Barefoot Empress

Barefoot Empress is an Indo-American short documentary film directed by Vikas Khanna. The film depicts the life story of a woman in India who enrolls in first grade at the age of 96. The film is co-produced by Oscar nominated Doug Roland and Deepak Chopra serves as an executive producer.

Summary

Barefoot Empress, a 15-minute short film revolves around Karthyayani Amma, who, having never had access to education as a girl, finally gets a chance at education. At 96-years-old she was the oldest among the 43,330 candidates who appeared for the 'Aksharalaksham' test, a fourth standard equivalent examination. Karthyayani Amma scored a 98 out of 100 on a literacy examination conducted by the Kerala government. The state-run Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority has certified that her score is a record.

Production history

Karthyayani Amma's story caught director Vikas Khanna's attention via a tweet in 2018. Hearing the first-hand account of her life inspired the making of Barefoot Empress.