Bhubaneswar: The release of Nirad Mohapatra’s Maya Miriga, the story of a disintegrating middle-class joint family in 1984, was a watershed moment in Odia cinema. Apart from setting a new benchmark in parallel cinema, it helped bring the state's contribution to the cinematic art into national and international focus.

The film went on to win the second best features film national award that year and also collected accolades at international film festivals including the Cannes festival, where it was featured in the Critics Week Section.

Strangely, and much to the disappointment of Nirad’s many admirers, Maya Miriga – which featured mostly non-professional actors including the director’s own younger brother, veteran journalist Sampad Mohapatra – is the only feature film he ever made. While that remains one of the abiding mysteries of Odia cinema, the film itself is back in focus with its restored version being screened in Bhubaneswar on Thursday (November 13). The screening coincided with the organisation of a workshop on film preservation and restoration in the city under the aegis of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), which has played a key role in the restoration of Mohapatra’s magnum opus.

Director, Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), Shivendra Singh Dungarpur told media-persons in Bhubaneswar that efforts were being made to preserve good films. “We want to ensure that Odia cinema is recognised at the international level. We are trying to save what is about to get lost,” he said.

Film historian and critic Surya Deo is full of praise for the work done to preserve this gem of Odia cinema. “Since the original print was as good as lost, restoring this landmark movie by using the surviving elements of 16 mm original camera negative preserved at the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) and a 35 mm print preserved at NFDC-National Film Archives of India was a challenging task. But this was done and now people can enjoy the movie again with a better print,” said Deo while describing Maya Miriga as a film that reflects a stark social reality in a very sensitive manner.

“The film is very close to reality. It’s about the disintegration of a joint family. It makes minimal use of dialogue and the Odia it uses is simple. Though the film is about the disintegration of a joint family and also portrays the loneliness of the family head, it does not blame anyone for what happens. The film, in many ways, marked the arrival of Odia cinema on the national stage,” said Deo. The true success of a regional film, according to him, lies in the audience being able to recognise the region it belongs to even if the audio is muted. “Maya Miriga passes that test rather easily,” the film historian said.

For Nirad’s son, Sandeep Mohapatra, restoring Maya Miriga was a mission, his tribute to his father who passed away in 2015. “His passing was a shock. We were not prepared for this as everyone hoped he would recover. I was haunted by the thought that I could do nothing for him. Then I thought of restoring the print of Maya Miriga, his life’s work. Almost all the prints were bad and jumpy. I wrote to the National Film Archives of India. I thought it was the best organisation to approach for the purpose but I found the [their] approach bureaucratic. There was no forward movement,” recalls Sandeep.

Disillusioned, he contacted his father’s friends from the Film Training Institute (FTI), Nirad’s alma mater. One of them suggested that he better speak to Dungarpur who, he was told, was the only person who could get the restoration work done. “I was told that Shivendraji was very selective in these matters. But I somehow managed to get his e-mail ID and wrote to him in November 2020. He replied with his number. He called back to assure that he would try his best. Getting the original negative was an onerous task. The print was in a damaged condition. The original movie had been shot in 16 mm but this print was in 35 mm. We had to do the restoration job using both,” said Sandeep.

Soon he was informed by the FHF director that since it was not possible to get the work done in India, the job had to be assigned to a film restoration laboratory in Bologna, Italy. “It finally happened but it was a long drawn process and we had to deal with issues of subtitle writing and getting the credits right. The first screening of the restored Maya Miriga was at Italy’s largest restoration film festival in 2023. The packed hall gave the movie a standing ovation and it received rave reviews,” reminisced Sandeep.

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Maya Miriga featured in some other international film festivals as well and earned praise but Sandeep was keen on its screening in Odisha, his home state. “I wanted people of the state, where my father worked and made the film, to watch it and appreciate his cinematic brilliance. Shivendraji talked to former chief minister Naveen Patnaik last year. But after the elections, a BJP government was formed. Then Shivendraji spoke to present chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi and now the movie has been screened in Bhubaneswar,” said Sandeep.

Sampad Mohapatra, a creative genius himself and younger brother of Nirad, who portrayed the key character of Tutu, the second son of the family in Maya Miriga, is ecstatic about the film’s restoration. “It may sound a little odd if I tell you that I watched Maya Miriga for the first time since its release in 1984. I had seen every scene take shape during the edit, but watching the film in a packed cinema hall along with the audience was an experience. It filled my heart with pride and deep gratitude for Film Heritage Foundation and Dungarpur, the film maker spearheading the campaign to preserve films that deserve to be seen and appreciated by generations,” said Sampad.

For Sampad, screening of the restored print of the movie in Bhubaneswar was even more special because it happened just a day after his brother and director Nirad Mohapatra’s birth anniversary on November 12. Sampad attributes the film’s success, apart from the restoration team's efforts, to its extremely relevant social theme and its deft and sensitive handling by his brother.

“The film’s poignant theme centred around a middle-class family on the brink of dissolution, which struck a chord with the audience because of the universality of the sentiments it portrays,” says Sampad. The film, now available in a restored print, definitely has a universal appeal.

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