Mo Bou Mo Gaan - Odishi Documentary on life of a Village lady

My mother my village 

I have recently watched an Odishi documentary "Mo Bou Mo Gaan“ which literally means - My mother my village in English, believe me it was so touching, packed with emotions that I could not sleep properly for three four days after watching it . It is conceived, painstakingly documented by Subash Sahoo and it revolves around his mother and her native village. 

Now you will ask : Subash Sahoo -who ? 

Well Subash Sahoo is basically trained from FTII Pune and known in the film industry as one of the ace sound recordist and sound designer. He received national awards for best sound designing  for ‘Kaminey’2009 ,’NH10’2015, ‘Neerja’2015, ‘Tumhari Sulu’ 2017  as well as several other notable honours.

But this piece is altogether on  something different - a  documentary which throws light on a new facet of Subash’s hidden talent. It is a film that is Sahoo’s  labour of love of 18 years of filming his own mother - an inspiring woman who was a mother to an entire village. And in the process it  beautifully documented rich tradition, culture and social life of rural Orissa, the beauty does not ends here, the film also documents the social changes took place in rural Odisha during last eighteen years. 

Working actively right into her ripe 90s, Subhash’s mother Seba Bou, as she was lovingly called by her family members as well as entire Baluria village, the lady  was one-woman 'finishing school' for many generations girls  soon-to-be-married girls in his native  village located in Kendarapara on the bank of virgin river .Besides equipping the girls with a range of skills like cooking, home management, and child-rearing her  taught them economically empowering traditional handicraft making and folk music rooted in the age old Vaishnav tradition in rural Odisha.  

And she did all this , as her duty to pass on a rich cultural and spiritual legacy. And above all, she gave the young women of the village confidence and pride in their skills and their identities.

She was also a 'go-to' woman for everybody in the village for any kind of problem or advice.

Like love at first sight, for me this was 'love at first frame'.

 A soul-squeezing folk rendition of the very essence of the Bhagwat Geeta on the soundtrack, a visual of a man quietly performing the last rights under a huge palm tree in his village. 

The essence of documentary is summed up in a folk song rendered on traditional Ek Tara by a seventy two year old folk singer searched by noted painter Sujiet in Odisha. The team assisted Subash Sahoo is lead by Subir Nath. 

The documentary just worked like magic and for the next 62 minutes, the Director and editor collated life span of 90 plus year lady Seba Bou and her whole folk background in just 60 minutes magically.

From the sideline of show, I spoke to Subash Sahoo on his journey in film industry.

He joined industry as sound recordist but entered into niche of sound designing. But his FTII training compelled him to do something different. So, he started making documentaries  from the year 2006.He  was not so happy with the government commissioned/ Sponsored documentaries  and wanted to do of his own way. 

 So,  he decided to invest  his own money whatever a little he was earning  from Sound Designing assignments. Journey  started from the film "The Sound Man Mangesh Desai"(feature length documentary) which he  started shooting in the year 2010, got completed in the year 2017. This  documentary was selected in the  MAMI festival &  also travelled all around the world in the festival circuits notably at film festivals at New York, Malta, LA to mention a few . The film is yet to see the  lights of the day.It is been 14years  and still he  struggles  to get the NOC for some of  the film clips which he  used in the film.

  Then he  directed a short fiction thriller of 25 minutes length "Knock Knock" entirely shot at Mantri Serene where we live, it is based on a real  incident.It got selected  to IFFI, MIFF followed with the next short Odishi  Documentary named "Teen Adhyay"(Three chapters of life- Utpati, Bipati & Chakra) which is 25 minutes duration.It got selected to IFFI & MIFF.

I expect many more outstanding work from Subash Sahoo in coming time.

From the sideline of show, I spoke to Subash Sahoo on his journey in film industry.

He joined industry as sound recordist but entered into niche of sound designing. But his FTII training compelled him to do something different. So, he started making documentaries  from the year 2006.He  was not so happy with the government commissioned/ Sponsored documentaries  and wanted to do of his own way. 

 So,  he decided to invest  his own money whatever a little he was earning  from Sound Designing assignments. Journey  started from the film "The Sound Man Mangesh Desai"(feature length documentary) which he  started shooting in the year 2010, got completed in the year 2017. This  documentary was selected in the  MAMI festival &  also travelled all around the world in the festival circuits notably at film festivals at New York, Malta, LA to mention a few . The film is yet to see the  lights of the day.It is been 14years  and still he  struggles  to get the NOC for some of  the film clips which he  used in the film.

  Then he  directed a short fiction thriller of 25 minutes length "Knock Knock" entirely shot at Mantri Serene where we live, it is based on a real  incident.It got selected  to IFFI, MIFF followed with the next short Odishi  Documentary named "Teen Adhyay"(Three chapters of life- Utpati, Bipati & Chakra) which is 25 minutes duration.It got selected to IFFI & MIFF.

I expect many more outstanding work from Subash Sahoo in coming time.