Feminichi Fathima Review | This Spiritual Cousin of “The Great Indian Kitchen” Is Entertaining and Delightfully Political

Feminichi Fathima, directed by Fasil Muhammed, premiered at the International Film Festival of Kerala in 2024 and was recently showcased in the Regional version of the same festival, held in Kozhikode. As anyone can guess from the title, the movie is indeed a political one, and what makes it extremely entertaining is the fact that it is not trying to be a loud political film that will spoon-feed the audience about the moral of the Story. In a way, I would say, Feminichi Fathima is a less aggressive version of The Great Indian Kitchen from Jeo Baby.

Fathima, a housewife, is married to an Ustad named Ashraf. The household is very religious, and for everything Fathima needs to take approval from Ashraf, as the religious restriction might be there. What we see in the movie is a series of events, when Fathima needed a new bed, and there were many obstacles in front of her to get one.

Much like The Great Indian Kitchen, the idea here is to criticize the patriarchal setup that every religion endorses. If the Jeo Baby film was creating a sense of rage in our minds and making us clap for the leading lady for taking a bold decision, Fasil Muhammed prefers the idea of laughing at the characters who resist evolving. Rather than showing any grand faceoff, we see how small steps can effectively silence the religious fundamentalists. It even exposes the hypocrisy in these people when technology evolves.

The movie’s runtime is only 97 minutes. However, since the film fully invests all that time to show elements essential for it to establish the politics it wants to convey, we don’t feel that the runtime is too short. It begins by showing us the daily chores of Fathima, and within that sequence itself, we see why she needs a bed. During the process of finding a new bed, we get introduced to multiple female characters. Fasil Muhammed is using each of those women as a representation of various mindsets. Some are old school. Some don’t want to argue. Some silently endorse those who wish to escape from the constraints, and those who have managed to break through the barriers are encouraging others to do the same. And it was beautiful how all these women eventually became a part of that tiny revolution, without necessarily knowing it.

It is a small budget indie film set against the backdrop of a seaside town. And the main location of the movie is Fathima’s house. The cinematography uses mostly static frames, and the idea is to make the viewer an onlooker. The pacing of the edits has a rhythm, and it complements the humor in the written content. At the same time, there are one or two moments in the film where the movie sustains on certain shots which gently show us the state of mind of the character. The usage of music is also minimal, but very effective.

Shamla Hamza has played the title role in the film, and the performance just flows. The movie basically shows her progress from being completely helpless to starting to do things on her own, and the actress portrays that transition in the most believable way. The dialogue delivery is on point, and one can really feel that character’s frustration and anger. That really makes us root for her small victory. Kumar Sunil is one actor who has appeared in a few films in character roles with that typical Kozhikode slang. My favorite performance of his is from Jeo Baby’s Sreedhanya Catering, and recently he was in the movie Kolahalam. I think the most popular role he has done is that of Naslen’s father in the film 18+. He is playing the role of Fathima’s ignorant and arrogant husband. There is a style of expressive comedy that Kumar Sunil does in his acting, and that style really works in this movie. The character needs to be mocked for the misogynistic mindset, and at the same time, he shouldn’t reach that caricature zone. I thought Kumar Sunil’s performance cracked that space brilliantly. None of the other members in the cast, including the kid who plays the part of Fathima’s youngest son, disappoints you.

Feminichi Fathima is a powerful film that gets treated like a light-hearted entertainer. The writing is very focused on what it wants to say, and there are these smaller setups and payoffs that create hilarious moments, which look so real on screen. With terrific performances from almost everyone in the cast, especially Shamla and Kumar Sunil, Feminichi Fathima offers the joy of watching a small film with a big heart.