CHENNAI: It was a fitting felicitation for nonagenarian Krishnammal and her centenarian husband Jagannathan with the screening of ‘That Fired Soul’ on Women’s Day at the Loyola College in the city.The 50-minute film revolves around the life of the Gandhian couple, who were chasing a dream of redistributing 5,00,000 acres to the landless.Krishnammal, who at 90, is going strong with her commitment to Gandhian ideals and bringing in a revolutionary empowerment among women in the rural backyard, had caught the imagination of M Aravind Kumar, the director of the film.Aravind recalls the time when he was shooting the post-tsunami rehabilitation work in Nagapattinam, how he witnessed a large number of villagers being arrested en masse by the police as they had put up huts on their lands at the instance of the landlords.“I was curious to know what was happening and went near them. The villagers then asked me to convey the information about their arrest to Krishnammal and ask her to come to their rescue. At that time, I did not know who Krishnammal was,” said Aravind.Aravind, who was of the view that Gandhian principles had lost all relevance to modern society, encountered Gandhi, Vinoba, Jeyaprakash Narayan and other leaders through a silent army led by the Gandhian couple, with the dream of Sarvodaya (welfare of all). “When I met Krishnammal and listened to her conversations with landless villagers, I realised that Gandhi is living today through Krishnammal’s work,” he said.For their tireless work, this Gandhian couple were awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize in 2008.The film was produced by Syed Yasmin, an IT professional, who believes in “investing in a social cause.”
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