Most inspiring story I’ve seen

A story in Crest inspired Anant Mahadevan to make a film. It’s a story that director Ananth Mahadevan read in the TOI Crest. It was a movie he had to make.
When at the age 12 she was thrown out of her 30-year old husband’s home Sindhutai Sapkal had no idea that one day she would not only inspire thousands of women and children but would also be the subject of a biopic.
Entitled Mee Sindhutai Sapkal, the Marathi film to be directed by Ananth Mahdevan that goes on the floors this summer, delves into the fascinating and inspirational life of an abandoned woman.
Sindhutai was driven to near-suicide after marriage and motherhood. Sindhutai survived with her daughter by begging from town to town and is today looking after more than 1000 orphaned children in her five destitute homes in Maharashtra and is the recipient of over 70 national and international awards for her charity work.
What inspired director Ananth Mahadevan was the spirit of resilience and inherent drama of the protagonist’s story. “Sindhutai Sapkal reconstructed her shattered life and decided to help people like her. It’s the most inspiring life and story I’ve ever encountered.”
Ananth has made the film in Marathi, his first in that language. While the Marathi actress Tejaswini Pandit plays Sindhutai Sapkal, this year’s National award winner for best actor Upendra Limaye plays her brutish husband. The director plans to approach Lata Mangeshkar to sing the poetry of the Marathi litterateurs Bahina-bai and GD Madgulkar which would be incorporated into the biopic.
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