Sneak peaks of Oriya Cinema

Sneak peaks of Oriya Cinema

Cinema Like most of the regional cinemas, Oriya cinema too has a brief but glorious past. Though during the initial period Oriya cinema had no silent movie, few interested people, basically landlord and jamindars came forward and produced the first Oriya talkie. In 1936 Mohan Sudar Goswami produced the the first Oriya talkie Sita Bibaha. The film was based o great Indian epic ‘Mahabharat’ the story tells about the marriage of Sita with lord Ram. Thus was born the first Oriya talkie in black and white. Sita Bibaha. The two-hour-long talkie with 14 song sequences generated much enthusiasm among the masses. The plot of the movie was based on a drama written by Kamapala Mishra. In those days it cost Goswami nearly 30, 000 rupees to produce the movie. Released under the banner of Laxmi Talkies , the 12- reel movie has Makhanlal Banerjee (Ram), Aditya Ballav Mohanty (Laxman) and Prabhabati Devi in the lead pair. The actors were paid Rs 120, Rs 35 and Rs 150 respectively. The pace of Oriya film production in the initial period was very slow. Finger counted films managed to hit the cinema halls due to lack of enthusiast producers and high cost. After the production of ‘Sita Bibaha’, only two films were produced till 1951. A joint consortium of land lords and rich business men colleted money to produced the two movies. So basically movie-making was rich people’s passion who could invest huge amount of money without caring for profit. After the feudals, few elites also came forward to produce Oriya movies. As a result the first Oriya film with an English title hit the cinema halls. In 1951 Ratikanta Padhi produced ‘Roles to eight’, 15 years after ‘Sita Bibaha was realeased. Roles to eight was the fourth Oriya movie to see the light of the day. Bengali film producers ad directors have significantly contributed to Oriya cinema. In 1960, Prafulla Sengupta directed ‘Sri Lokanath’ won National Award in the best film category and proved that Oriya movies were at par with other regional movies despite limited production. The same year Prasanta Nanda (Ollywood’s Rajesh Khanna) won National Award in the best actor category for his debut film ‘Nua Bou’. This marked the beginning Paasanta Nada era. Though the versatile actor ruled Ollywood from 1939, he became super active only after 1976. Nanda is the only Oriya actor to win National Awards three times—in 1960, 1966 and 1969 for his superb acting performance in ‘Nua Bou’, ‘Matira Manisa’ and ‘Adina Megha’ respectively. Nandaa’s life-like acting, chocolate hero image is still intact. His acted films ‘Phoola Chandan’, Swapna Sagara’, ‘Dora’ etc were the most romantic love stories. Thus Nanda became the source of inspiration for other actors and directors in Olywood. A multidimensional personality, Nanda served Oriya cinema as an actor, screen-play writer, lyricist, playback singer and finally as director. After the successful completion of his career in cinema the actor plunged into active politics. When Nanda career was as its peak, two dashing young men appeared in Oriya filmdom — Sriram Panda and Uttam Mohanty -- Ollywood’s Jai and Veeru. The two legendary actors started their career at the same time while Mohanty preferred to stick to his profession but Panda took sanyas and became disciple of a a spiritual guru in Bihar. The duo’s acting in Jaga Balia is praiseworthy. Tall and handsome Panda’s acting in ‘Kaberi’, ‘Phoola Chandan’ won accolades from the audience and critics as well. Besides he acted in many Bengali films. Dashing Panda declared an early retire from Ollywood to begin his spiritual oddessy when his career was at its peak. Despite repeated requests from friends and co-actors Panda did not return to Oriya cinema. Whatever it may be, Panda will remain adorable daeling in the film lover’s heart for all the time to come. On the otherhand, Mohanty decide to continue his career and establish himself as top-notch artist in Ollywood. Now Mohanty is considered as one of the most celebrated actor in Orissa and in neighbouring states also. His superb acting skill and experience helped him scale this height. In this regard, Mohanty can be termed as the undisputed king of Ollywood. Mohanty’s debut film ‘Abhimaan’ became an instant hit and won accolades. Mohanty’s wife Aparajita is also a vesatile actor. The actor coule have together acted in many Oriya films as lead pairs. Aparajita,s Tunda Baida is highly popular. Though Mahanty has stepped in his early 50’s, he is as active as he was during his early career in Ollywood. He still active in the film industry and daily soaps on the silver screen. Oriya cinema is incomplete without actor Bijaya Mohanty. The actor has proved his acting capability in more than 180 films and is a familiar face in Orissa. Mohanty, who stepped in Ollywood with his debut fim ‘Naga Phasa’, is active in this fiels for past 33 years. ‘Chilika Tire’ brought him National Award. Mohanty has played negetive roles in ‘Pati Patni, ‘Sautuni’, ‘Samaya Bada Balaban’, ‘Sahari Bagham’, ‘Chaka Bhaunri’, ‘Chaka Akhi Sabu Dekhuchi’ etc. He has also played character roles in ‘Ki Heba Sua Poshile’, ‘Bhishma Pratigya,’ ‘Bhai Hela Bhagari’, ‘Sua Panjuri’, ‘Laxman Rekha’ and ‘Rakhi Bhijigala Aakhi Luhare’. In the recent past Ollywood witnessed abudding talent Siddhartha Mohapatra. Within a short span of time Mohapatra proved his mettle and became a successful star. Like Telugu superstar Chirum, Mohapatra plunged into active politics and won election on a BJD ticket. He became the star campaigner of BJD during the 2009 Assembly polls in Orissa. Among other newcomers Anubhav, Munna and Sabyasachi have successfully established themselves as leading stars. Actor Anubab started his career in Oriya album industry but now occupies the No 1 position in Oriya cinema. Many female actors have significantly contributed to Oriya cinema too. Without whose sacrifice and dedication Oriya cinema could not have scaled this gheight. Doly Jena, Mahasweta Ray, Aparajita Mohanty, Tandra Ray and Anu Choudhury, Usashi Mishra enriched Oriya cinema with their acting skill without caring the red eye of a conservative society. Oriya actors are highly talented and they have created a nieche for themselves in different regional, national and even in international cinema. Actress Nandita Das and Chandrachuda Singh have acted in several award winnig Billywood movies. Besides, Bollywood playback singer Krishna is popular for his soulful rendition in ‘Mein Jahaan Tahoon..’, ‘Maula mere Lele mere Jaan’ etc. Similarly Oriya cameraman Sishir Mishra of ‘3 Idiots; is reknowned for cinematography. With the flow of time Oriya cinema has developed a lot but it needs govt patronage to survive as an idustry.