Sindhutai Sapkal, 72, is the other name for grit and determination, and thus when she was awarded the Padma Shri for social work in 2021, everybody celebrated. Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, who made the National Award-winning Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (2010) on the life of the ‘Mother of Orphans’, talked about the inspiration behind the film.
He said, “For all that she has undergone, like being thrown out of the house when she was pregnant and then delivering a baby in the cowshed, being subjected to humiliation by the husband and family, she was on the verge of giving up on life, not once but twice, but then she decided to give life to the needy.”
He added, “Her thought process changed and then she started giving shelters to orphans and the urchins at the railway station. And we all know how her incredible journey has turned out to be. Her enterprising and never say attitude is amazing for someone who has taken so many knocks in life. It was inspiring for all of us when we began to research about her work. She was with us during the shooting and it was amazing to see how much she could give back to the society.”
Mahadevan gives an insight into Sapkal’s life. “When her husband wanted her to take him back, she said that she is not a wife anymore but a mother, and she can give him a space in her ‘ashram’ only as a child. That’s the kind of incredible life she has led.”
He further said, “There’s this incident about her where she had to make ‘roti’ on a funeral pyre, it’s so heart wrenching. If it wasn’t a true story, people wouldn’t have believed. She didn’t give up on even one kid and raised them as nice human beings.”
Mahadevan, in his recent films, has shown solidarity with ordinary people with extraordinary achievements.
He said, “All these unsung heroes, be it Sindhutai or Gaur Haridas or Prabhavati Amma, I feel that heroism in real life is about rising above the odds. Logically, there was no way they could have emerged out as they are, but their determination changed everything.”
“When I went to these people and told them that I want to make a film on them, they didn’t jump at the opportunity or thought it as a chance to being immortalised. In fact, they were suspicious. That’s way, I feel fortunate that I could make films on these unusually gritty people,” he signed off.
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