'I Believe the Era of Mythologicals [Hindu Religious Movies] is Coming Back ...'

[Guest guest]

"Jai Jagannath", a socio-mythological -- with versions in 15

languages! -- is being readied for a November 2006 release. The film's

National Award-winning director, Sabyasachi Mahapatra, talked with

SCREEN magazine about how his decade-old dream came true...

 

(Interviewed by Roshmila Bhattacharya; published Friday, September 1,

2006)

 

Q: How did the idea of a multi-lingual, socio-mythological come about?

 

A: The idea is sourced from the Mahalaxmi Puran. Most Indian

households including mine worships the Goddess of Wealth every

Thursday—Guruvaar—but few of us know the story behind this ritual.

There was a time when the worship of deities was forbidden to

untouchables by the upper-caste Brahmins. Lord Jagannath, disturbed by

the social discrimination, and with Narad's support, planned a leela

that began with Laxmi being given permission by him to leave her

divine abode—Shri Mandir—-and visit earth in the month of Maargashish

to see how Mahalaxmi pooja was being performed by her many devotees.

While there she came across the achhut Sriya who despite untold

humiliation and torture, dares to worship her. Moved by her devout

spirituality, Laxmi gave her darshan and blessed her with boons.

 

Q: Ah, so that's how the practice of Laxmi pooja came about?

 

A; No, there's more. When news filtered back to Laxmi's brother-in-law

Balbhadra he was furious with her for having entered an untouchable's

house and ordered Jagannath to turn her out. A shocked and shattered

Laxmi left home after cursing Balbhadra and Jagannath, telling them

that they would be without food and water for 12 years and would be

able to quench their hunger and thirst only when they allowed an

achhut to serve them. She took up residence in a new Shri Mandir that

she had replicated with the help of Lord Vishwakarma, till Balbhandra,

filled with remorse, requested Jagannath to bring their Griha Laxmi

back, and accepted food from an untouchable who was actually the

Goddess in disguise.

 

Q: That perhaps explains the respect and love showered on the

Grihalaxmi in later years.

 

A: That's right. Well, Laxmi returned home on the condition that

henceforth the prasad from Shri Mandir would be served to all,

irrespective of caste, class or creed. Jagannth readily agreed to her

diktat and Naarad subsequently revealed how he had himself set up the

series of events to eradicate casteism. So while his brother's actions

were governed by maya, Jagannath's were actually powered by knowledge.

Unlike our other scriptures, the Lakshmi Puran highlights not just

cultural but also familial values. In this story for instance the

relationship with Brhama and Jiva is beautifully potrayed through

Jagannath and Balbhadra. At Jagannath Puri the trio of Jagannath,

Balaram and their sister Subhadra symbolise family ties and are

worshipped together every year during the rath yatra. The temple

chariot with the deities are pulled along on the wide main temple road

of Puri as the godly siblings come out on the street to meet the devotees.

 

Q: Interesting. So that's what drew you to the story?

 

A: My imagination was fired by the idea of how a God along with his

brother knowingly suffered a long and painful ordeal in a conscious

effort to bring about social reform. Laxmi's stand too was a

mainfestation of stree shakti or woman empowerment that has impressed

mankind down the ages.

 

Q: Considering that Jagannath's realm is restricted primarily to

Orrisa, why have you made your film in 13 other regional languages

besides Oriya and English?

 

A: It's true that Jagannath's divinity has so far been confined to

Orrisa and neighbouring West Bengal and Assam. That's the reason I

decided to make Jai Jagannath in 15 languages because I believe this

socially-relevant film will be able to take his message of reform for

progress across the country and maybe through the world too. As you

know Puri is an important pilgrim town in India, one of the four

sacred dhaams of the Hindus. Legend has it that after Krishna left his

mortal body, his naabhi (navel) did not turn into ashes. So Arjun

immersed it in the ocean from which it emerged transformed into wood

or daru. This wood is worshipped as daru Brahma Jagannath and even

today, dieties of Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra are carved from wood

and cremated every 12 years.

 

Q: The deities have a unique appearance. Their look is neither human

nor animal.

 

A: It's the abstract look. Ishwara, according to Hindu philosophy,

denotes both the form and the formless—aakaar and nirakaar.

 

Q: Reportedly you've been working on this film for 10 years. What took

you so long to greenlight your dream project?

 

A: [sighing] It was God's will. An age-old superstition to tell us

that anyone who starts work on a project involving Lord Jagannath has

to face innumerable obstacle initially. My path too was strewn with

hurdles, the biggest of which involved my brother's wife who suffered

a major accident that left her with a badly-injured leg. There were

others too. There were times during the long decade when I would

wonder why I was able to wrap up other films smoothly but just

couldn't get this one on the road.

 

Q: Was money a problem?

 

A: No, surprisingly it wasn't. All my five brothers are top-ranking

technicians. B Chintu Mohapatra who is the producer of Jai Jagannath

has worked as line producer to Mani Ratnam. Another brother, Prakash

introduced the remote control screen in Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani.

Both he and my son are specialised cinematographers who have worked on

several big-budget bonanzas. We all got together and arranged the

finance ourselves. Friends too have readily pitched and many have

worked for free. Bharat Shah, who is a friend of Chintoo, was

approached and immediately agreed to not only help with finance but

will also be releasing the film all over India on Laxmi Pooja

day—November 9. We're also trying for a worldwide release but have yet

to rope in a distributor.

 

[with a smile] Thanks to Laxmi whenever we needed money we got it

though my son who is the No. 1 gizmo operator in the country gave up

on several plum projects to concentrate on Jai Jagannath. The entire

family has made sacrifices for this film including giving up

non-vegetarian for a whole year. In fact, my entire team turned

vegetarian through the course of the film.

 

Q: Is yours a very religious family?

 

A: Yeah, we are very god-fearing and shooting would start everyday

with a pooja. On the last day we organised a hom (havan). A portrait

of Lord Jagannath was painted on the studio wall and remains there

even today. Friends to my sets spoke of a "spiritual vibration". I too

have felt the presence of the Lord and his divine consort and like to

believe that they were the ones who cleared the hurdles for us.

 

Q: What hurdles?

 

A: We had a 25-day schedule in Orissa. Once when shooting in Puri we

were hit by a cyclone. It seemed impossible that we would reach the

location. But just when we were about to give up hope the skies

cleared miraculously and we were able to can some shots with our

reel-life Laxmi. But no sooner was the scene over when it started

raining again! A miracle occured in Umergaon too where a major portion

of Jai Jagannath was filmed in a 65-day schedule. It was smooth

sailing but as soon as I announced `Pack-up' the floods came and the

sets were washed away.

 

Q: Were you able to shoot in Jagannath Puri?

 

A: We shot outside the temple and the people around were so

co-operative that they even dug up the electric poles around so we

could recreate the period when electricity didn't exist. You are never

given permission to shoot inside Jagannath Puri so my brother, art

director Montoo Mahapatra, had to build a replica of the mandir. It

was one of the 10 sets we erected. Another one, which took three

months to build and cost us plenty was the godly abode of Jagannath

and Laxmi. Real pandals (priests) performed the pooja for us at our

set temple and the flowers used for worship came from Jagannath

temple. Lakhs of pilgrims visit the mandir where about 26 rituals are

conducted everyday and the daily routine of the Lord is akin to that

of a normal human being. The deities are dressed in different attires

according to the seasons and festivals. We got costumes that who in

every way like the original tailored for our dieties too. The costumes

alone took us two months to make.

 

Q: The film has been shot in DTS, right?

 

A: Yeah, we've used digital sound and state-of-art graphics. The film

also has six beautiful songs and a background score by Amar Haldipur.

Sriya, the achhut kanya is played by actress Mohini Shilalipi who is

also a famous Odissi dancer. She accompanied me to an Oriya film

festival in Kerala some time ago and once we got talking she evinced a

keen interest in the project. Two of the songs have been picturised on

her.

 

Q: I believe Sadhu Meher is making a comeback in Jai Jagannath?

 

A: Yeah, he's playing the Chandali's father-in-law. He's worked with

me earlier too in films like the critically acclaimed Bhuka.

Interestingly, I was a practising lawyer who since childhood had been

interested in acting. So despite strong objection from my father who

was a teacher and wanted me to accept a lucrative bank job offer, I

joined the industry and was the first TV artiste from Western Orrisa.

I was doing quite well as an actor when Sadhu Meher decided to turn

director and offered to take me on as his assistant. That sparked off

an interest in direction. I left acting and have never looked back. It

seems appropriate that Sadhu should return to Hindi film with me today.

 

Q: Who are your `godly' actors?

 

A: [smiling] Jyoti Mishra who I introduced to Oriya films is playing

Laxmi. She is a superstar today. Sreetham Das is Jagannath. There are

several new artistes in the film. I spent a year on the casting. I

wanted the perfect cast.

 

Q: Will a mythological find an audience in today's

spiritually-starved, materialistic world?

 

A: I believe the era of mythologicals is coming back given the recent

success of Hanuman and the announcement of a sequel, the launching of

Shree Krishna and the imminent release of Jai Santoshi Maa. Even

Rajkumar Santoshi is making a Hanuman today. People are looking for a

change. We've had two screenings for about 100 families and the

response to the film has been overwhelming. Harish Mahanti, a promient

heart surgeon, was in tears after the show. He confessed he was

weeping over a film after 10 years. Another person who was left

misty-eyed was director Sisir Mitra.

 

Q: You are a highly respected and successful Oriya film-maker who has

been on the National Award jury and made noteworthy documentaries like

India 24 Hours and several TV shows. You've won several National and

international awards including the prestigious Utkal Jyoti. How

confident are you of Jai Jagannath's commercial success and will it

pick up awards?

 

A: [with a laugh] You know, it's strange but whenever I've made an art

film it has picked up a National or State award and whenever I've made

a mainstream film it's been a superhit. That makes me optimistic for

Jai Jagannath. I'm grateful that the Lord chose me to make this film.

I thank him for the opportunity everyday. I've served my God and I am

at peace today.

 

SOURCE: Screen Weekly, Mumbai

URL: http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=13373

[Guest guest]

I was always taught that Lakshmi's "day" is Friday, ruled by Venus. She certainly seems a Venus-type of goddess! Under what conditions and circumstances is she worshipped on Thursday, and associated with Jupiter?

 

-- Len/ Kalipadma

 

Devi Bhakta <devi_bhakta > wrote: "Jai Jagannath", a socio-mythological -- with versions in 15

languages! -- is being readied for a November 2006 release....

 

Most Indian

households including mine worships the Goddess of Wealth every

Thursday—Guruvaar—but few of us know the story behind this ritual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How low will we go? Check out Messenger’s low PC-to-Phone call rates.

[Guest guest]

Friday is so named in our language as it was "Freya's Day" the mother

Goddess of the Norse tribes.

 

pr

 

, Len Rosenberg

<kalipadma108 wrote:

>

> I was always taught that Lakshmi's "day" is Friday, ruled by

Venus. She certainly seems a Venus-type of goddess! Under what

conditions and circumstances is she worshipped on Thursday, and

associated with Jupiter?

>

> -- Len/ Kalipadma

>

> Devi Bhakta <devi_bhakta

wrote: "Jai Jagannath", a socio-

mythological -- with versions in 15

> languages! -- is being readied for a November 2006 release....

>

> Most Indian

> households including mine worships the Goddess of Wealth every

> Thursday—Guruvaar—but few of us know the story behind this ritual.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> How low will we go? Check out Messenger's low PC-to-Phone

call rates.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yes, and the Nordic Anglo-Saxons saw Freyja as analogous to the Roman Venus.. (Note that the Spanish for Friday is "vienes.") Similarly, the Hindus saw Lakshmi as analogous to Venus. (Although technically, the planet is known to Jyotish astrologers as Shukra, the (male) guru of the Asuras. In Jyotish, all the planets are male; all the fixed stars are female.)

 

My question was, why do some Hindus worship Lakshmi on Thursdays? Thursdays are ruled by Jupiter, whose Hindu deity analog is usually Brahma (or his consort, Saraswati). (Or, rarely, Dakshinamurthi Shiva.)

 

-- Len/ Kalipadma

 

 

prainbow61 <paulie-rainbow (AT) usa (DOT) net> wrote: Friday is so named in our language as it was "Freya's Day" the mother

Goddess of the Norse tribes.

 

pr

 

, Len Rosenberg

<kalipadma108 wrote:

>

> I was always taught that Lakshmi's "day" is Friday, ruled by

Venus. She certainly seems a Venus-type of goddess! Under what

conditions and circumstances is she worshipped on Thursday, and

associated with Jupiter?

>

> -- Len/ Kalipadma

>

> Devi Bhakta <devi_bhakta

wrote: "Jai Jagannath", a socio-

mythological -- with versions in 15

> languages! -- is being readied for a November 2006 release....

>

> Most Indian

> households including mine worships the Goddess of Wealth every

> Thursday—Guruvaar—but few of us know the story behind this ritual.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> How low will we go? Check out Messenger's low PC-to-Phone

call rates.

>

>