Chitra Palekar's 'Maati Maay' to premiere at toronto film fest

Mumbai, Aug 31 (UNI) ''Maati Maay (A Grave-keeper's Tale),'' produced, written and directed by Chitra Palekar, will be premiered at the forthcoming Toronto International Film Festival on September eight.

Palekar is making her directorial debut with this film. Based on a short story 'Baayen' by Mahasweta Devi, 'Maati Maay' (in Marathi) is the saga of Chandi, a beautiful young woman from a lower caste, whose family has traditionally been in charge of a children's graveyard. When her father dies, there being no other male in the family, Chandi inherits the job and performs it as her sacred duty.

Nandita Das plays Chandi and Atul Kulkarni is Narsu, her husband.

Kshitij Gavande plays Bhagirath, their son. Cinematography by Debu Deodhar and music by Bhaskar Chandavarkar are other major credits, a release here said.

Chitra Palekar, a post-graduate in Economics, began her artistic career in the mid '60s through avant-garde theatre in Mumbai. She was a lead actor in both Hindi and Marathi plays and won several State Awards.

She turned to cinema in the early '80s. Her first feature film as a producer/lead actor was 'Aakrit' (1981, Marathi), which won a Special Jury Award at the Three Continents' Film Festival in Nantes, France and was an international success. In India, the film won four State Awards and was selected for the prestigious Indian Panorama.

After scripting highly rated Television serials like 'Kachchi Dhoop', 'Naquab' and 'Paoolkhuna', Chitra went on to write screenplays for award winning, critically acclaimed films like 'Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaaye' (1990, Hindi), 'Kairee' (1999, Hindi), 'Dhyaasparva' (2001, Marathi) and its Hindi version 'Kal Ka Aadmi'.

She was the Additional Scriptwriter for 'Bangarwadi' (1995, Marathi) and 'Daayra'(1996, Hindi).

Chitra has worked as Associate Director and Production Designer on many of these films. She has also made a documentary, 'Portrait Of A Visionary' (2002, English).

UNI LS GB VA MIR RAI0859