Maya Das Honors the Enduring Legacy of Ajit Das

Maya Das Honors the Enduring Legacy of Ajit Das

"In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours. In all the world, there is no love for you like mine." This famous quote by American poet Maya Angelou best suits Maya Das’s life. Wife of the veteran actor late Ajit Das, Maya is continuing the legacy of her husband after his sad demise on 13th September 2020, from COVID-19-related issues. For the last three years Maya has been independently continuing the national theatre drama festival of their own institute ‘AJIT (Abhinay Jagruti Institute of Theatre)’ started by his husband. 

This year the 12th edition of the Ajit Natya Mahotsav 2024 was held from 20th Jan- 23rd Jan at Bhanjakala Mandap, Bhubaneswar. Four plays including two Odia plays namely ‘Miria’ (directed by Deepak Ranjan Pati) and ‘Samanta Chandrasekhar’ (directed by Bhaskar Chandra Mohapatra), One Telugu play titled ‘Garadi’ (directed by Dr. V trinadh rao & D Hema Venkateswari) and one Assamese play named ‘Bibhranata Rang’ (directed by Ujjala Barman) has been staged during this four day long festival. Eminent personalities like veteran actor and director MP Prashanta Nanda, Pipili MLA, Rudra Maharathi, Director of Satabdira Kalakar, Dhira Mallick, Adviser, W & CD Govt. of Odisha, President, ONS, Manoj Pattnaik, Novelist & Playwright Sanghamitra Mishra, Secretary, Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Prabodh Rath, and Director, Parampara Prasanna Mishra graced this successful event with their presence.

A former lecturer of Drama at Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Ajit Narayan’s first film as the protagonist was ‘Megha Mukti’. Then, there was looking back for this talented actor. He has more than 60 films to his credit including ‘Sankha Mahuri’, ‘Tunda Bahida’, ‘Balidan’, ‘Golamgiri’, ‘Ama Ghara’, ‘Maa’, ‘Suna Chadhei’,‘Mu Sapanara Saudagara’, ‘Nandini I Love You’, ‘Dhana re Rakhibu Sapatha Mora’, ‘Jaga Hatare Pagha’,‘Luchakali’, ‘Mukhya Mantri’ and others.  He also received critical acclaim for ‘Hakim Babu’, which got the national film award as the Best Feature Film in Odia in the early 80s.

Maya, a dancer from Mysore met Ajit at Delhi and got married in 1976. During an interview with My City Links in the past when asked about Maya, Ajit said to My City Links, “We were good friends when I was in Delhi.  I am so lucky that she is my wife. I just focus on direction in the institute; she manages all other departments of it. She is a great support to me. She advised me to make a drama group of our own. The thought started when some of my students requested me to celebrate my birthday and I suggested instead of celebrating, we do a play on my birthday every year.”

Adding more about the institution and the theatre festival Maya, who has also written seven Odia plays, said, “In the year 2001, as Ajit was engrossed in the renowned tele-serial "Sampark," the idea of establishing our organisation began to take shape. Despite his hectic schedule, I suggested starting the group, foreseeing his impending retirement. After some persuasion, I managed to take on the entire responsibility, rallying support from a few of our dedicated students. On the occasion of his birthday on January 28 we did our first play Anuprash under ‘AJIT’. This Organisation has been 24 years now, we have done 52 plays, participated at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav 5 times, we have more than 20 active members in our group till date and new members are joining in every year. In the year 2013 we started doing our own theatre festival.”

Although biologically I have three daughters and don’t have a son, people from my theatre fraternity used to praise me saying I have hundreds of sons in the form of students, which is true I feel. He has left such a legacy behind and trained students too, that’s the reason I am able to run all this even after he has gone.”

The festival used to be a three day affair, where they always welcomed other language plays (Telugu, Bengali, Hindi, Assamese) every year along with a play by Ajit group. After Ajit’s heavenly abode speculations are there that after him this may stop. But instead surprising everyone it became more strengthened and from last three years one more day has been added in the festival allowing another Odia group to perform. 

“The culture department of the central government has a special grant for us up to 5 lakhs to do such festivals, which is a big relief for us. But the prices of everything are increasing, so it sometimes becomes difficult to manage and take care of the accommodation and several other requirements of our guests and volunteers from outside. So we have to make a collective effort in raising funds to complete it successfully.  Till I get support from my students and new students are coming up I’ll continue doing this till my last breath. Next year we will be celebrating the 25th anniversary, so it’ll be our silver jubilee. I want to make it in a grand way which may not be possible without the support from our government. Along with our students I still feel Ajit’s presence between us. His blessings do work for us at each step. It has been a journey of emotion and passion for art. I would like to request everyone who is an art lover to support us in continuing this journey towards refining this art form, towards encouraging budding talents and spreading the magic of theatre drama.” signed off Maya.