Director Meera Kathiravan, whose upcoming film Habeebi is set in a Muslim neighbourhood and explores the lives of traditional weavers, has revealed that one of the film’s most meaningful experiences happened even before the cameras started rolling.
In an exclusive conversation with CE, Meera recalled the unexpected journey that led the team to find one of the film’s central locations — a house inside an agraharam. The filmmaker said the team did not have the budget to recreate the house as a set and had to search extensively for an authentic location. During one such search, they met a temple priest who offered to help.
Meera admitted that the team initially felt hesitant about explaining that they were making a film centred on Muslim lives. “We thought, ‘How do we explain to a Brahmin priest that this is a story about Muslims?’” he said. However, according to Meera, the priest did not react the way they expected. “He simply said, ‘Oh, is that so? That’s a good thing,’ and took us to a house in an agraharam,” Meera recalled.
The experience continued to surprise the team. Meera said the owner of the house welcomed the idea wholeheartedly and told them that while films are made about many communities, stories centred on Muslims are still rare. “He said, ‘I have many Muslim friends. So many films are made about everyone else, but there aren’t many stories about Muslims. I’ll gladly give my house for this,’” Meera shared.
The team eventually shot in the house for nearly a month. Reflecting on the experience, Meera said the film itself was created by people from different faiths and backgrounds. Pointing to the collaborative nature of the project, he noted that the crew included people from Hindu, Christian and Muslim backgrounds, adding that Habeebi was ultimately “made by everyone, for everyone.”
The filmmaker stressed that although the film is rooted in a Muslim milieu, its emotions are universal. “You may watch Kasthuri Raja sir’s character and think of your own father,” Meera said, recalling an emotional moment during dubbing. According to him, one of the dubbing engineers had to pause briefly because the character reminded him of his father. “That’s when you realise human emotions are the same for everyone,” Meera said. “Everyone will find themselves in at least one character.”
Habeebi stars Kasthuri Raja, Malavika Manoj, Esha, Dhanashree Sudhakaran, Arulkumar and Anusreya Rajan. Backed by Raahul of Romeo Pictures, Nesam Entertainment and GKS Bros Production, the film’s technical crew includes composer Sam CS, cinematographer Mahesh Muthuswami, editor Mathi VS and art director Appunni Sajan. The film is gearing up for release in theatres on June 12.