A film on poet Jayanta Mahapatra documents the last days of the Cuttack-born poet
'A Tale to Begin With', perhaps the only documentary on the literary legend, has won the Best Documentary Award at 7th Bioscope Global Film Festival 2025. Being deeply influenced by the poet's magnificent oeuvre, Das spent many days with him. In the film, we see them at the local tea shop to have Jayanta's favourite pakoda and chai, discussing poetry, life and beauty, sitting under the bamboo tree immersed in meditative silence and celebrating birthdays and festivals. These cherished moments are woven together with memories and poems of Jayanta, recalled by legendary contemporaries such as Gulzar, Pratibha Ray and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. The film was screened in New Delhi recently.
Some of Jayanta's classics include 'Hunger', a poem which talks about informal child sex trade with burning and succinct usage of words, literary devices, exposing the human mind's bondage to the flesh; 'Indian Summer', a veiled commentary on the suffering woman and 'Dawn at Puri' that spelt out the uneasy coexistence of sacred rituals and stark human deprivation. One such line reads: 'A skull in the holy sands / tilts its empty country towards hunger.'
Part of a trio of poets who pioneered modernism in Indian English poetry, which included AK Ramanujan and R Parthasarathy, Jayanta received the Padma Shri in 2009. But he returned it in 2015 as a protest against the rising intolerance in India. Always holding Cuttack and his homeland close to his heart, he declared in his acceptance speech at the Sahitya Akademi award: 'To Orissa, to this land in which my roots lie and lies my past and in which lies my beginning and my end…'
Das says, 'I have not seen a person of his stature with so much humility, depth and love. He was so humble that he didn't own a car, AC, didn't care about luxury or fame and, in fact, didn't even lock his door. Small things touched him and has lived and died as a poet'.
Since the death of his wife and son in 2017, Jayanta had been living alone with the help of a caretaker named Sarojini. However, she too had passed away in 2022, leaving the man who treasured solitude, entirely alone. Still, for the literary giant silence was the greatest poem. Indulging in creative pursuits, attending literary festivals, inviting friends such as Das to spend time with him, Jayanta continued an active life till ill-health confined him to bed. Jayanta passed away in 2023 at the age of 95.
While sitting near the Mahanadi river, where he had spent the most part of his life, we can see the poet summarising his philosophy: 'What does a butterfly want? A little sunshine, a flower and some freedom. That's all I want. You know, silence is the greatest poem. If you can be quiet and sit with your beloved, that means a lot. I have lived my life like that, in happiness and with love. I never needed anything; I don't crave for anything.' Jayanta passed away in 2023 at the age of 95.
Das recounts one of his memorable moments with the poet. 'During the last month of Jayanta da's life, on my birthday, July 29, we were together. He was bed-ridden, the doctor was there giving injections and there were medicines all around. But then he looked at me with this innocent smile and said, 'How can your birthday pass without a chocolate cake?' We got one and celebrated. Even when he was so unwell, the love he had for people was extraordinary. Those moments are something I WIll cherish for the rest of my life,' says Das.
The documentary shows Jayanta's health deteriorating but his laughter and love become more radiant. Realising his immense affection for music and poetry, Das and his crew sang songs and recited poems for him. Music always brought a smile to his face and we see him singing along, even though he couldn't move from bed. Towards the end of the film we hear Gulzar, a close friend and fellow poet, recite a poem that he wrote about Jayanta:
He, who was a poet, remained silent.
He used to talk crazy crazy things.
He used to listen with his eyes on his ears, the sounds of dumb silence.
He used to collect the shadows of the moon, drops of wet light.
He used to rock in the oak, the dry leaves of the night.
In this dark forest of time he used to pick raw moments.
Yes, that strange poet used to wake up at night
And kiss the moon's chin with his elbows.
Heard, yesterday he left this earth.
A Tale to Begin With is doing the festival rounds within India and abroad.
Deepak Rajeev is an intern with The Indian Express
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Jayanta Mahapatra, one of the first poets to receive Sahitya Akademi Award for Indian English poetry (in 1981), spent his last few years alone but deeply happy and satisfied. It was those little moments such as sitting under the bamboo tree or listening to the birds perched on it that filled his child-like heart with intense joy. A recent screening in New Delhi of 'A Tale to Begin With', a film on the poet by debutant filmmaker Bishweshwar Das, showcases Jayanta as a man of profound simplicity, innocence and love. It depicted the twilight years of the nonagenarian, all by himself at his home in Cuttack, reading, writing, laughing and, at the end, embracing the eternal silence around him. 'A Tale to Begin With', perhaps the only documentary on the literary legend, has won the Best Documentary Award at 7th Bioscope Global Film Festival 2025. Being deeply influenced by the poet's magnificent oeuvre, Das spent many days with him. In the film, we see them at the local tea shop to have Jayanta's favourite pakoda and chai, discussing poetry, life and beauty, sitting under the bamboo tree immersed in meditative silence and celebrating birthdays and festivals. These cherished moments are woven together with memories and poems of Jayanta, recalled by legendary contemporaries such as Gulzar, Pratibha Ray and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. The film was screened in New Delhi recently. Some of Jayanta's classics include 'Hunger', a poem which talks about informal child sex trade with burning and succinct usage of words, literary devices, exposing the human mind's bondage to the flesh; 'Indian Summer', a veiled commentary on the suffering woman and 'Dawn at Puri' that spelt out the uneasy coexistence of sacred rituals and stark human deprivation. One such line reads: 'A skull in the holy sands / tilts its empty country towards hunger.' Part of a trio of poets who pioneered modernism in Indian English poetry, which included AK Ramanujan and R Parthasarathy, Jayanta received the Padma Shri in 2009. But he returned it in 2015 as a protest against the rising intolerance in India. Always holding Cuttack and his homeland close to his heart, he declared in his acceptance speech at the Sahitya Akademi award: 'To Orissa, to this land in which my roots lie and lies my past and in which lies my beginning and my end…' Das says, 'I have not seen a person of his stature with so much humility, depth and love. He was so humble that he didn't own a car, AC, didn't care about luxury or fame and, in fact, didn't even lock his door. Small things touched him and has lived and died as a poet'. Since the death of his wife and son in 2017, Jayanta had been living alone with the help of a caretaker named Sarojini. However, she too had passed away in 2022, leaving the man who treasured solitude, entirely alone. Still, for the literary giant silence was the greatest poem. Indulging in creative pursuits, attending literary festivals, inviting friends such as Das to spend time with him, Jayanta continued an active life till ill-health confined him to bed. Jayanta passed away in 2023 at the age of 95. While sitting near the Mahanadi river, where he had spent the most part of his life, we can see the poet summarising his philosophy: 'What does a butterfly want? A little sunshine, a flower and some freedom. That's all I want. You know, silence is the greatest poem. If you can be quiet and sit with your beloved, that means a lot. I have lived my life like that, in happiness and with love. I never needed anything; I don't crave for anything.' Jayanta passed away in 2023 at the age of 95. Das recounts one of his memorable moments with the poet. 'During the last month of Jayanta da's life, on my birthday, July 29, we were together. 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