Oka Oori Katha

One of the classics of India's so called 'Parallel Cinema' director Mrinal Sen's 1977 film 'A Village Story' was shot in the south central Indian state of Telangana ,recorded in the Telugu language ,and is based on Premchand's 'Shroud'. In a land of exploitation in the workplace (courtesy of a wealthy landlord) a poor father lives with his grown son ,and has taken a leaf out of Albert Cossery's book ,having become fed up with 'thieving owners' (who feed the poor with the poor's own food) and not getting anywhere in life ,so has decided not to work for them any more. This is in contrast to the rest of the village who have adopted a submissive ,resigned attitude to the landlord ,and who hope to have 2 square meals a day and 'live decently'. When the son marries a local woman their situation is challenged with new demands. To accept or not to accept seems to be the main question in this film from Sen (a 'radical' ,who'd already shown a willingness to experiment with the medium of cinema with films like 'Chorus') ,with it's class and social responsibility themes ,and poignancy (the son is the only survivor of his father's 9 children) ,in what we assume (tragically) may be a typical village story.