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In 2016, Mithila Makhaan became India's first film in the Maithili language to win the prestigious National Award. The movie was conceived during the tragic Kosi floods of 2008, when filmmaker Nitin Neera Chandra was working with NGOs in the flood-affected areas of Nepal and Bihar borders. It’s 2020 and the filmmaker has still not found a single investor or platform that would showcase his project.
The Quint spoke to the Indie filmmaker, who opened up about the struggles he had to go through even after the film won the award.
He even approached filmmakers such as Anurag Kashyap, who is known to back small Indie films, but it didn’t workout. Nitin said his mother tongue not getting a proper representation is what motivates him to keep making films in the language.
The filmmaker has started a crowdfunding campaign on Ketto.org, helmed by actor Kunal Kapoor, to raise money for the release of Mithila Makhaan. The film is going to drop on www.bejod.in. The platform will be launched on 15 August and it will provide an opportunity to Bhojpuri and Maithili filmmakers to showcase their work.
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