Arguably, the most feted film in the history of Odia cinema, Maya Miriga, is second only to Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali, in its cinematic achievement. Call it the bane of Odia cinema, neither its film community nor its patrons of arts have done justice to the memory of this masterpiece .
The story revolves around the family of Raj Kishore (Bansidhar Satpathy), a school headmaster on the verge of retirement. He lives with his mother, wife, four sons, a daughter and a daughter-in-law, in a crumbling ancestral house in Puri. A man of modest means, he never compromised on giving his children a good education.
Eldest son, Tuku (Binod Mishra), a lecturer in a local college, lives with his wife Prabha (Manaswini Mangaraj); second son Tutu (Sampad Mahapatra) is preparing for the civil services; third son Bulu oscillates between unshaped ambitions; the rebellious fourth son, Tulu, strives to balance academics and sports, and daughter Tikina is still in school.
Raj Kishore and Tuku together run the house, whose titular head is Kishori Devi (Raj Kishore’s mother), while Prabha is constantly attending to the myriad needs of the family, and taking orders from her mother-in-law (Manimala). The family vests all its hopes on Tutu. When he becomes an IAS officer, the mother gets him married to a rich bureaucrat’s daughter, who brings with her lots of gifts. The modest Raj Kishore household gets a luxurious makeover.
Unlike Prabha, the new daughter-in-law likes to live life on her terms. When Tutu and she shift to the city he is posted to, she takes away all the furniture and gadgets that she had brought with her after marriage.
Finally, Prabha too musters the courage to speak up for herself. She feigns sickness and refuses to carry on with the chores, forcing the mother-in-law to enter the kitchen. The changing dynamics also reflect how the retired Raj Kishore is losing respect in the family.
Director Nirad Mohapatra’s ode to the Indian joint family system highlights both the camaraderie and shared responsibilities as also the stifled aspirations and lack of one’s own space.
But in a world striving for equality at all levels — financial, social and emotional — is the dissolution of the joint family the only solution?
Nirad Mohapatra | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Maya Miriga forces one to ponder on it, but allows to arrive at his/her own conclusion. Perhaps, this is partly because it is not easy to arrive at a perfect solution and also because the director opts for a non-judgmental take on every character’s aspirations. He makes them appear as human and real as possible without attributing any shades of grey or white. You actually empathise with all. For instance, Prabha’s quite rebellion is as much necessary as Tutu’s breaking away from the family.
Maya Miriga is a commentary on life in the 80s, and an honest ode to a lost world — the neighbour’s lad, who is the harbinger of the good and bad news; the tradition of hospitality even in the most modest Indian household; the bickering and bonding among brothers ; the exchange of notes on life between two retired friends; the love-hate relationship between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law.
In an interview, Nirad Mohapatra shared with me, how like his favourite Japanese filmmaker, Yasujiro Ozu, he intended to leave his audience to experience the ‘shanta rasa.’ In one of the last scenes, we see Raj Kishore trying to calm his crying grandchild and asking him, ‘Maa kan, tu bi amaku chadi chalijibu?’ (child, will you too leave us and go). He seems to have made peace with the disintegration of the family. He doesn’t appear happy, but he is not a disturbed soul either. Though many filmmakers talk about Ozu’s influence on their craft, rarely has the essence of his work been translated so truthfully on to the Indian screen.
The tautly edited (Bibekanand Satpathy) Maya Miriga doesn’t have a single wasted or unwanted moment; every event and comment contributes to the narrative. It is a fine example of how the drama around busy onscreen moments can be conveyed effectively despite a modest budget.
The background score by Bhaskar Chandavarkar, composer of some of the most memorable parallel films of the 70s and 80s such as Vamsa Vriksha, Maya Darpan, Samna, Ondanondu Kaladalli, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai, Paroma, and Khandhar, is impressive. Apart from functional interludes, there are two classical compositions by Aarti Ankalikar.
Noted film critic Maithili Rao had termed the exiting of Nirad Mohapatra from the movie-making scene, after a poignant first film, as one of Indian cinema’s greatest unanswered questions.
The critic, author, filmmaker is Dean, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, RV University, Bengaluru.
Maya Miriga (Odia, 1984)
Direction and Screenplay: Nirad M. Mohapatra
Cast: Bansidhar Satpathy, Manimala, Binod Mishra, Manaswini Mangaraj
Music Director: Bhaskar Chandavarkar
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