Arindam Sil: ‘Mahananda’ is about Mahasweta Devi’s philosophy and uncompromising ethics

Arindam Sil’s much-awaited ‘Mahananda’ is finally releasing today. The film, starring Gargee Roychowdhury, Debshankar Haldar,

Isha Saha

and others in key roles, narrates the story of a firebrand author named

Mahananda

whose personality has a lot of similarities with the life and works of

Mahasweta Devi

.

When asked what he is trying to convey with ‘Mahananda’, especially when it’s inspired by Mahasweta Devi, Arindam explains this film is about her works, her philosophy.

“Mahananda is the story of this passing on of the torch. The torchbearers from different ages who carry forward the concept, the movement named Mahashweta. It is not on Mahasweta Devi’s life alone. It’s more on her work and literature. She is a cult figure in her own right, and we will just try to capture that on screen. As Bengalis, we should be immensely proud of her work, but hardly anyone discusses or talks about that. There are a few papers on Mahasweta Devi’s contribution to Bengali literature and society in American universities. But I have my doubts about whether her work is taught here. All her life she fought for the rights of the tribals, and most of her literature also reflects their struggles. We have never really been able to give her work the rightful place it deserves. Her movement is a continuous process in society that the younger generation should be aware of that. Also, in more ways than one, she is the true icons of women’s lib and gender equality. In Mahananda, we have shown her work from the IPTA (Indian People’s Theatre Association) movement till the time she grew old. But we will not show her death, to depict the continuity of her work,” shared the director adding that it is high time that we talk about her philosophy, and uncompromising ethics.

Sharing his thoughts on Mahashweta Devi’s influence, Arindam stated, “Mahashweta Devi is just not an author but she is more than that. Our film is about a movement called Mahashweta Devi. Today when we talk about gender equality or woman empowerment, we forget that she talked about it years ago. She was the one who spoke about Santhal women. We have incorporated all these in our film.”

Arindam further adds Mahasweta Devi’s works are deeply relevant even today and young readers can achieve more while exploring and connecting with her works.