There are nearly 50 languages in which films are made in India but films produced from Bollywood in Hindi are invariably discussed and debated in the mainstream media. They hog the limelight. We seldom get to know about the movies made in North-Eastern languages or other regional cinema.
Recently, during the 76th Cannes Film Festival, a Manipuri film, Ishanou, directed by renowned filmmaker and musician Aribam Syam Sharma, was screened under the Cannes Classics category, but it didn’t get the attention from the film fraternity it rightly deserved. Manipur has a 50-year-long cinema history. The truth is, many people still don’t know about the movies of Sharma or young Manipuri filmmakers like Haobam Paban Kumar and Romi Meitei.
The same is the situation with some other regional cinemas, for example in Maithili.
But now, it can be hoped that things are changing. In the last two decades, films made by new independent directors have created waves at national and international festivals. With the digitalisation and coming of online media platforms (OTT), there has been a phenomenal rise of regional cinema in India. New media and digital technologies have propelled regional cinema to conquer new territories. Films made in Marathi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Telugu, etc. have been popular beyond their language markets. Could this also happen with Maithili cinema?
Last year, during the San Sebastian International Film Festival, young film director Parth Saurabh’s Pokhar Ke Dunu Paar (On either side of the pond) got the ‘Special Mention New Directors award’. Based in Darbhanga, it has not been released yet in cinema halls or on any OTT platform, but it’s being discussed in the festival circuit. Next month, it will be screened at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne along with Anurag Kashyap’s Kennedy.
The history of Maithili films
Maithili film history is more than 50 years old. Kanyadan, based on famous Maithili writer Harimohan Jha’s novel of the same name (1933), directed by Phani Mazumdar, which was released in 1971, is credited with being the first Maithili film. It depicts the problem of mismatched marriage through language problems in pre-independent India. Nabendu Ghosh wrote its script while famous Hindi writer Phanishwar Nath “Renu” wrote the dialogue for Kanyadan.
Before Kanyadan, a Maithili-speaking filmmaker, C. Parmanand, was trying to direct the first Maithili film in 1964, named Naihar Bhel Mor Sasur. It got delayed and was finally released in 1982 as Mamta Gabay Geet (Mamta sings the song). Both the movies are still remembered for their sonorous songs and lyrics.
In Mamta Gabay Geet, leading playback singers such as Geeta Dutt, Mahendra Kapoor and Suman Kalyanpur gave their voice. When I was in school, I remember seeing it on Doordarshan in the late 80s. Unfortunately, the prints of both these films are not available in the public domain. Recently, Kanyadan was uploaded on YouTube but it is incomplete and not in the order.
In the last five decades or so, more than 50 Maithili films have been released but only few like Jai Baba Vaidyanath, Sasta Jingi Mahag Senur (Life is cheap, marriage is expensive), Kakhan Harab Dukh Mor (When will my sorrow go away), Mithila Makhaan, etc. are known and talked about. Most of the films follow the narrative of mainstream Hindi cinema and a few have worked at the box office.
Released in 1999, Sasta Jingi Mahag Senur has been a commercial hit in the Mithila region. Famous singers like Udit Narayan Jha, Sadhna Sargam and Suresh Wadkar were associated with this film.
Mithila Makhaan, directed by Nitin Chandra, is the only film to have won a National Award for Best Film in the Maithili language. Though Mithila Makhaan got the National Award, it didn’t get a theatrical release and was finally released on his OTT platform, Bejod.in.
Recently, Chandra released his new Maithili thriller film Jackson Halt on Bejod.in. Likewise, last year, during the International Film Festival of India, a Maithili film Lotus Blooms, directed by Pratik Sharma, was screened in the Indian Panorama section, but is yet to release in cinema halls.
In these decades, there was no enthusiasm among the producers-distributors regarding these films.
A lack of exposure
While Bhojpuri cinema has a market and industry, Maithili cinema has failed to develop a market while cinema production in both the languages started simultaneously in the 1960s. Maithili may not be as widespread as Bhojpuri, which is spoken in several states, but it still has approximately 13 million speakers.
Actually, there has been a lack of support and distribution network for Maithili films in all these years, which is true even in the age of OTT.
In an interview, well-known film director Girish Kasaravalli had told me: “When the idea of online platforms came, we thought it would help the small filmmakers, but our expectations did not come true. OTT is more concerned about returns, profits, and so on. Kerala recently started a government-owned OTT platform to screen off-beat Malayalam films that have received critical acclaim and national and international attention. I thought that was a very good move. In this regard, Kerala has taken the lead, and others should follow.”
Perhaps, the Bihar government will take the lead.
Maithili was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution in 2004. The Mithila region, which encompasses parts of North Bihar and Nepal, is known for its rich language, literature, and culture. And yet, it is Bhojpuri, the language spoken in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand, that has produced a more vibrant and sustainable cinema. Any discussion of the cinema of Bihar begins and ends with Bhojpuri films. It’s true that Bhojpuri films have a vast catchment area which makes them commercially viable, but unlike Bhojpuri films, contemporary Maithili cinema is set in realism.
With the critical acclaim of movies like Gamak Ghar (Village home) and Dhuin (Fog), directed by Achal Mishra, people have begun noticing Maithili cinema in film festival circuits. Last year, Dhuin was screened at the Cannes Film Festival along with five other movies. Besides Cannes, they were shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and other international festivals, too.
Both the Maithili films deal with the issues of migration and unemployment and the aspirations of small town youth in a globalising India. While Gamak Ghar has auto-biographical elements, Dhuin’s protagonist, Pankaj, is an aspiring young theatre actor who is dreaming to make it big one day in Mumbai. His family is going through economic hardship and his father after retirement is looking for a job.
Partha Saurabh’s film, Pokhar ke Dunu Paar (On either side of the pond) is also set in Darbhanga against the backdrop of the COVID-19 lockdown. Although the language of the film is Hindi, the lilt of Maithili is heard in every frame. Here the story revolves around patriarchy and unemployment. The film does not provide any answers but rather asks a lot of questions and offers a sharp comment on the socio-cultural conditions of our society.
In all the three films mentioned above, we notice a certain minimalism and visual quality which is unheard of in the history of both Bhojpuri and commercial Maithili cinema. Dhuin’s poster resembles that of well-known auteur Abbas Kiarostami’s Close up (1990) film poster. During a conversation, Mishra told me that ‘he is influenced by the Iranian film director’. It’s not a coincidence that in the movie we notice a scene where the characters are discussing Kiarostami in Darbhanga.
In this era of blockbusters and nationalistic Bollywood films, these movies are raising issues which concern day-to-day life of ordinary citizens, blurring the linguistic and aesthetic divide. But they need to get exposure which, given the recognition in film festivals, will, it is hoped, come sooner than later.
(The Wire, 17.07.23)
