A film in the making

Madhu Janardanan, who is working for Kerala health department, is exploring Malappuram's fascination for football through a documentary called Why do we dribble. He says the game was introduced in the region as a conciliatory tool during the British Raj. "In the late 19th century, the British wanted to build bridges with the agitating local masses. Football helped them achieve that purpose. There are records of games between the British and the barefooted locals before our independence. The people of Malappuram had developed their own indigenous football made of plantain stem and coconut leaves before starting to play with the original ball," he explains.
His documentary has three parts. The first part sheds light on how people in Malappuram never get tired of playing football throughout the year; the second narrates the history and evolution of football in Malappuram through the eyes of an octogenarian who belongs to an underprivileged section of the society and the final part explains how the game helps Malappuram retain its secular identity though the district has a predominant Muslim population. Mr Janardanan points out football kept alive the anti-colonial sentiments in the pre-independence days. A genre of folk music associated with Malappuram district forms the background of the documentary.
Mr Janardanan reveals the game's irrelevant ways to pop its head even during a protest rally against the US war in Iraq at Malappuram. "I noticed a placard reading 'We want football, we don't want war," says the keen student of the game.