Swabhoomi's subject still crucial: Mahasweta Devi

Author Mahasweta Devi says she is eager to see the film version of her novel 'Adhaba', written on the women whose husbands remained untraced after the Nandigram land acquisition movement.
These women whose husbands continued to be 'missing' even today are neither 'Sadhaba' (married), nor 'Bidhaba' (widow) and they have become 'Adhaba', a word coined by the veteran author herself.
Directed by Ujjwal Chatterjee, 'Swabhoomi', the screen adaptation of 'Adhaba', will be released later this month.
"No idea how my story had been treated in the film. But 'Adhaba' doesn't talk about married or unmarried woman. It refers to the status of women in society," Mahasweta Devi, who took part in the anti-land acquisition movement in Singur and Nandigram in 2006-07, said yesterday.

"However, I believe my plots, and the storyline, script of the movie remain as much relevant to the present times as these were when I had penned the story," said the Magsaysay awardee who had written the novel after the Nandigram stir.
One such 'Adhaba' in the film is Saraswati whose character was created based on Shyamali Pramanik, a real life woman of Nandigram, said Debasree Roy, who is essaying the role.

"I remember how Shyamali broke down embracing me when we went to Nandigram... I was startled when I first came across the term 'Adhaba'," said Debasree.
Shyamali would be brought to the city at the premier, said director Ujjwal Chatterjee who is producing the movie along with Ashtami Films.

"We have changed the word 'Adhaba', which must have been coined by Mahasweta-di, to Swabhoomi (own land)," said Ujjwal who has also directed 2003 Hindi film 'Escape from Taliban'.
Besides Debasree, Tapas Paul and Jackie Shroff are other stars of 'Swabhoomi'.