Dubai: A people’s story told by XPRESS has inspired a Dubai filmmaker to a make a documentary which was released in the UAE last week.
Called The Undertaker, the documentary made by filmmaker Reshel Shah Kapoor and supported by SAE Institute, is based on the life of Ashraf Palarakunnumal, an Indian expat who helps repatriate thousands of bodies from the UAE.
The Undertaker from Black Sheep Film on Vimeo.
XPRESS Chief Reporter Sharmila Dhal first broke the story of Palarakunnumal in December 2013 in a cover story titled “Indian expat who has helped repatriate 1,706 bodies”, following which the news was picked up by other media, both in the UAE and India. The Ajman-based Keralite, who has taken it upon himself to complete painstaking death formalities for bereaved families in the UAE, has helped repatriate over 4,000 bodies of 38 nationalities since – in a selfless and free service.
Palarakunnumal, who has shot into the limelight and even won the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, the highest award conferred on a non-resident Indian by the Indian Government, said, “I am very grateful to XPRESS for telling my story and making it known to the world. I feel humbled that a film has also been made now.”
Shah, who is a film lecturer at SAE Institute, said, “I love making documentaries and turn to XPRESS to find about people who are strong or need a platform to voice themselves. I came across Sharmila’s article on Ashraf Palarakunnumal and immediately knew I had to make a film on him. So I got his contact details from XPRESS and before we knew it, my students and I met up with him.”
She said, “The idea of making the film is to show how Ashraf Palarakunnumal is an everyday person and one never knows when one will get connected with him. He is what you can call the ‘guardian of the dead’ and he makes sure no body goes unaccompanied in the end.”
She said the just released six-minute documentary is a teaser for a full-fledged 40-50 minute documentary film that she expects to roll out by December. “We plan to go in-depth into Palarakunnumal’s mission, travel with him to India and tell his story in further detail.”
