done her M.A in Mass Communication.
Saba aspires to get back to her first love films and make films which bring to light unheard of subjects and topics which can start conversations and bring a positive change in society albeit in an entertaining way.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Directors Statement

I chose to direct this film because it touches upon an important subject, lack of womens representation in leadership spaces across all religions, and it made me think why does this gender inequality exit in the religious spaces? Why do we not, since time immemorial have a women Imam, Pope, Dalai Lama ect. This film is an effort to start a conversation on this issue.I was inspired by the work of Iranian Directors like Majid Majidi and Abbas Kiroastami, to state a powerful theme via the innocence of a child. Since nobody was ready to produce this film due to the subject ,I broke my life's savings and went ahead to produce this film.
Due to shortage of finances I worked with a young crew and very little equipment as I could not even afford to hire all the necessary equipment. For the passion of turning this subject into a film we used lots of 'jugad' like lightbulbs, mobikes, cars to take our shots,
lot of which I had to drop at the edit as they did not come out as we planned.Inspite of all the hurdles I had full support of my family , friends and young crew and we managed to create a film close to our hearts. The film was shot in my ancestral village in India and a lot of characters were played by non actors from the village to the great advantage of my film getting an authentic look and feel. The star of my film is the child , who was also a newbie but was a tremendously talented six year old. A lot of women contributed in different departments to make this film happen. 'The Imam ' is not just a film but a labour of love and is out to raise important questions regarding gender inequality and aims to smash patriarchy ..