Maithili cinema is the film industry of the Maithili language mainly active in the Mithila region of Bihar and Nepal. It is a small scale film industry based in the Mithila region. In the recent years the Maithili film industry is gradually increasing its horizon. Apart from the native land, Maithili movies are being shot in the countries like USA and Canada. The movies are being recognised by the National Film Award panel. In 2016, the Maithili movie "Mithila Makhaan" won national film award in the category of "Best Maithili Films".[1][2][3] In the recent year, author cum filmmaker Kislay Krishna wrote a book on the history of Maithili cinema with title Maithili Cinemak Itihaas. The book was selected as the best book on regional cinema by the jury of the 4th Sincine Film Festival 2023 held in Mumbai. The author Kislay Krishna was awarded by the Sincine Film Festival Award for his literary work on the history of Maithili cinema.[4][5]
The journey of Maithili cinema can be traced since 1965. The first Maithili film was Kanyadan which was produced in the year 1965 but released in the year 1971.[6] The movie was based on the novel Kanyadan (English translation - The Bride) written in the Maithili language by the author Harimohan Jha in 1930. It was directed by Phani Majumdar.[7] The second Maithili film was Mamta Gabe Geet. Its shooting started from the year 1962-1963 and continued parallel with the movie Kanyadan but due to some ups and downs in the production of the movie, it was released in the year 1982. During the shooting period its name was Naehar Bhel Mor Saasur. The movie was produced by the litterateur Kedar Nath Chaudhary and directed by Shree C Parmanand. The movie Mamta Gabe Geet is also considered as the first complete Maithili film because in the movie Kanyadan there was mixture of some Hindi language dialogues too but the movie Mamta Gabe Geet was made completely in Maithili language.[8][9][10] The third Maithili film was Sasta Jinagi Mahag Sinoor. It was a superhit movie and became very popular among the Maithil audiences. It was released in the year 1999.[11] In 2004, a movie named Garibak Beti was released.[12] In the same year another movie Senurak Laaj was also released.[13][14] Similarly in the year 2005, a Maithili movie with title Kakhan Harab Dukh Mor was released on the screens of some cinema theatres in the Mithila region. It was a superhit Maithili film and became popular among the audiences in the region. It was directed by Santosh Badal. It was based on the popular story of the Maithili poet Vidyapati and Ugna Mahadev.[15][16]
Hindustan Times newspaper ( 25 February 2015) article about the news of the release of Maithili movie Lalka Paag on screens of theatres in Bihar on 27 February 2015.
The image of an actor Pankaj Jha of the Maithili movie Mithila Makhaan
On 2 November 2018, author cum director Rupak Sharar released a Maithili movie Premak Basat on screens of different cinema theatres in the Mithila region. It was also released in Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait. It was a superhit Maithili film. It is said that the movie was the most expensive movie in the history of Maithili cinema. The budget of the movie was of 1 crore Indian rupees. The movie was produced in Mumbai. In the movie, international standard sound and visual technology were used. The songs of the movie became popular among audiences.[17][18][19]
Similarly the Maithili movie Jackson Halt was another superhit movie produced by Neetu Chandra in the year 2023 which was screened at the 55th edition of the Internatonal Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2024 held in Goa. It was a crime thriller movie in Maithili language. The Maithili film producer Neetu Chandra established her production house Champaran Talkies as well as created her own OTT plateform Bejod to release regional Maithili movies.[20][21]
In 2024, the first two-days Maithili International Film Festival was organised on 25–26 June at the Girija Hall in Janakpur city of the Mithila region in Nepal. It was held to promote the development of the Maithili film industry, Maithili language, literature and its culture. It was jointly organised by the Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City and the Lok Sanchar Janakpurdham. It was inaugurated by the chief minister Satish Kumar Singh of Madhesh Pradesh in Nepal.[22][23]
Major chalenges
One of the major challenges for the Maithili cinema is the lack of proper platforms to release the Maithili movies. Maithili movies are not getting distributors, theater screens, multiplex cinema screens and even online OTT plateforms. The another major challenge is lack of active audiences to watch the Maithili movies even having the population of Maithils people around 7 - 8 crores. According to the famous Maithili filmmaker Nitin Chandra, the Maithili cinema is still struggling to get some time on television or theatrical release .[24]
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