Cinema
The Mirage
Maya Miriga
Nirad Mohapatra · 1984
Synopsis
In Puri, three generations live under a crumbling roof. The widowed grandmother is the head in name; her son Raj Kishore, a school principal close to retirement, gentle but demanding, wants his four sons and his daughter to rise through education. The eldest, Tuku, has married; the arrival of his young wife, with modern ideas and a rich dowry, disturbs the established order, while the younger ones pursue their studies and the house begins to empty.
Context
The film was shot on a small budget, mostly with non-professional actors, friends of the director and among them his brother Sampad, in an abandoned house that had been restored. An admirer of Ozu, Mohapatra films in medium shots, without close-ups. The original sixteen-millimetre negative, found in a warehouse in Madras, had to be repaired by hand for months before the restoration carried out in Bologna in 2024.
Who it is for
Two hours in Odia, with no French release, at a slow pace, without close-ups or dramatic flourish.
Prizes and reception
Selected for the Critics' Week at Cannes in 1984; second best film in the national awards; regarded as the most celebrated film of Odia cinema.
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