Sindhi film 'The Awakening' hits theaters

Mumbai, Apr 19 : The release of the Sindhi film 'The Awakening', which focuses on the journey of a young girl from New York to the Indus Valley, was released on Friday.

Touted as "the first international Singlish movie" the film has the dialogues in English and songs sung in Sindhi

Dharambir Kumar's film stars Smita Gondkar, Farida Dadi, Pankaj Berry, Gargi Patel and Ram Jethmalani, besides many others.

With this film, Ram Jethmalani, one of the country's hi-profile lawyers, makes his debut on the silver screen. He appears in a ten-minute role as a chief guest and gives away an award to the protagonist.

Koshi Lalvani has produced the film, besides lending music to it.

A successful businessman from Dubai, Lalvani has stakes in construction, garments and now in cinema.

The film about Sindhis and Sindhi culture traces the rise of the diaspora that has embraced modernity after being rooted out of Pakistan, but yearns for its lost culture.

Scripted by Vinod Raman Nayar, the film is told through the eyes of Sindhu, who works as a researcher on the Indus Valley civilization. She comes across her Mumbai-based grandmother, who clings to her Sindhi heritage, and stumbles upon her roots.

The leading lady of the film, Smita, is happy to be a part of the film and believes something should be done to save the Sindhi culture from extinction. She understands the trauma of rootlessness shown in the movie even though she hails from Maharashtra.

"As the lead protagonist in the film is a Sindhi, it is obvious that Sindhi culture is emphasized. There are many Sindhis all around the world who are successful. Therefore, the film has a market not only with the Sindhi community, but this film is also directed towards all those youth who have lost touch with Sindhi culture. The parents of such kids will obviously want their kids to watch this movie," said Smita.

Sindhi music is integral to the film. There are a total of six songs in the movie and the music is situational and varies from the romantic to the inspirational.

ANI