Teachers make short film against drug abuse

Thiruvananthapuram: The teachers at Government Model Girls HSS, Pattom, are in the process of making a short film against drug addiction, starring the entire school faculty. The film, titled ‘Vazhiyambalam’, is slated to be released in the first week of May. The film, produced by the school teachers’ group ‘Sargavaani’, has the principal Dr K Lailas and other teachers in leading roles.
‘Vazhiyambalam’ is a culmination of findings about the root causes of drug addiction among children, which the teachers gathered and studied through multiple interactions with victims and their parents over the years.
“When we discuss the issue of drug addiction, we usually go over solutions to overcome it rather than actively looking into what drives children to rely on drugs. Through our interactions with victims, we understood that the majority of children who fall under the influence of drugs hail from a broken family or suffer from strained family relationships. Attempts to raise awareness among students and parents along these lines are often not accepted easily. This is why we chose cinema to be the medium to convey this message to the public,” says Kunnathoor Jayaprakash, a Mathematics high school teacher.
He has donned the roles of the assistant director, lyricist as well a major character in the film. The shoots were completed in March during the holidays. The teachers had to attend online and offline acting workshops prior to acting in different roles.
“The major highlight is that the entire faculty of around 100 teachers has acted in the film. Three to four students too have participated,” said Lailas. The film is currently in the post-production stage.