MUMBAI: The Marathi classic Shyamchi Aai will be screened on 9 May not only in Maharashtra but also across India. The screenings coincide with Mother’s Day that falls on 7 May.
Shyamchi Aai, the Marathi literary gem on a mother‘s unconditional love for her child, was the autobiography of freedom fighter, social activist and writer Sane Guruji. It revolved around his relationship with his mother.
In 1953, the book was adapted into a film that won the first National Award for best feature film in 1954. The film has Sane Guruji, fondly called Shyam, narrate his memories to a group of children. The story unfolds in the form of chapters named ‘ratra‘ (night in Marathi).
Shyam‘s mother gets married into a wealthy family, but they gradually become a victim of debt-ridden poverty. She falls ill and dies, but her life leaves quite a mark on Shyam.
"It is a story that literally everyone - adult or child, man or woman, educated or illiterate - can relate to. After all who has not been touched by and changed forever by a mother‘s love," avers Subhash Chheda of Rudraa Home Videos that owns the right to the film.
Chheda gets hundreds of requests around Mothers‘ Day every year, asking permission to screen the film. And there is no denying. "I may hold the right to the film. But no one holds the sole rights to a mother‘s love as depicted in the film and the book," he concludes.
