Rehana Fathima

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[[File: Eka.jpg| Rehana Fathima in  King Jones' ''Eka '' (2018)|frame|500px]]  
 
[[File: Eka.jpg| Rehana Fathima in  King Jones' ''Eka '' (2018)|frame|500px]]  
[[File: Rehana Fathima.jpg| Rehana Fathima  with her watermelons |frame|500px]]
 
 
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[[Category: Cinema-TV-Pop |F ]]
 
[[Category: Cinema-TV-Pop |F ]]
  
= Kerala’s Topless Feminist=
+
= A brief biography=
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F03%2F25&entity=Ar02106&sk=FA777135&mode=text  Sudha Nambudiri & Afrah Ali | MEET KERALA’S TOPLESS FEMINIST | 2018-03-25 | The Times Of India]
+
==Early life==
 +
Born: 1987, in Kochi
 +
==Her education, her teens==
 +
[[File: Rehana Fathima 11.jpg| Rehana Fathima<br/> Courtesy [http://jollywollywood.blogspot.com/2016/03/mallu-model-rehana-fathima-bold.html Jollywollywood]|frame|500px]]  
  
Rehana Fathima loves breaking stereotypes, whether it’s taking off the hijab, playing an intersex person in a movie or posing naked with watermelons to make a statement about how women own their body
+
Rehana was brought up in an orthodox Muslim family and attended a madarassa. “I used to wear the hijab and do namaz five times a day,” she says. Things changed after her father died when she was in Class 12.
  
[[File: Rehana Fathima 11.jpg| Rehana Fathima<br/> Courtesy [http://jollywollywood.blogspot.com/2016/03/mallu-model-rehana-fathima-bold.html Jollywollywood]|frame|500px]]
+
“We were just three women (including her mother and sister) in the house and after my father’s passing, and just about any man in the neighbourhood wanted to come home. They would come drunk or call after dark. I have lost count of the number of times I made a public ruckus but got no support,” she remembers with anger. Those experiences made her disillusioned with religion.
  
When a male professor in Kerala described students’ breasts as watermelons and chided women for not covering up, Rehana Fathima was quick to sign up for the online protest against his comments. She posed bare-breasted with watermelons, and drew anger, support, shares, and Facebook’s equivalent of a rap on the knuckles — the account being suspended.
+
Complaints to the police and other agencies had no effect. Finally, she and Diya decided to lay a trap and draw out one man who had abused Rehana’s daughter in his posts. “My friend Diya convinced him to meet her, and he fell hook, line and sinker. He got off the train in Ernakulam and the police were waiting. Once we posted the news of the arrest, the other abusers vanished,” she says.
  
To the 31-year-old government employee, mother-of-two, model and activist from Kochi, plethora of reactions is one she’s used to. “I don’t understand why people make such hue and cry about a woman’s body,” says Rehana. “I wanted to question the restrictions regarding a woman baring her body,” she says. “Men and women are held to different standards.
+
Rehana put herself through college while working.  
 +
([https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F03%2F25&entity=Ar02106&sk=FA777135&mode=text  Sudha Nambudiri & Afrah Ali | MEET KERALA’S TOPLESS FEMINIST | 2018-03-25 | The Times Of India])
  
 +
Home is Panambilly Nagar.
 +
 +
==Relationship status==
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini top.jpg| Rehana Fathima |frame|500px]]  
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini top.jpg| Rehana Fathima |frame|500px]]  
 +
Rehana now lives with her filmmaker partner Manoj, their two daughters and his parents. Manoj has produced the art film, and her debut movie, Eka about intersex people. ([ ''The Times of India''])
  
It’s not the only protest she’s been part of. She was among the first women to participate in the Thrissur pulikali, the traditional Onam tiger dance done by all-male troupes, in 2016. She’s also taken part in the Kiss of Love campaign against moral policing in 2014.
+
==Her day job==
 
+
Dressed in a peach-coloured shirt and faded jeans, Rehana says, “I don’t think anyone just decides to be a revolutionary or a rebel one fine morning. Often, it’s their experiences that drive them to be one.”
+
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima9.jpg| Rehana Fathima <br/> By Akhil Red Eyes photography|frame|500px]]  
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima9.jpg| Rehana Fathima <br/> By Akhil Red Eyes photography|frame|500px]]  
  
Rehana was brought up in an orthodox Muslim family and attended a madarassa. “I used to wear the hijab and do namaz five times a day,” she says. Things changed after her father died when she was in Class 12.
+
Rehana got her father’s job in the government-owned telecom, BSNL, after his death.
  
 +
In most of 2018 she was a telecom technician working in the customer relations section at the Boat Jetty branch in Kochi. In October 2018 she was transferred to the telephone exchange at Palarivattom.
 +
=Her protests, her activism=
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini 1.jpg| Rehana Fathima’s shoot for Epic Movies |frame|500px]]  
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini 1.jpg| Rehana Fathima’s shoot for Epic Movies |frame|500px]]  
  
“We were just three women (including her mother and sister) in the house and after my father’s passing, and just about any man in the neighbourhood wanted to come home. They would come drunk or call after dark. I have lost count of the number of times I made a public ruckus but got no support,” she remembers with anger. Those experiences made her disillusioned with religion.
+
Rehana feels strongly about many issues and doesn’t hesitate to speak up on everything from education loan rackets to Kochi’s drinking water crisis. ([ ''The Times of India''])
 +
 +
==2014: Kiss of love==
 +
She’s also taken part in the Kiss of Love campaign against moral policing in 2014.
 +
==2016: Thrissur pulikali, topless, in body paint==
 +
[[File: Rehana Fathima10.jpg| Rehana Fathima in body paint <br/> Courtesy  [http://dailyreports.in/2016/09/19/women-make-roaring-entry-into-keralas-male-dominated-pulikali-show/  Daily Reports] <br/> The photographer seems to be Pramod Atholi|frame|500px]]
  
Though she’d always questioned conservatism, it was the chauvinism on social media that pushed her to speak out. When she posted a photo of herself and her family at a picnic, she was shocked to see abusive comments about her clothing — shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt — and character. “My kids and my partner were also in the pic and he was shirtless, but nobody had any issue. There were threats too, and it got me thinking.
+
She was among the first women to participate in the Thrissur pulikali, the traditional Onam tiger dance done by all-male troupes, in 2016. (See picture on this page.)
 +
==2018, March: watermelons==
 +
[[File: Rehana Fathima.jpg| Rehana Fathima  with her watermelons |frame|500px]]
  
 +
When a male professor in Kerala described students’ breasts as watermelons and chided women for not covering up, Rehana Fathima was quick to sign up for the online protest against his comments. She posed bare-breasted with watermelons, and drew anger, support, shares, and ''' Facebook’s ''' equivalent of a rap on the knuckles — the ''' account being suspended. '''
 +
 +
One of the circulated photographs was a half-naked Fathima covering her chest with two watermelons, an act she did to “make a point.” [Actually, she covered two points during that ‘act,’ and covered both most thoroughly.—Indpaedia]
 +
 +
==A topless feminist==
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini 3.jpg| Rehana Fathima’s shoot for Epic Movies |frame|500px]]  
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini 3.jpg| Rehana Fathima’s shoot for Epic Movies |frame|500px]]  
  
She responded by posting a photograph of herself in a bikini. “The more you pay heed to regressive comments, the more freedom is chained. It’s my body and I have the right to wear what I want,” she says. Or not wear anything at all, as she has done for her debut film, Eka, which is about an intersex person. In interviews, she’s spoken about her nude scene and how she thought of it as something natural. In fact, to make her feel comfortable, the crew shed their clothes too.
+
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F03%2F25&entity=Ar02106&sk=FA777135&mode=text  Sudha Nambudiri & Afrah Ali | MEET KERALA’S TOPLESS FEMINIST | 2018-03-25 | The Times Of India]
  
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini4.jpg| Rehana Fathima <br/> [https://malayalam.oneindia.com/culture/women-are-not-just-an-instrument-having-pleasure-model-rehana-fathima-138577.html  Oneindia Malayalam] |frame|500px]]
+
Rehana Fathima loves breaking stereotypes, whether it’s taking off the hijab, playing an intersex person in a movie or posing naked with watermelons to make a statement about how women own their body
  
Rehana, who got her father’s government job after his death and put herself through college while working, feels strongly about many issues and doesn’t hesitate to speak up on everything from education loan rackets to Kochi’s drinking water crisis.
+
To the 31-year-old government employee, mother-of-two, model and activist from Kochi, plethora of reactions is one she’s used to. “I don’t understand why people make such hue and cry about a woman’s body,” says Rehana. “I wanted to question the restrictions regarding a woman baring her body,” she says. “Men and women are held to different standards.
  
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini5.jpg| Rehana Fathima in Goa in 2015|frame|500px]]
+
It’s not the only protest she’s been part of.  
  
Since her Facebook wall is her sounding board against orthodoxy and patriarchy, it isn’t surprising that Rehana has gangs of trolls after her. But she doesn’t just block the abuser on social media and forget about it. “Once a group of men from north Kerala went on an abusive spree against my friend Diya Sana and I. Neither of us was ready to back down. We asked them to meet us, but they wouldn’t,” she says.  
+
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini4.jpg| Rehana Fathima <br/> [https://malayalam.oneindia.com/culture/women-are-not-just-an-instrument-having-pleasure-model-rehana-fathima-138577.html  Oneindia Malayalam] |frame|500px]]
  
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini6a.jpg| Rehana Fathima in Goa in 2015<br/> Erum Puleem Media |frame|500px]]
+
Dressed in a peach-coloured shirt and faded jeans, Rehana says, “I don’t think anyone just decides to be a revolutionary or a rebel one fine morning. Often, it’s their experiences that drive them to be one.”
 +
[[File: Eka3.jpg| Rehana Fathima, Kerala’s Topless Feminist, in King Jones' ''Eka '' (2018)  <br/> You might have to tilt your screen to view this screenshot.|frame|500px]]  
  
Complaints to the police and other agencies had no effect. Finally, she and Diya decided to lay a trap and draw out one man who had abused Rehana’s daughter in his posts. “My friend Diya convinced him to meet her, and he fell hook, line and sinker. He got off the train in Ernakulam and the police were waiting. Once we posted the news of the arrest, the other abusers vanished,she says.
+
Though she’d always questioned conservatism, it was the chauvinism on social media that pushed her to speak out. When she posted a photo of herself and her family at a picnic, she was shocked to see abusive comments about her clothing — shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt — and character. “My kids and my partner were also in the pic and he was shirtless, but nobody had any issue. There were threats too, and it got me thinking.”
  
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima supposedly naked.jpg| Rehana Fathima <br/> [https://malayalam.oneindia.com/culture/women-are-not-just-an-instrument-having-pleasure-model-rehana-fathima-138577.html  Oneindia Malayalam] |frame|500px]]  
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima supposedly naked.jpg| Rehana Fathima <br/> [https://malayalam.oneindia.com/culture/women-are-not-just-an-instrument-having-pleasure-model-rehana-fathima-138577.html  Oneindia Malayalam] |frame|500px]]  
  
Rehana now lives with her filmmaker partner Manoj, their two daughters and his parents. Manoj has produced the art film, and her debut movie, Eka about intersex people.
+
She responded by posting a photograph of herself in a bikini. “The more you pay heed to regressive comments, the more freedom is chained. It’s my body and I have the right to wear what I want,” she says. Or not wear anything at all, as she has done for her debut film, Eka, which is about an intersex person. In interviews, she’s spoken about her nude scene and how she thought of it as something natural. In fact, to make her feel comfortable, the crew shed their clothes too.
  
[[File: Eka2.jpg| “I don’t understand why people make such hue and cry about a woman’s body...I wanted to question the restrictions regarding a woman baring her body,” says Rehana Fathima <br/> Part of her bare body is seen here, in a screenshot from King Jones' ''Eka '' (2018)|frame|500px]]
+
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini5.jpg| Rehana Fathima in Goa in 2015|frame|500px]]  
  
“Intersex people — those born with ambiguous genitals because of genetic glitches or hormone problems — are a minority among minorities. We made the film to throw light on the community and build a conversation around the subject,” she says.  
+
Since her Facebook wall is her sounding board against orthodoxy and patriarchy, it isn’t surprising that Rehana has gangs of trolls after her. But she doesn’t just block the abuser on social media and forget about it. “Once a group of men from north Kerala went on an abusive spree against my friend Diya Sana and I. Neither of us was ready to back down. We asked them to meet us, but they wouldn’t,” she says.  
  
[[File: Eka3.jpg| Rehana Fathima, Kerala’s Topless Feminist, in King Jones' ''Eka '' (2018)|frame|500px]]  
+
[[File: Rehana Fathima bikini6a.jpg| Rehana Fathima in Goa in 2015<br/> Erum Puleem Media |frame|500px]]
 +
 
 +
“Intersex people — those born with ambiguous genitals because of genetic glitches or hormone problems — are a minority among minorities. We made the film to throw light on the community and build a conversation around the subject,” she says.
 +
[[File: Eka2.jpg| “I don’t understand why people make such hue and cry about a woman’s body...I wanted to question the restrictions regarding a woman baring her body,” says Rehana Fathima <br/> Part of her bare body is seen here, in a screenshot from King Jones' ''Eka '' (2018)   <br/> You might have to tilt your screen to view this screenshot.|frame|500px]]
  
 
The movie, which has been sent to various film festivals, is yet to be screened in Kerala. “We don’t know how the censors will treat it,” she says.
 
The movie, which has been sent to various film festivals, is yet to be screened in Kerala. “We don’t know how the censors will treat it,” she says.
  
= Rehana, the activist =
+
==2018: Sabarimala==
==2018: Muslim Jama’ath ostracises Rehana, family for hurting Hindu sentiments==
+
===2018: Muslim Jama’ath ostracises Rehana, family for hurting Hindu sentiments===
[[File: Rehana Fathima10.jpg| Rehana Fathima in body paint <br/> Courtesy  [http://dailyreports.in/2016/09/19/women-make-roaring-entry-into-keralas-male-dominated-pulikali-show/  Daily Reports] <br/> The photographer seems to be Pramod Atholi|frame|500px]]
+
 
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F10%2F21&entity=Ar01713&sk=1C7A06F9&mode=text  Muslim body expels activist Rehana | 21 Oct 2108 | The Times of India]
 
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F10%2F21&entity=Ar01713&sk=1C7A06F9&mode=text  Muslim body expels activist Rehana | 21 Oct 2108 | The Times of India]
  
Line 73: Line 95:
 
The Kerala Muslim Jama’ath Council on Saturday ostracised activist Rehana Fathima from the community for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. The Jama’ath council has also asked the Ernakulam Central Muslim Jama’ath to expel Fathima and her family from the Mahallu, council president A Pookunju said. Fathima had reached within hailing distance of the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple under on Friday, and were prevented from proceeding by protesters.
 
The Kerala Muslim Jama’ath Council on Saturday ostracised activist Rehana Fathima from the community for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. The Jama’ath council has also asked the Ernakulam Central Muslim Jama’ath to expel Fathima and her family from the Mahallu, council president A Pookunju said. Fathima had reached within hailing distance of the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple under on Friday, and were prevented from proceeding by protesters.
  
 +
“She has no right to use a Muslim name,” Pookunju said. Police also registered a case against her for hurting religious sentiments by posting photos on social media. TNN
 +
===BSNL Transfers Woman Who Almost Made It To Sabarimala Shrine===
 +
[[File: Rehana the pilgrim.jpg|Rehana the pilgrim <br/> ANI tweet |frame|500px]]
 +
 +
[https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/sabarimala-row-bsnl-transfers-activist-rehana-fathima-1936712  Press Trust of India October 24, 2018]
 +
 +
 +
Rehana Fathima a telecom technician has been transferred to Palarivattom
 +
 +
In a protest march, Sabarimala Karma Samithi [sought] her expulsion
 +
 +
 +
Activist Rehana Fathima, a BSNL employee who had made an attempt to enter the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala, has been transferred to the Palarivattom telephone exchange in the city ''' where public contact is not required, ''' sources said.
 +
 +
However, the sources said ''' she has not committed dereliction of duty. '''
 +
 +
Sabarimala Karma Samithi on Tuesday organised a protest march to the Palarivattom BSNL office, seeking her expulsion.
 +
 +
The activist's house was allegedly vandalised by unidentified people while she was away trying to climb the holy hills on Friday last.
 +
 +
She made a failed attempt to reach the temple with heavy police protection.
 +
 +
The attackers reached Fathima's house in Panambilly Nagar while she was climbing the hills.
 +
 +
Fathima  was among the two women who had reached the hilltop, but had to return before reaching the sanctum sanctorum following massive protests by Ayyappa devotees.
 +
 +
A case has been registered by police in Pathanamthitta against the activist for hurting religious sentiments.
 +
 +
=== Sanitary napkin: false allegations===
 +
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F10%2F28&entity=Ar01602&sk=8CA9DC07&mode=text    Sudha.Nambudiri | Sabarimala: Unfazed by ire from Hindus & Muslims, Fathima says her fight to go on | 27 Oct 2018| The Times of India ]
 +
 +
 +
Her attempt to visit the Sree Dharmasastha Temple at Sabarimala triggered immense backlash from all sides. But Rehana Fathima, 31, is unperturbed.
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima 7a.jpg| Rehana Fathima<br/> Courtesy [http://jollywollywood.blogspot.com/2016/03/mallu-model-rehana-fathima-bold.html Jollywollywood]|frame|500px]]  
 
[[File: Rehana Fathima 7a.jpg| Rehana Fathima<br/> Courtesy [http://jollywollywood.blogspot.com/2016/03/mallu-model-rehana-fathima-bold.html Jollywollywood]|frame|500px]]  
  
“She has no right to use a Muslim name,” Pookunju said. Police also registered a case against her for hurting religious sentiments by posting photos on social media. TNN
+
This has come after miscreants vandalised her quarters at Panampilly Nagar last week, on the same day she had trekked up 500 metres from the hill shrine, accompanied by a posse of 80 policemen. Another woman, Kavitha Jakkala, a television reporter from Hyderabad, too, was with her.
 +
 
 +
Ever since her attempted temple visit, she has been taking flak from both Hindus and Muslims. While Hindu’s accused her of “betraying the trust and faith” of thousands, the Kerala Muslim Jama’ath Council expelled her from the community for hurting religious sentiments.
 +
 
 +
Not to be left behind, ''' Facebook too joined the anti-Fathima bandwagon and suspended her account ''' based on a complaint.  [A second time? They had done so in March 2018 as well.]
 +
 
 +
“There are lots of rumours being circulated with all kinds of stories including one that I carried a ''' sanitary napkin ''' in my irumudikettu (a cloth bag with two compartments containing puja articles). I don’t know its origin but one TV reporter asked me whether I came as a devotee and was a believer. I said, define a believer, and then I will tell you if I am one. Later, they asked me what was in the irumudikettu and I told them it contained all the items that are to be carried by a Sabarimala pilgrim.”
 +
 
 +
Rehana is now under police protection at her home because of the threats she has been receiving after her trek took a communal colour. ''' Her house was ransacked and her kids’ school uniforms were smeared with cow-dung paste and their toys destroyed. ''' “My children were very upset when they saw what had happened. But they are recovering.”
 +
 
 +
 
 +
=== Fathima arrested for showing her knee in a devotee’s attire===
 +
[[File: Fathimas knee in a devotee’s attire.jpg|Fathima shows her knee and calves while in a devotee’s attire |frame|500px]]
 +
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2018%2F11%2F28&entity=Ar01915&sk=81054BD2&mode=text  Kerala activist arrested over Sabarimala post    28 Nov 2018 | ''The Times of India'']
 +
 
 +
Fathima Accused Of Hurting Religious Sentiments
 +
 
 +
Rehana Fathima  was arrested for allegedly hurting religious sentiments on social media.
 +
 
 +
A police team from Pathanamthitta arrested Fathima from the BSNL office Palarivattom in Kochi, where she works, around 1 pm. The BSNL Ernakulam regional office later said she had been suspended with immediate effect, pending investigation.
 +
 
 +
The complaint was filed by BJP leader R Radhakrishna Menon.
 +
 
 +
Her partner Manoj Sreedharan said Fathima , “She had only posted a picture of herself in a devotee’s attire on social media. People who filed the complaint claimed her knee was seen in the picture and this hurt religious sentiments. I don’t understand how a photo of a woman showing her knee would be anti-religious in a country where naked saints are worshipped,” he said.
  
 
=See also=  
 
=See also=  
Line 116: Line 194:
  
 
[[Syrian Christian]]
 
[[Syrian Christian]]
 +
==…and also==
 +
[[File: Rehana Fathima 12.jpg| Rehana Fathima, courtesy Epic Image|frame|500px]]
 +
[[Archana Paneru]]
 +
 +
[[Gehana Vasisth]]
 +
 +
[[Protima Bedi]]
 +
 +
[[Rehana Fathima]]
 +
 +
[[Qandeel Baloch]]
 +
 +
[[Sunny Leone]]

Revision as of 13:11, 28 November 2018

Rehana Fathima in King Jones' Eka (2018)

This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Additional information may please be sent as messages to
the Facebook community, Indpaedia.com.
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Contents

A brief biography

Early life

Born: 1987, in Kochi

Her education, her teens

Rehana Fathima
Courtesy Jollywollywood

Rehana was brought up in an orthodox Muslim family and attended a madarassa. “I used to wear the hijab and do namaz five times a day,” she says. Things changed after her father died when she was in Class 12.

“We were just three women (including her mother and sister) in the house and after my father’s passing, and just about any man in the neighbourhood wanted to come home. They would come drunk or call after dark. I have lost count of the number of times I made a public ruckus but got no support,” she remembers with anger. Those experiences made her disillusioned with religion.

Complaints to the police and other agencies had no effect. Finally, she and Diya decided to lay a trap and draw out one man who had abused Rehana’s daughter in his posts. “My friend Diya convinced him to meet her, and he fell hook, line and sinker. He got off the train in Ernakulam and the police were waiting. Once we posted the news of the arrest, the other abusers vanished,” she says.

Rehana put herself through college while working. (Sudha Nambudiri & Afrah Ali | MEET KERALA’S TOPLESS FEMINIST | 2018-03-25 | The Times Of India)

Home is Panambilly Nagar.

Relationship status

Rehana Fathima

Rehana now lives with her filmmaker partner Manoj, their two daughters and his parents. Manoj has produced the art film, and her debut movie, Eka about intersex people. ([ The Times of India])

Her day job

Rehana Fathima
By Akhil Red Eyes photography

Rehana got her father’s job in the government-owned telecom, BSNL, after his death.

In most of 2018 she was a telecom technician working in the customer relations section at the Boat Jetty branch in Kochi. In October 2018 she was transferred to the telephone exchange at Palarivattom.

Her protests, her activism

Rehana Fathima’s shoot for Epic Movies

Rehana feels strongly about many issues and doesn’t hesitate to speak up on everything from education loan rackets to Kochi’s drinking water crisis. ([ The Times of India])

2014: Kiss of love

She’s also taken part in the Kiss of Love campaign against moral policing in 2014.

2016: Thrissur pulikali, topless, in body paint

Rehana Fathima in body paint
Courtesy Daily Reports
The photographer seems to be Pramod Atholi

She was among the first women to participate in the Thrissur pulikali, the traditional Onam tiger dance done by all-male troupes, in 2016. (See picture on this page.)

2018, March: watermelons

Rehana Fathima with her watermelons

When a male professor in Kerala described students’ breasts as watermelons and chided women for not covering up, Rehana Fathima was quick to sign up for the online protest against his comments. She posed bare-breasted with watermelons, and drew anger, support, shares, and Facebook’s equivalent of a rap on the knuckles — the account being suspended.

One of the circulated photographs was a half-naked Fathima covering her chest with two watermelons, an act she did to “make a point.” [Actually, she covered two points during that ‘act,’ and covered both most thoroughly.—Indpaedia]

A topless feminist

Rehana Fathima’s shoot for Epic Movies

Sudha Nambudiri & Afrah Ali | MEET KERALA’S TOPLESS FEMINIST | 2018-03-25 | The Times Of India

Rehana Fathima loves breaking stereotypes, whether it’s taking off the hijab, playing an intersex person in a movie or posing naked with watermelons to make a statement about how women own their body

To the 31-year-old government employee, mother-of-two, model and activist from Kochi, plethora of reactions is one she’s used to. “I don’t understand why people make such hue and cry about a woman’s body,” says Rehana. “I wanted to question the restrictions regarding a woman baring her body,” she says. “Men and women are held to different standards.”

It’s not the only protest she’s been part of.

Rehana Fathima
Oneindia Malayalam

Dressed in a peach-coloured shirt and faded jeans, Rehana says, “I don’t think anyone just decides to be a revolutionary or a rebel one fine morning. Often, it’s their experiences that drive them to be one.”

Rehana Fathima, Kerala’s Topless Feminist, in King Jones' Eka (2018)
You might have to tilt your screen to view this screenshot.

Though she’d always questioned conservatism, it was the chauvinism on social media that pushed her to speak out. When she posted a photo of herself and her family at a picnic, she was shocked to see abusive comments about her clothing — shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt — and character. “My kids and my partner were also in the pic and he was shirtless, but nobody had any issue. There were threats too, and it got me thinking.”

Rehana Fathima
Oneindia Malayalam

She responded by posting a photograph of herself in a bikini. “The more you pay heed to regressive comments, the more freedom is chained. It’s my body and I have the right to wear what I want,” she says. Or not wear anything at all, as she has done for her debut film, Eka, which is about an intersex person. In interviews, she’s spoken about her nude scene and how she thought of it as something natural. In fact, to make her feel comfortable, the crew shed their clothes too.

Rehana Fathima in Goa in 2015

Since her Facebook wall is her sounding board against orthodoxy and patriarchy, it isn’t surprising that Rehana has gangs of trolls after her. But she doesn’t just block the abuser on social media and forget about it. “Once a group of men from north Kerala went on an abusive spree against my friend Diya Sana and I. Neither of us was ready to back down. We asked them to meet us, but they wouldn’t,” she says.

Rehana Fathima in Goa in 2015
Erum Puleem Media

“Intersex people — those born with ambiguous genitals because of genetic glitches or hormone problems — are a minority among minorities. We made the film to throw light on the community and build a conversation around the subject,” she says.

“I don’t understand why people make such hue and cry about a woman’s body...I wanted to question the restrictions regarding a woman baring her body,” says Rehana Fathima
Part of her bare body is seen here, in a screenshot from King Jones' Eka (2018)
You might have to tilt your screen to view this screenshot.

The movie, which has been sent to various film festivals, is yet to be screened in Kerala. “We don’t know how the censors will treat it,” she says.

2018: Sabarimala

2018: Muslim Jama’ath ostracises Rehana, family for hurting Hindu sentiments

Muslim body expels activist Rehana | 21 Oct 2108 | The Times of India


The Kerala Muslim Jama’ath Council on Saturday ostracised activist Rehana Fathima from the community for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. The Jama’ath council has also asked the Ernakulam Central Muslim Jama’ath to expel Fathima and her family from the Mahallu, council president A Pookunju said. Fathima had reached within hailing distance of the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple under on Friday, and were prevented from proceeding by protesters.

“She has no right to use a Muslim name,” Pookunju said. Police also registered a case against her for hurting religious sentiments by posting photos on social media. TNN

BSNL Transfers Woman Who Almost Made It To Sabarimala Shrine

Rehana the pilgrim
ANI tweet

Press Trust of India October 24, 2018


Rehana Fathima a telecom technician has been transferred to Palarivattom

In a protest march, Sabarimala Karma Samithi [sought] her expulsion


Activist Rehana Fathima, a BSNL employee who had made an attempt to enter the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Sabarimala, has been transferred to the Palarivattom telephone exchange in the city where public contact is not required, sources said.

However, the sources said she has not committed dereliction of duty.

Sabarimala Karma Samithi on Tuesday organised a protest march to the Palarivattom BSNL office, seeking her expulsion.

The activist's house was allegedly vandalised by unidentified people while she was away trying to climb the holy hills on Friday last.

She made a failed attempt to reach the temple with heavy police protection.

The attackers reached Fathima's house in Panambilly Nagar while she was climbing the hills.

Fathima was among the two women who had reached the hilltop, but had to return before reaching the sanctum sanctorum following massive protests by Ayyappa devotees.

A case has been registered by police in Pathanamthitta against the activist for hurting religious sentiments.

Sanitary napkin: false allegations

Sudha.Nambudiri | Sabarimala: Unfazed by ire from Hindus & Muslims, Fathima says her fight to go on | 27 Oct 2018| The Times of India


Her attempt to visit the Sree Dharmasastha Temple at Sabarimala triggered immense backlash from all sides. But Rehana Fathima, 31, is unperturbed.

Rehana Fathima
Courtesy Jollywollywood

This has come after miscreants vandalised her quarters at Panampilly Nagar last week, on the same day she had trekked up 500 metres from the hill shrine, accompanied by a posse of 80 policemen. Another woman, Kavitha Jakkala, a television reporter from Hyderabad, too, was with her.

Ever since her attempted temple visit, she has been taking flak from both Hindus and Muslims. While Hindu’s accused her of “betraying the trust and faith” of thousands, the Kerala Muslim Jama’ath Council expelled her from the community for hurting religious sentiments.

Not to be left behind, Facebook too joined the anti-Fathima bandwagon and suspended her account based on a complaint. [A second time? They had done so in March 2018 as well.]

“There are lots of rumours being circulated with all kinds of stories including one that I carried a sanitary napkin in my irumudikettu (a cloth bag with two compartments containing puja articles). I don’t know its origin but one TV reporter asked me whether I came as a devotee and was a believer. I said, define a believer, and then I will tell you if I am one. Later, they asked me what was in the irumudikettu and I told them it contained all the items that are to be carried by a Sabarimala pilgrim.”

Rehana is now under police protection at her home because of the threats she has been receiving after her trek took a communal colour. Her house was ransacked and her kids’ school uniforms were smeared with cow-dung paste and their toys destroyed. “My children were very upset when they saw what had happened. But they are recovering.”


Fathima arrested for showing her knee in a devotee’s attire

Fathima shows her knee and calves while in a devotee’s attire

Kerala activist arrested over Sabarimala post 28 Nov 2018 | The Times of India

Fathima Accused Of Hurting Religious Sentiments

Rehana Fathima was arrested for allegedly hurting religious sentiments on social media.

A police team from Pathanamthitta arrested Fathima from the BSNL office Palarivattom in Kochi, where she works, around 1 pm. The BSNL Ernakulam regional office later said she had been suspended with immediate effect, pending investigation.

The complaint was filed by BJP leader R Radhakrishna Menon.

Her partner Manoj Sreedharan said Fathima , “She had only posted a picture of herself in a devotee’s attire on social media. People who filed the complaint claimed her knee was seen in the picture and this hurt religious sentiments. I don’t understand how a photo of a woman showing her knee would be anti-religious in a country where naked saints are worshipped,” he said.

See also

Rehana Fathima
Courtesy Jollywollywood
Rehana Fathima in Eka

Box office records of Malayalam films

Box office records of Malayalam films, 2016

Box office records of Malayalam films, 2017

Malayalam cinema: 2010 onwards

Dileep (Gopalakrishnan Pillai)

Bhavana (Karthika Menon)

Priya Prakash Varrier

Rehana Fathima

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