Jayanta Mahapatra rarely left his hometown of Cuttack. But, his poetry has travelled far. The first Indian poet to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for English poetry, Mahapatra played a significant role in refining Indian English literature; his poetry dealt with, among other themes, the human condition and the relationship between the individual and society. When Bishweshwar Das, director of the film, A Tale To Begin With, first approached the poet in 2017 for a short write-up, the meeting never happened, as Mahapatra was busy and travelling. Five years later, Das met Mahapatra. This time, with a camera.
A Tale to Begin With, a documentary based on the final chapters of Mahapatra’s life, was shown at IIC recently, ahead of his death anniversary to an audience engaged with his poetry. (Mahapatra died on August 23, 2023). It borrows the title from the poet’s work of the same name. “I felt this is a string that can be followed. The film catches the poet talking about himself, and I used that as a base to shuffle between his past and present.”
Sharp of mind but frail
The project began slowly. Das, who worked in advertising in Bengaluru, had long harboured a love for cinema. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was back in his hometown in Cuttack, and he once again reached out to Mahapatra. To Das’s surprise, the poet agreed to be the subject of the film. The shoot, however, wasn’t an easy one. Mahapatra, in his nineties, had just recovered from COVID-19. “Old age was a factor,” Das explains, “but more than that, it was about being sensitive. I couldn’t film for long stretches. Some days, I had to stop filming midway, depending on how he was feeling.”
Despite physical frailty, Mahapatra was mentally sharp, and always surrounded by books. Das recalls Mahapatra phoning him to tell that he was reading Leo Tolstoy’s War And Peace. “He said that it felt different this time, and that he was able to see the context from a different perspective. Poetry, he said, kept him alive.” The film does not dig into a dramatic or chronological narrative. According to the director, it avoids voiceovers and linear storytelling. It gives a soft glimpse into Mahapatra’s days; the poet sitting under a shady tree, speaking and reciting poems at literary meets, or just quietly reading.
Cuttack, cake, and Tolstoy
Mahapatra founded Chandrabhaga, a literary magazine, in the 1970s, to publish English poetry from Odisha. He had a certain obsession with this name, Das points out. It was also the name of his house, as well as the beach where his ashes were later scattered. The magazine gave space to many emerging poets of Indian writing, especially from the Northeast, says Das. The film features poets and writers talking about Mahapatra, and reciting his poems such as The Captive Air of Chandipur Sea, Of That Love, and others.
In one of the movie scenes, popular Odia writer, Prathibha Ray is seen calling the poet the “proud son” of Odisha. “Jayanta Mahapatra remained Odia throughout his life. He lived a very simple life. He read and taught physics, and wrote metaphysical poetry,” she says.
Mahapatra was born on October 22, 1928, in Cuttack, Odisha. What is also highlighted in the film is the solitude of his final years. Mahapatra’s wife and son had passed away long ago. The only people around him in those last years were his neighbours who checked in on him. “There was nobody really by his side but he didn’t mind. He was always buried in books,” says Das. Shortly before the poet’s demise, Das remembers Mahapatra calling him over to celebrate his (Das’s) birthday in Cuttack. “‘I’m not well. Bring the cake here, we’ll cut it’ he said."