Released in 2010 in Goa, Rajendra Talak’s ‘O Maria’ held aspecial place in Lisbon’s agenda. The movie was Talak’s fourth film after theNational Award winning Aleesha in 2004, Antarnad in 2006 and Sawariya.com in2008.
This film is touted as something that people in Goa mustwatch because of his screenplay that is perennially thought provoking. As iscustomary with Talak’s work, the movie deals with issues pertinent to the stateof Goa. In this particular case, Maria is a single woman of well into herforties, who lives with her mother, and manages an unassuming business of puttingup tourists in her seaside house with a small restaurant attached. She isblessed with the fortune of being in possession of real estate in a localitywhich is the envy of developers.
The main theme that the movie revolves around is the conceptof the sale of land in Goa and the outsider/insider issue that the natives ofthe state are plagued by.
Maria (Shernaz Patel) is a middle aged single woman wholives with and takes care of her ailing mother (Sulbha Arya). Her source ofincome is the influx of foreign tourists that live with her as paying guests ather beachside home. Kevin (Kevin D'Mello), one of her brother's sons, looksupon her as a mother. The other son, Jack (Aryan Khedekar), is in cahoots withhis mother, Philomena (Meenacshi Martins) to sell the ancestral property theyown, which is at a prime location. This is further aggravated by the fact thatit is being sold to a ‘Gujarati property developer’, Jiten Shah aka 'Jitubhai'(Tiku Talsania). However, in order to do so, Maria must grant her approval, asher brother, John (Roseferns), has already signed an agreement to the sameeffect.
