A Mother's Hope

Kamali, a short documentary on a nine-year-old Indian skateboarder, has qualified for the 2020 Oscars after winning top honours at the Atlanta Film Festival

- Anjuly Mathai

Three years ago, I visited the sleepy town of Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu to write a feature on the fishermen there who have started surf schools. Although it was not peak season, a few surfers speckled the ocean, framed against an azure sky. Later, Aine Edwards, the Irish surfer who accompanied me, took me to a frock-clad girl with tangled hair and a smile that transformed her face. Her name was Kamali Moorthy and she was six years old. She was perhaps the youngest surfer and only girl skateboarder in her village. Edwards asked her whether she wanted to demonstrate her skill with a surfboard. She took us to her quarters—a cramped, dimly-lit space which she shared with her mother, Suganthi, and her brother—and changed into a pink wetsuit. Wading into the ocean, she soon became a pink blur streaking across its frothy edge.