22 July 2019 OutlOOk 57
Sharar. “But he gave me the go-ahead.” In an era
when it is difficult even for small-budget Hindi
movies to get screens at multiplexes, every reg-
ional film-maker is not lucky to find a generous
investor. Mithilesh Singh, for one, had to rely on
crowd-funding to produce Devan Misir in
Magahi, a language spoken by over 1.27 crore
people, primarily from Bihar. The first Magahi
film since 1965 to hit the screens, Devan Misir
was publicised as “jugan baad pahli baar” (first
time after ages).
Mithilesh tells Outlook that Devan Misir, a
bio pic of the legendary wit from Magadh, was
only the third film ever in Magahi cinema. “Few
people know that famous Hindi filmmaker Phani
Majumdar (who also made Kanyadan in Maithiliin 1965) was the first person to make a Magahi
movie, Bhaiyya, in the early 1960s,” he says.
“Girish Ranjan’s More Man Mitwa (1965) was the
second. More than five decades later, Devan
Misir has has hit the screens.”
Mithilesh, a theatre veteran from Bihar, says
that he had originally written the script for a TV
serial but he could not complete it. “I later devel-
oped it into a play,” he says. “Wherever I would
stage this play, people would ask for an encore. It
gave me the idea to make a film.” Without support
from the state government, he collected dona-
tions to realise his dream. “Devan Misir elicited
tremendous response though it did not have any
big regional star,” he points out. Devan Misir is,
however, still awaiting wider release in the state.
Regional cinema-watchers believe that Mai-
thili and Magahi film industry cannot prosper
unless movies are made regularly to create a
niche for themselves a la Bhojpuri films. “Sasta
Jingi Mahag Senur was a huge hit in 1999 but no
Maithili film could later emulate its success,”
Sharar says. “Still, I don’t see any reason why
Maithili cinema cannot make a similar impact
and create its own audience.” Mithilesh concurs.
“At Tekari in Gaya, Devan Misir ran to a full house
for a week before it withdrawn to make way for
a big Bhojpuri movie. But two days later, the
loc als forced its owner to bring Devan Misir back
on screen.”
That may well be an exception because films
from any fledgling industry have not had many
takers at the box office over the years. But that isno deterrant since since commercial success is
not the prime motivator for passionate filmmak-
ers who want to channel their creativity regard-
less of the language. Praveen Morchhale, a
talented film-maker from Madhya Pradesh,
chose to make Walking With The Wind in
Ladakhi, which won three National awards in- The film has since travelled to many inter-
national film festivals, winning several awards,
including the UNESCO Gandhi Medal at the
International Film Festival of India in Goa and a
special jury award for direction and story at
SAARC Film Festival in Colombo.
Since Walking With The Wind is about a
10-year-old boy from a mountainous region,
Praveen chose to make it in Ladakhi even though
he himself is not a native speaker of the language.
FREEZE FRAMES
(From left) Stills
from Walking With
the Wind, Devan
Misir and Premak
Basaat.A new breed
of inteprid
directors is
travelling the
extra mile to
make movies
in diverse
languages of
the country