Bengali film star Prosenjit Chatterjee and Bollywood filmmakers like Mahesh Bhatt and Madhur Bhandarkar on Thursday mourned the death of eminent writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi. “I wanted to do a film on her life”, the 49-year-old actor told reporters.
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The renowned Bengali fiction writer was well-known for her contribution to the welfare of tribal and dalits, communities written off as criminal and marginal.
India-born independent filmmaker Shashwati Talukdar, who shot a documentary on eminent writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi, remembers her as extremely amusing in person and says one would be taken unawares by her “lightning wit”. Then one day she proposed to write a whole series on Hindi writers that she had known and liked.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced that the activist will be cremated with full state honours. I have lost a personal guide.
Yet, she never pretended she was one of oppressed; rather she would make fun of people trying to “declass” themselves.
She began her writing career with the publication of her book Jhansir Rani.
Her intellectual moorings were initially with the Left but for the past 10 years Devi was a bitter critic of the left. There was no stopping her and her creativity.
Her works include ‘Aranyer Adhikar”, “Chotti Munda evam Tar Tir”, “Rudali”, “Kulaputra” and “Agnigarbha’.
Padmashree and Padma Vibhushan followed in 1986. Her social activism and journalism got her the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award. Her characters were unforgettable as they were fictional people from the real world. “Mahashweta Di rest in peace”.
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Her last remains will be cremated under government arrangement at Keoratola crematorium in the afternoon. She was a courageous author.
