A biopic on Kerala’s young athlete PU Chithra!

Recent reports say that filmmaker Praveen I.D. is to do a biopic on Kerala’s young athlete PU Chithra. Chithra has been in the news ever since she was denied entry into the World Athletic Meet. Support was showered on her from all corners during her fight against the Athletic Federation.

All these incidents and the way Chithra confronted them have inspired Praveen. The director who is an ad filmmaker, says that “Usually, a biopic of a sportsperson comes after he/she achieves something big. Here, we are looking at the survival of P.U. Chithra. A person fails when she or he believes so. In Chithra’s case, every time situations pulled her back, she bounced right back. She was not willing to surrender. This tale of grit is what we are trying to communicate through this movie.” “I am not a sportsperson. Last year, when all these issues happened, I started studying about her and thus zeroed in on this project. It would be an inspirational movie,” added the director.
It is Praveen’s debut feature film project. The story is written by popular writer P.V. Shajikumar. “I have been to her home and observed her life from close quarters. She hails from a poor family and despite all struggles, she continued her practice,” says Praveen. He has talked to Chithra, her coach and her parents about this and has got the rights for the movie. 

The makers are yet to decide the cast of the movie. Reportedly, a prominent actor will be roped in to play the role of coach. The movie is expected to start rolling in the first half of 2018. 

Chithra who was born on June 9, 1995, has won numerous state, national and international school meet gold medals in middle and long distance track events.Chitra rose to prominence after the Gold Medal win in 1500m at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar with a time of 4.17.92 seconds to seal a World Championships place and earning the tag “Queen of Asia in the mile”.