Outlook – July 20, 2019

56 OutlOOk 22 July 2019

by Giridhar Jha

R

upak Sharar remains undeterred des­

pite facing a setback late last year. Pre-

mak Basaat, his maiden directorial

venture in Maithili, may not have set

the cash boxes clinking, but he is not

demoralised to give up his mission for

reviving cinema of his mother tongue. The

filmmaker has since been taking his movie to

different cities, from Guwahati to Bangalore,

organising screenings for people interested

in watching his labour of love—the first

Maithili film in a long time.

What is it that drives someone like Sharar to

make a movie in a language which has never had

a flourishing film industry of its own and cur-

rently offers zilch by way of commercial returns?

Unbridled passion to tell stories in one’s own

language, one might say. “Wherever I screen my

film, I reassure the audiences that I will not take

rest until I help Maithili cinema stand on its

feet,” Sharar tells Outlook. “All I need is support

of Maithili-speaking people.”

The 43-year-old auteur sounds confident

about a turnaround in the fortunes of Maithili

cinema. But facts speak otherwise. Cinema in

Maithili, a language listed in the Eighth Schedule

of the Constitution and spoken by more than

1.35 crore people as per 2011 census (excluding

Nepal where it is the second official language),

has not really taken roots despite its inception in

the early 1960s. Even a National Award con-

ferred on actress-producer Neetu Chandra’s

Mithila Makhaan in 2016 failed to resurrect the

industry. The film directed by her brother Nitin

Chandra, and shot entirely in Mithilanchal of

Bihar, is still awaiting release. That pretty much

sums up the state of Maithili cinema.

And yet, a band of passionate filmmakers is

going where most others fear to tread. Premak

Basaat, touted as the costliest-ever Maithili film,

was produced by Vedant Jha, a Mumbai-based

textiles trader. “I had cautioned my producer

that financing a Maithili film would be a gamble

and he should be ready to lose money,” says

Movies in

little­known

languages

are sparking

a new wave

in India

long shot

tell Me A

story In

sherdukpen