Mithayi Mane

Mithai Mane, is Kannada movie Directed by Aarathi, India 2005.

Synopsis

The title, which means Candy House, was inspired by the Grimms fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel. It also broadly uses the theme of how children would find the candy house they came across in a forest a very fulfilling sight. Actually, the sweetness and fulfillment is illusory, and reality is that there is a witch living inside who uses the appearance of the house to catch children, so she can cook them and eat them.”

Story

Mithai Mane is the story of an eleven-year old girl, Ganga, who is sent off from an impoverished village to work as a maid for a well-off family in the city. Her situation in the urban jungle is compared throughout the movie to the plight of Gretel in the Witch's cottage, and her story is interwoven with a voice-over narration of the Hansel and Gretel story. One of Ganga's chores is to bring their lunch-boxes to a private school for the unsympathetic children of the house. There she is befriended by Swathi, a school-girl who wants to help Ganga. As their friendship develops, Ganga becomes more aware of her surroundings. The issue of child labor is at the heart of this film, but it is treated with gentle irony, and there are no real "wicked witches" in this story. The well-to-do family is self-absorbed and insensitive rather than cruel and exploitative. The audience, however, has seen the plight of the helpless villagers, and are struck by the contrast with the westernized opulence of a few city-dwellers. The most powerful image created by this film is the open-eyed eagerness and honesty that Ganga brings with her from the village. These qualities will eventually force her to leave behind the sugar-coated house in the city where everything is a little too sweet. The main protagonist of this movie is enacted by child actor Aditi, who potrays the pshyce of the character very beautifully under the able direction of the director Aarathi.

Film Technicians

The film is produced by Chandrasekar Desigoudar. N.S.Prasad is the music composer. Aditi, Dharmendra Urs, Surabhi J. Herur, Hanumantha Raju, Ragashree Prasad, Akshara, Deeksha Naik, Panchami, Lakshmi Nada Gowda, Padma Shimoga, Shailashree, Suchitha Anthunadhan, Pallavi, Raghavendra and others are in the cast. This movie is Directed by popular Kannada Actress Aarathi, based on a short story wriiten by her daughter Yashaswini. Santosh Rai Pathaje has done the Cinematography for this movie. Apart from being a ace cameraman in the Kannada movie Industry for many movies, He is also a popular director of movies like Savi Savi Nenapu and Seven O' Clock.

Awards

This movie has won the Best Children's Film award for the year 2004-2005 issued by the Government of Karnataka. Aditi won the best child actor award for her role in Mithai Mane

References

http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/kannada/review/8126.html

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2006/feb/06mane.htm

http://www.chitraloka.com/sections/action_cut/mitayimane_05.shtml

http://www.viggy.com/interview/arathi.asp

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2005/05/13/stories/2005051303160100.htm

http://www.my-kannada.com/n/a/arc8-2005.shtml

http://www.miff.org/fireflies2007.shtml

http://wwwin.kodak.com/IN/plugins/acrobat/en/motion/publications/images/archived/janmarch05.pdf