A popular folk story from the interiors of the Konkan coast has made its way to a popular Bollywood horror franchise. Writer Niren Bhatt and director-writer Amar Kaushik, who made Stree 2 and Bhediya, decided to fashion a folklore into a classic horror comedy—a medium they ace. And thus, Munjya came into being.
In the teaser this week, the makers introduced the first CGI actor of India, named Munjya. ADVERTISEMENT Bhatt tells us that the story first came into their lives because of Yogesh Chandekar, who brought to the production house, Maddock Films, a legend from his part of the world. “In a man’s life, there are traditionally considered to be four stages: Brahmacharya (student), Grihastha (householder), Vanaprastha (retirement, originally involving leaving the city to live in a forest), and Sannyasa (renunciation).
The Upanayan or Thread Ceremony, known as Munja in Marathi, marks the initiation of a child into the student phase. Sod Munja is another ceremony, usually performed as part of marriage rituals, signifying the end of the student phase and the beginning of the Grihastha phase. If a man dies unmarried after his munja has been performed but before his Sod Munja, he becomes a Munjya: A spirit who resides in peepal trees or near wells.
The Marathi expression ‘Baaraa pimpla varcha munjya’ refers to someone with a restless spirit, akin to moving from one peepal tree to another,” Bhatt explains. A practical explanation for this belief is that peepal trees, wit.