The trailer for Alif was launched by Akhilesh in December, who promoted the message of the film “Ladna nahi, padhna zaroori hai” (It is important to get educated rather than fight)
As the UP Assembly elections draw near, the impending release of a feature film Alif that criticises madrassa education, and which has been patronised by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, is set to queer the political pitch for his Samajwadi Party (SP).
The timing could be inopportune for the party’s fortunes, which is banking on the Muslim-Yadav combination — the mainstay of their electoral strategy for at least three decades — to beat any anti-incumbency factor. Any negative fallout could, however, hurt the party, which has just about emerged from the throes of a draining internecine war between Akhilesh and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The trailer for Alif was launched by Akhilesh in December, who promoted the message of the film “Ladna nahi, padhna zaroori hai” (It is important to get educated rather than fight).
Though the makers deny any connect with the Uttar Pradesh elections, the timing of release and association of Akhilesh has raised eyebrows. Out of 32,000 registered madrassas dotting the country, the state has the most; it also houses three major seminaries of Deoband, Mazahirul Ulook in Saharanpur and Nadwa in Lucknow.
The film, set in Varanasi, shows how a young boy and his family has to struggle when his father wants him to go to a formal school rather than studying in a madrassa. “A madrassa has never produced any doctors, engineers or journalists. Children who get education in madrassas need to get formal education later. Such is the situation of these teaching institutions,” says Zaigham Imam, Director of the film, which is set for a February 3 release.
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