Mithya trailer: Sumanth Bhat explores the fallout of tragedy from the perspective of an adolescent

Grief is the central theme of debutant director Sumanth Bhat’s Mithya, which will be in theatres on March 7. The film, which has been produced by Rakshit Shetty’s Paramvah Studios and been in the festival circuit since 2023, winning several accolades, follows an adolescent boy, played by Athish Shetty, who has to leave behind his life in Mumbai and move to Udupi to be with his maternal aunt’s family, after he loses both his parents.

A new place and school, relatives he’s hardly known, are not the only worries for the boy, as has been teased in the trailer of the film that came out today. There are questions and suspicions of foul play surrounding his father’s death, with the finger of doubt pointing at his mother, who is also deceased. How does a young, impressionable mind process all of these changes in his life and immediate surroundings? That is at the core of the film, which, during its festival run, won several awards, including Best Director for Sumanth, while Athish was adjudged Best Actor a few times. The script, screenplay and cinematography were also feted.

In promotions during the film’s festival run, Sumanth was quoted as saying that the inspiration for Mithya came from a distant relative’s family. A man had died from an illness, and within a couple of weeks, his wife committed suicide, leaving behind two very young children, the youngest only 3 years old, with no idea of the tragedy that had befallen him. That sparked the seed of Mithya, as Sumanth tried to explore grief as seen and experienced by a child.

Critics reviews of Mithya have been overwhelmingly positive. The film is part of Rakshit’s continuing effort to support content-rich narratives, which, he reckons, is possible only when a filmmaker is given the freedom to tell stories that come from the heart.