How many of us know about Lini Puthussery? I’m sure there are only a very few of us who have even heard her name. She was the most celebrated hero in Kerala during the outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus in 2019.
Virus, a Malayalam film based on the outbreak and the containment of the Nipah virus does complete justice to all the people who slaved day and night to fight against the spread of the virus and to the nurse, Lini Puthussery who died treating the first victim, Zakariya Mohammed. The movie, a medical thriller directed and co-produced by Aashiq Abu, perfectly expresses the efficient measures of the Government and the Non-Governmental Organisations in tackling the spread of the Nipah virus by using medical records, CCTV footages, contact tracing, isolation, and in-person interviews.
The movie has an ensemble star cast with big names like Revathy (depicting the role of the health minister of the state), Tovino Thomas (as the District Collector), Rima Kallingal (enacting the role of Lini Puthussery with the name changed as nurse Akhila), Madonna Sebastian, Asif Ali, Soubin Shahir (as the victims), Kunchako Boban, Parvathy Thiruvoth, Rahman, Indrajith Sukumaran, Joju George (as the people who supported and helped in the containment of the virus). The movie is a reflection of what exactly happened in the districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram, which were the hotspots of the infection.
The index patient Zakariya infected 18 people, out of which 17 including him die. The most important fact to be noted is the efficient and effective process of the government and the NGOs in containing the then-unknown disease and preventing it from turning into an epidemic. In a state with a population of 3.45 crore, the number of confirmed cases was just 18.
The film pays a tribute to the scientists, medical workers and the people who came forward to support the team to help contain the virus attack.
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Coming to our present situation of the spread of COVID-19, all the countries in the world are marvelling at how efficiently a small state like Kerala is tackling the spread of the novel coronavirus, as it is the only state that has managed to flatten the virus curve. The answer to that lies in this movie, even though it is the story of a different virus, the outcome is the same; that is, timely action and proper execution of simple but important tasks related to breaking the chain of spread can help save a lot of lives.
I highly recommend everyone to watch this movie to realize how our health workers are sacrificing their lives to save ours.
@Arya.s. . thank you for your comment . Do share so that many know about it!!✌😁
@random ...my aim in choosing to write it was just to recommend everyone aware of this ..thank you for reading and commenting and Do watch the movie
it was a big issue in kerala and it is known to have been even worse than COVID. this movie's cast was a wide variety of stars and people were touched by the story. Really happy about the review.
Thank you for writing about this. Cause i never knew this happened to a state just next to mine.