When Kamali was a little girl of 4, a friend of her uncle gifted her a skateboard, she would roll it down the road as a means of transport to reach the beach at Mahabalipuram where she lived. Little did she and her family know that her life would change from that moment.
Fives years later, a Bangalore-based skating collective, built a mini-skate park in the space adjoining the community centre across from her house because Kamali seemed gifted with skateboarding and was fearless with the jumps and turns, gathering fans from across the world. A New Zealand based Director Sasha Rainbow spotted Kamali and has made a 24-minute documentary that was nominated in the British Short Film category of the Awards, organised annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in 2020. “I saw a picture of] a little girl with bare feet skating down a ramp while researching for a music video about female skateboarders in India. When I spoke to her mother and heard their story, I knew I had to find a way to come back to India and share their story,” said Rainbow in an interview with Hindustan Times.
Kamali’s life has been anything but challenging. Coming from a small village in Mahabillipuram, neighbours warned her mother Suganthi Moorthy if she took to skateboarding as a serious sport, no one would want to marry her. “They kept asking me, what will happen if she falls down and gets hurt? This was their biggest concern then. Who will marry her? Even today, someone asked me this,” she said. “Does getting married mean that her life will be fine?,” said Suganthi in an interview with Huffington Post.
When every child needs a caring adult in their lives, Suganthi has just been that for her daughter. After falling out of an abusive marriage herself and being on the brink of suicide, Suganthi wanted to raise her daughter Kamali differently. Six years ago, Suganthi went door to sell fish and now, every morning Suganti sets up a soda and lime stall at the beach that is flocked by tourists. Drawing parallels to life and skateboarding, Rainbow, the director of the documentary says, “To get good at skateboarding, you have to fall down, and pick yourself up again. You get good at tumbling, at realising failure is an inevitable path in life, that it doesn’t mean the end but a chance to improve. It seems like a great metaphor for life.”
Also Read: #YoungChangeMakers: Meet Dharavi’s only Female Rapper
Also read: YoungChangemakers-II: To Break The Stigma Around Mental Health This 16-Year-Old Started Let’s Talk
