Mathia (film)

Last updated

Mathia
Directed byJoseph Pulinthanath
Screenplay byJoseph Pulinthanath
Produced byFr. KJ Joseph
Starring
  • Meena Debbarma
  • Jayanta Jamatia
  • Amulya Jamatia
CinematographySunil Lucas [1]
Edited bySunil Lucas
Music byAbhijit Basu
Production
company
Don Bosco Sampari Picture [2]
Distributed byDon Bosco Sampari Pictures [3]
Release date
  • 2004 (2004)
Running time
132 minutes
Country India
Language Kokborok

Mathia is a 2004 Indian Kokborok-language full-length feature film. It is written and directed by Joseph Pulinthanath and stars Meena Debbarma, Jayanta Jamatia and Amulya Jamaita. [4]

Contents

Synopsis

In a remote village of Tripura, a group of youth goes for cultivating huk(Jhum), singing along. They come across a house of a woman who is accused of being a Swkal(Witch). The villagers treat her in an unfriendly manner, forcing her to live in isolation outside the village, until a young man named Banthu from the same group falls in love with her, who had a view different from the society. He doesn't believe in societal stigma and superstitions such as a witch living among the people. Following his belief, he tries convincing that it is not Kwchwngti who is responsible for people dying natural deaths or deaths due to induced circumstances. However, Kwchwngti is framed by the villagers for all the misfortune that the village was confronted with. Thereafter, men are commissioned several times by the Choudhury of the village to kill Kwchwngti, who fled with Banthu from the village to a safe place. It was Banthu's rationale and love for her that saved her in the end from being buried alive by the villagers as a custom punishment for being a Swkal. [5] [6]

Reception

Critical analysis

Awards

Soundtrack

Sl no.SongSingerlengthlink
1Phaibaidi Joto BayarokJayanta Jamatia4:30 YouTube
2Khorang KhwlaikeBiswantah Debbarma & Manodevi Jamatia3:20 YouTube

Release

Mathia had its first official screening in an international cinema conference organised by Roopkala Kendra, an Indo-Italian project at Nandan, West Bengal in February 2003. [8] It was also screened at the "International Film and Television Festival of Neipoklanow", Poland on May 21, 2003. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tripura</span> State in northeastern India

Tripura is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers 10,491 km2 (4,051 sq mi); and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 3.67 million. It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east and by Bangladesh to the north, south and west. Tripura is divided into 8 districts and 23 sub-divisions, where Agartala is the capital and the largest city in the state. Tripura has 19 different tribal communities with a majority Bengali population. Bengali, English and Kokborok are the state's official languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agartala</span> Capital city of Tripura, India

Agartala is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Tripura, situated on the banks of Haora/Saidra River, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of the border with Bangladesh and about 2,499 km (1,552 mi) from the national capital, New Delhi. According to 2022 AMC data, Agartala is the second most populous city after Guwahati in Northeast India. It is India's third international internet gateway and being developed under the Smart Cities Mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kokborok</span> Sino-Tibetan language spoken in India and Bangladesh

Kokborok is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from kok meaning "verbal" and borok meaning "people" or "human", It is one of the ancient languages of Northeast India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tripuri people</span> Ethnic group of North-East India and Bangladesh

The Tripuri are a Tibeto-Burman-speaking ethnic group of Northeast Indian state of Tripura. They are the descendants of the inhabitants of the Twipra/Tripura Kingdom in North-East India and Bangladesh. The Tripuri people through the Manikya dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Tripura for ~450 years until the kingdom joined the Indian Union on 15 October 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kokborok literature</span>

Kokborok (Tiprakok/Tripuri) is the native language of Tripuri people in present Tripura state in Northeast of India. During the 20th century many of Royal family and its officials contributes to develop the Kokborok language in many ways.

Drama was brought into the Kokborok-speaking population by the Yatra (Jatra) performers of Bengal. The rulers of Independent Tripura were the first to present and perform drama in Tripura. Though in the beginning the presentations of yatras (jatras) were limited to the Royal Compound, in course of time it came out of the royal compound and mass people also began to enjoy it and join it.

The issue of which script to use for the Kokborok language continues to provoke political controversy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debbarma</span> Family name

Debbarma is the main clan of Tripuri community, predominantly in state of Tripura, India and Bangladesh who speak Kokborok, a Tibeto-Burman language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bir Bikram Manikya Debbarma</span> Maharaja

Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma Bahadur was a king of Tripura State.

Mahamanyabar Rajkumar Srila-Srijukta Nabadwipchandra Dev Burman, also transliterated as Nabadwip Chandra Deb Barman, was a noted Indian sitarist and Dhrupad singer. He was the father of composer S. D. Burman and grandfather of another composer R. D. Burman.

Tripuri Nationalism is an ideology that supports self-determination by the Tripuri people. The conflict is in essence ethnic and the Tripuri community, indigenous to the region formed the clear majority of population in the princely state of Tippera, which joined the Republic of India in 1949 as the state of Tripura.

Longtharai is a hill range in the Indian state of Tripura.

Atul Debbarma is an Indian doctor-turned-politician and author. He was a practicing doctor in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi until December 2017. He became involved with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its different wings such as Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Vivekananda International Foundation in 2007. He won the Tripura Assembly Elections 2018 as the BJP candidate from Krishnapur constituency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manmohini Devi</span> Third Maharani consort of Tripura

Maharani Khuman Chanu Manmohini Devi was the third Maharani consort of Tripura through her marriage to Maharaja Birchandra Manikya. She was a contemporary royal photographer who choreographed her self-portraits with the Maharaja and was considered the first Indian woman who mastered the art of photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kokborok Cinema</span> Kokborok language film industry

Kokborok Cinema refers to the Kokborok language film industry in Tripura, India and among the Tripuri people. Tripura's Kokborok film industry began in 1986 with Longtharai (1986) directed by Dipak Bhattacharya adapted from Bimal Sinha's novel Karachi theke Longtharai depicting the struggle-ridden life of jhum cultivators in the rural hills of Longtharai followed by the Kokborok film Langmani Haduk (1993) directed by Ruhi Debbarma can be read as a critique of the modern regime. The Kokborok film Mathia (2004) directed by Joseph Pulinthanath, is the first International Award-winning Kokborok film.

Yarwng is a 2008 Kokborok feature film produced by Don Bosco Sampari Pictures Tripura, written and directed by Joseph Pulinthanath. The story of the 95-minute feature film revolves round the large-scale displacement which happened in Tripura state, in northeast India, when the newly built Dumbur dam (1970s) submerged huge areas of arable land in the fertile Raima valley about 40 years ago. The film won the first national film award for Tripura at the 56th National Film Awards in (2008)

Langmani Haduk is a 1993 Tripuri feature film in Kokborok language directed by Ruhi Debbarma that portrayed patriarchal norms through what may be referred to as "feudal familial romance." It took inspiration from the well-established social/family melodramas of Hindi cinema.

Longtharai is a 1986 first Kokborok film directed by Dipak Bhattacharya, adapted from Tripura’s former Health and Urban Development Minister and CPIM leader Bimal Sinha’s novel "Karachi theke Longtharai".

References

  1. "Mathia becomes first Kokborok film to bag International Award". india.com. 3 June 2003. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  2. "MATHIA (2004)". bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 11 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  3. "Asian Award-winning Kokborok Film 'Yarwng' to open Indian Panorama". wordpress.com. 28 October 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  4. "Mathia (2004)". Archived from the original on 11 April 2018.
  5. Deb Barma, Aloy; Debroy, Prajapita (2022). CINEMA AS ART & POPULAR CULTURE IN TRIPURA: An Introduction. Tribal Research and Cultural Institute. ISBN   978-81-958995-0-0.
  6. Barma, Aloy Deb (2024). "Talking Back through Peripheral Visions and Negotiating Identity: Kokborok and Bengali Films and Music Videos in Tripura". Journal of Film and Video. 76 (2): 33–48. ISSN   1934-6018.
  7. Deb Barma, Aloy (2022). "Reading contemporary Kokborok and Bengali films and videos in Tripura: History, Technology and Infrastructure". ResearchGate . doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.12795.39208/6.
  8. 1 2 "Polish award for Kokborok film - Mathia named best feature film for depicting witchhunting". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Mathia bags first prize in international film fest - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 31 August 2022.