Miransha Naik

Miransha Naik has earned fame as a film director and story writer. He lost his parents at the young age of 9 and was brought up by his grandmother. He was good at studies but could not complete his graduation as he had to take on the responsibility of running the household. He worked as a waiter and, after having worked for five years, earned some money with which he established his own shack at Benaulim beach in Goa which he named Blue Corner. He married off his sisters, and set off on a voyage in India and abroad. He did a course in short films at Noida’s Asian Academy of Film and Television. He was appreciated for his writings. Since he was interested in making film as his career, he gave the responsibility of running the shack to his sister and brother-in-law in the year 2010.

He did a film writing course of two years’ duration at Mumbai’s Whistling Woods International. Here he gained considerable training in films which included Indian and international art films. He did his first short film titled Remember A Day, in the year 2014.

Miransha Naik did his writing and direction together in the Konkani short film Ram in 2014. Ram is his comedy film which is based on a person who wants to lose his virginity. This film had a newcomer in Rushikesh Naik who also acted in his next film Juze(2017). Film critics have praised Juze, which revolves around social injustice and the exploitation of migrants in Goa, and is based in the year 1990. The story is set in a village in Goa with a large immigrant population, which is ruled by an abusive, thuggish bully, Juze, who is the ‘Slum Landlord’.  His appetite for violent intimidation keeps his immigrant workforce submissive, even when his roving eye extends to their women. However, Santosh, a 16-year-old boy, is not intimidated. His determination to continue with his classes remains constant in spite of regular beatings from Juze. As events build to breaking point, Santosh’s passive resistance evolves into the determination to confront Juze and finally achieve freedom from fear. 

This film is produced by producers from India, France and Netherlands (Thin Air, Three Rivers, Kepler Films, Cine Sud Promotion) whose banner is Goa Film Bazaar. The film’s editing was done in Paris. Juze’s story is based on some experiences from Naik’s childhood. During his childhood there were no facilities like TV, and children used to flock together to watch films. Hence the scenes in Juze are snapshots from his real life as shown in the film where children go to watch Subhash Ghai’s films Hero and Karz. The first show of Juze was at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in April 2017, and it was also selected for the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. The first Konkani film to be commercially released in France, Juze also became the first Konkani film to be selected for mentoring and promotion during Film Bazaar at National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) in Goa, besides featuring at the Mumbai Film Festival, the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in the Indian Panorama section, the Minsk Film Festival in Belarus (where it won an award) and the Dublin International Film Festival in Ireland.