Jun 14, 2011

We have all heard of fairytales, the powerful imaginary creations of mind. Fairytales may be the product of make-believe. It is up to every individual to create a ‘fairytale’ story out of his or own life. Haneef Puttur’s life has not been short of the stuff fairytales are made of, if one goes by the turn of events his life has taken in the last 15 years.

From a high school dropout to a flower vendor to begin with, he went on to become a reporter, cameraman, a lyricist and composer with 17 Beary audio albums to his credit and finally as a documentary film maker. Driven by the constant urge to improve the lots of his community by focusing on the ills that are deleterious to their well being and development, Haneef Puttur’s life has been a variegated collage that makes an interesting and compulsive reading. He is a skinny little short guy in his early 30’s, with boyish looks but with a determination and resolve that is hard to find in most youngsters of his age, who has created a revolution of sort within the Muslim community with his documentary films. He has been like a one-man-army out to demolish all those evils which are causing havoc to his community and is not going to rest until he is able to achieve some tangible results. “I am not the type of person who believes in momentary success or short lived fame. Whatever I do is going to be a continuous effort ultimately aimed at improving the lives of the people”, he asserts.

It was this tenacity and virile determination of Haneef that became evident in the documentary “Aakrandana”, written scripted and directed by him a few years ago with Qasim Ahmed, depicting the miserable and poverty stricken lives of women of the Muslim community of our districts battered by dowry and other social evils. The documentary by all means has been an eye opener to the community and its leaders as it gave a true picture of the ground reality not seen by many. It succeeded in creating an uproar and impact, which made the community leaders sit up, think and act for the wellness of its own people. The upheaval caused by “Aakrandana” paved the way for another documentary “Parivarthane” (change) depicting the change brought by the documentary and the corrective measures undertaken to several families exposed in it.

Flower Vendor Blooms

From a canteen boy and subsequently as a flower vendor, Mohammed Haneef popularly known as Haneef Puttur, has come a long way blossoming into a fine writer and documentary film maker of repute dealing with some of the sensitive issues pertaining to the community. Of course, he has not confined his talent to only community based documentaries alone as he has works like “Munnade”, “Munnadeya Haadiyalli” (for Government of Karnataka) and many more works to his credit including a documentary aimed at communal harmony. Not the one to bask in the popularity he achieved, Haneef is now embarking on an ambitious documentary involving the entire Muslim community of Karnataka and is working diligently to pursue his dream project.

Haneef Puttur, who hails from Puttur came to Mangalore having flunked in his SSLC exam in 1996. “Though I was very good in all other subjects Maths was something that went beyond my comprehension. I was desperate after failing the examination and came to Mangalore with just 20 rupees given by my mother”, he recalls. As he was pondering over his next course of action to take care of his hunger sitting in Nehru Maidan he came across a flower vendor who was selling flower just next to the Durga, adjacent to the SP’s office. Haneef began to sell flowers with his mentor and the small wooden shop became his shelter.

As a flower vendor near Nehru Maidan he came across people from different walks of life, whose life story was no different from his but with varying degree of sufferings. This interaction with people of diverse backgrounds helped him garner a broader perspective of life. During his free time he vented out his feelings or rather frustrations by scribbling poems on pieces of paper or even on inside covers of incense stick boxes. His poetic skills were recognized by Sadashiva Das Pandeshwar, director of Sahay TV, who published them in his tabloid. Seeing his writing skills Sadashiv also offered him the job of a reporter for his tabloid.

Subsequently, Haneef joined the New Mangalore Channel and from there his life took an interesting turn. Here, he began to write scripts and also learnt the rudiments of a cameraman. He fondly recalls the help he received from cameraman Wilfred D Souza in mastering the techniques of a Cameraman. Life was not easy those days and Haneef says there were times he was waiting for coffee or breakfast to be served at press meetings. He worked there for 3 years and played a key role in the channel taking a strong foothold in the city. By now he had a good collections of poems and by a chance meeting with one Shameer of Sangeet Audio, Bunder, he could realize his dream of bring out an album title “Nande Pengal” (my sister) the success of which proved to be the trigger point of his successive albums (17) including the highly acclaimed and successful “Beary Baila”.

He was, however, itching for something of his own and along with photographer Ramakrishna Haneef started the first local channel in Udupi “Udupi Varte” in 2000. He burnt his fingers here and then ventured into starting his own paper “Puttur Mitra”. Along with that he also worked as the reporter of “Jaya Kirana”, which helped him develop good contacts and also broaden his horizon. Due to certain developments beyond his control Haneef was forced to close his publication and he feels it was a wise decision to do so at that point of time. He took the advice of his friends and well wishers to do something else where he could use his creativity. He remembers the support he received from the then SP and now the Commissioner of Police Seemant Kumar Singh, who he says convinced him to do something meaningful. Haneef took the suggestions seriously which finally paved the way for setting up Mangalore Medic Centre in 2006 with its office in Kunil Complex, in Bendoorwell. Yenepoya Abdul Kunhi inaugurated his new office and wished him well in his new venture.

Haneef was burning with a desire to do something for the community and mitigate their sufferings. That is when the idea of “Akrandana” took shape in his mind. From the exposure he had got he realized that dowry was the biggest social menace afflicting the community which jeopardized the lives of scores of Muslim women. Since finance was a constraint he sought the support of Abdul Samad A R of Kasargod who readily agreed to finance the documentary.

He also got the support of Kasim Ahmed who extended wholehearted support to him. Haneef along with 4/5 teams toured different parts of Mangalore and Udupi districts, went to the village and picturized the abysmal living conditions and privation they faced. They interviewed more than thousand families for the documentary and after 8 months of intense research came out with “Akrandana”, that portrayed a pestilential picture of the community as a whole. “The miserable lives of some of the women we portrayed are stunning revelations of the real situation in our villages. Our community suffers from all these ills because no one is answerable to anyone. There is no unity among Ulemas and the community people suffer”, he laments. Akarandana created awareness and for the first time in the history of the community the Khajis visited the homes of those portrayed in the documentary to personally see the situation and initiate corrective steps.

Driven by an Aspiration

There is sadness and frustration as he explains some of the common ailments his community has been facing. “Though the Muslims of the coastal districts are affluent and have carved out a good reputation for themselves, the total community is plagued with poverty, illiteracy and suffers from lack of basic facilities. Our community has a history of more than 1000 years but we have nothing to identify our existence which the entire Muslim community can be proud of. We have got only a few religious organizations, mosques and madarasas. When I see established Catholic institutions doing lot of service I feel a strong urge that my community also must have something in similar lines”, he explains. In the same breath he adds “during my study of Karnataka Muslims some Muslim intellectuals showed me the Gawan Madarasa of Bidar, which is in ruins now. At one time a prestigious centre of learning for Muslims but today it remains a symbol of our community’s educational and cultural bankruptcy”, he says.

Haneef also says that it took 6 years to complete the mosque at Pumpwell due to shortage of money. ”Today this mosque mirrors the lackluster attitude of the rich Muslims of our district. This mosque was projected as a cultural centre with facilities like computer centre, Arabic School, tailoring centre, women’s college, guest house and as a commercial complex and was viewed as a centre of empowerment for the entire community. In the intervening 6 years many Muslim entrepreneurs have come up with two multiplex shopping complexes, two commercial schools of international standards, 13 multi-storey residential complexes by investing in crores. Unfortunately, the ambitious mosque cum cultural centre has become an ideal place for vehicle parking and nothing more. There is lot of facilities and infrastructure developed by individual Muslims when compared to that of the other communities. But when it comes to the whole community there is a huge dearth of necessary infrastructure”, he blurts out in one breath, anger and frustration writ large on his face.

Haneef also directs his unhappiness over the attitude of the rich towards the deprived sections of his society. “Our people have no qualms in giving just Rs. 500 to those in needy when they spend in crores for marriages and other family functions keeping in tune with their prestige. Rather than doing lip service I feel the rich should consider it their duty and responsibility to improve the condition of the poor. We have no dearth of exclusive social workers who splurge in the name of various departments like marriage, education, dignity developments etc,. There is no dearth of concepts of development and organizations. They do not hesitate to spend in lakhs on conducting conferences for the development of the community. However, they are hardpressed when it comes to paying a meager salary of even Rs. 2000/- to the Madarasa teacher (Ustad). What kind of religious education can the community expect from a Khaji who is not even able to fulfill his own basic needs? The Khajis live in dilapidated homes. They don’t have cars to or other means of transport. No one listens to what they say. How can such a community prosper?” he questions.

“Akrandana” produced tremendous results and continues to do so even after 4 years. All the 67 families that feature in that are immensely benefited. Due to its impact “Chiguru” schools belonging to Talent Research Foundation went on to increase to 60. The efforts of leaders resulted in many unmarried Muslim women getting married and many Muslim youth vouched to get married without dowry. This has given tremendous satisfaction of Haneef who feel his efforts have yielded results.

Result Oriented Committed Professional

Nonetheless, Haneef is often criticized for lacking commitment and for being unprofessional. However, he brushes aside such criticism saying “I am committed only when I am confident of my work yielding 100 per cent results. Even when I feel my work may produce only 90 percent results I may not go ahead with what I intend to do. I am not the one who gets carried away by short-term fame or success. But none can doubt my commitment or sincerity when it comes to my work that may yield continuous results and for a longer time”, he clarifies.

Haneef is now concentrating all his time, energy and creativity in bringing out another documentary dealing with the entire Muslim community of Karnataka. He needs to work systematically involving a group of people in this task of covering the community of the entire state. He feels that the community leaders desirous of improving the Muslim community would render a helping hand in his ambitious venture. He is grateful to people like Khasim Ahmed and Samad Ahmed of Kasaragod for providing him necessary help and giving wings to his dream of doing something for the community. He is preparing himself for the task on hand with the hope that similar help would pour in from those who would like to contribute their mite towards the welfare of the community.