Mumbai media institute professor’s biopic of slain nun Sister Rani Maria brings conversation back to hate crimes towards social workers
A scene from The Face of the Faceless, starring Malayali actor Vincy Aloshious as Sister Rani Maria Vattalil
The story of Sister Rani Maria Vattalil has been germinating with filmmaker Dr Shaison P Ouseph for over 15 years now. Ouseph is Associate Dean (Technical and Administration) and Head of Department for Film and Television at Xavier Institute of Communication (XIC). He first heard of Sr Maria, a Franciscan Clarist nun who originally hailed from Pulluvazhy in Kerala, when he was still studying to become a priest in a Claretian Congregation. This month, her biopic The Face of the Faceless, was screened at the YB Chavan Centre in Churchgate.
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The late social reformer and activist was working for the cause of Bhil tribe, Dalit communities and landless labourers in Udaynagar, Madhya Pradesh, when on February 25, 1995, she was brutally stabbed 40 times on a bus from Udaynagar to Indore. She was only 41 , and was beatified in Indore in 2017. “But at the time, it was just an incident I had heard of... I didn’t think about pursuing it in any way,” recalls Ouseph, over a call from Chicago.
In August 2006, 11 years later, Sr Maria’s murderer Samandar Singh was released from prison early on account of good conduct. Singh visited her family and was accepted as one of their own. That impacted Ouseph deeply, who by then had left the congregation, and moved on to pursue filmmaking.
He instinctively felt the need to make a documentary on Sr Maria’s life and times. Extensive research followed.
“I visited the places where Sr Rani Maria worked, and met the villagers, nuns and the people who knew her personally,” says Ouseph, who also spent a lot of time with Singh. “It helped me understand what was going on in his mind, and what led him to commit the crime,” he says.
Dr Shaison P Ouseph on the set
Moving away from the original idea of a documentary towards a feature film was a conscious decision. “Simply telling the truth would not be very effective,” Ouseph says, “It wouldn’t do justice to her story. A feature film allows a director more creative freedom... it helps you delve deeper into that world.”
With Malayali actor Vincy Aloshious in the lead, the two-hour-plus-long film has a wide cast of 150 actors from across 16 states. “I couldn’t afford front-line actors, but one thing I was particular about—whoever played Sister Maria had to have her energy,” he says. Aloshious, who recently won the 53rd Kerala State Film Award, fit the role to the tee.
The blueprint for the movie was the book Pulluvazhiyil Ninnum Punnyavazhiyilek (From Pulluvazhi to the Path of Holiness), which traces the life of Sr Maria.
“It is unbelievable that a woman could do so much for her fellow human beings,” says Ouseph. For years, Sr Maria worked with individuals who lived in deplorable conditions. Her work gave her insight into the lives of tribal communities, and how they were exploited by the upper castes. Apart from making it her life’s mission to educate them, she made them aware of government schemes and loans to free them from the bondage of money lenders.
“She faced stiff opposition from the upper caste as well as members of the tribal community who didn’t want to change their way of life,” the filmmaker says. There wasn’t support from sisters of her own congregation either. “They felt that she was fighting the system.”
Singh told Ouseph that “I was naive, and just 17 years old… Someone gave me liquor and good food, and asked me to kill her.”
“While I have heard of versions that don’t absolve him of the crime,” says Ouseph, “I strongly believe that it was a set-up, and he was dragged into it.”
The filmmaker clarifies that his film is not about religion; it’s about Sr Maria’s cause. “There are just two scenes in the film where her religion comes into view: First, is when she receives communion; and the other where she’s praying. Both are just a few seconds long.”
The film met with several challenges, especially funding, cataylsing Ouseph to launch his own production house with Sandra D’souza Rana, Dean (Finance and Administration) at XIC called Tri Light Creations. While the project took off in full earnest in 2016, shoot began only in 2021.
Though Ouseph is eyeing a festival run, he is also hoping for a theatrical release. “The reaction and response to the film has been very rewarding... many people
became very emotional. Her story is inspirational, and just as it has motivated me, I feel it had to be shared with the rest of the world.”
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