At the Signs Film Festival in Kochi, the documentary Mahasweta Devi: Close Up begins with an elderly woman wearing round spectacles combing her hair. Behind her are book shelves and a calendar on a wall. The camera zooms in on her face. She is staring intently off-camera.
“Mahasweta is watching the film Five, by Iranian master film-maker Abbas Kiarostami,” says film-maker Joshy Joseph. Kiarostami died on July 4 this year.
Joshy used this method because of the lack of visual possibilities. “A writer finds it difficult to write before the camera,” he says. “There are no variations in the visuals, unlike a documentary on a dancer or musician.”The 40-minute film is an affectionate and intimate look at one of the great writers and tribal activists of West Bengal. Mahasweta, who wrote over 100 novels, won the Jnanpith Award, the Magsaysay Award and the Padma Vibhushan.
In the film, Mahasweta talks about one of her favourite stories. “It was called Akla (alone). There is a little boy whose parents have gone out and he is alone at home. He has nothing to do. He has finished his homework and is watching TV. Suddenly, a little boy comes and sits next to him. The boy asks, ‘Who are you?’ The little boy answers, ‘I’m Akla. I came because you’re alone’.”
Joshy also travels with Mahasweta to Nandigram, infamous for the shooting of 14 people on March 14, 2007, by police when the ruling Left Front tried to set up a Special Economic Zone. She meets farmers and activists there.
On returning, Mahasweta calls State PWD Minister Kshiti Goswami and complains about the sorry state of roads. The minister says he has no money for developmental work. “Ask one of the multinational companies,” says Mahasweta, tongue-in-cheek.
“I would meet Mahasweta every evening because my office is just five minutes from her home,” says Joshy, who is deputy director-general in charge of the Films Division, Government of India. “She was my friend, sister, mother and grandmother. All those roles, which different people play in your life, it was combined into one person. I miss her a lot every day.”
Mahasweta died on July 28, aged 90.