Cinema of Odisha

The Odia film industry (Odia: ଓଡ଼ିଆ ସିନେମା), colloquially known as Ollywood, is the Odia language Indian film industry, based in Cuttack, Odisha. The name is a portmanteau of the words Odia and Hollywood.[1]

Industry

In 1974, the Government of Odisha declared film making and construction of cinema theaters as industry in the state,[2] and two years later in 1976, it established the Odisha Film Development Corporation in Cuttack.[3]

History

Oriya filmography has great history of film making starting the year 1936. Its first production was a talkie. The first Oriya talkie Sita Bibaha was made by Mohan Sundar Deb Goswami in 1936. Drawn from the great Indian epic Ramayana, the story tells about the marriage of Sita with Ram. The actual plot was made from a drama written by Kamala Mishra. Prepared with a budget of only Rs 30,000, the film has 14 song sequences. Despite it being the first Oriya film with several drawbacks in every section of its making, the two-hour-long movie generated great enthusiasm among the people. Released by Laksmi Talkies, Puri. The 12-reeled film had in its cast line Makhanlal Banerjee (Ram) who received only Rs 120 for his performance, Aditya Ballav Mohanty (Lakhsman) who got only Rs 35 as conveyance allowance and Prabati Devi (Sita) who was paid the highest amount of Rs 150. This was a landmark film of Oriya Film Industry.[4]

The pace of Oriya film production in the initial years was very slow. After Sita Bibaha, only two films were produced till 1951. A joint consortium of landlords and businessmen who collected fund after 1948 produced those two movies. The 1951 production Roles to Eight was the first Oriya film having an English name. It was released after 15 years of the first Oriya film Sita Bibaha. It was the fourth Oriya film produced by Ratikant Padhi. The eleventh Oriya film Sri Lokenath was the first Oriya film, which got National Award in 1960 directed by Prafulla Sengupta.[4]

The same year, Prasanta Nanda won National Award as best actor for the film Nua Bou with his debut film. The name of Prasanta Nanda would always come while dealing with Oriya Film Industry. He was present in Oriya films since 1939, but he became super active only after 1976. Nanda served Oriya Film Industry as an actor, director, screenplay writer, and lyricist and even as a playback singer. Such a versatile genius is quite rare in Indian cinema history. Nanda alone carried Oriya films into the national honor list by winning National Awards for three times in 1960, 1966 and 1969 for his acting in Nua Bou, Matir Manisha and Adina Megha.

Mohammed Mohsin started the revolution in the Oriya film industry by not only securing the essence of the Oriya culture but also bringing in the newness in the way the film industry was watching Oriya movies. Phool Chandan was written by [Ananda sankar Das]. He belongs to Mayurbhanj. His movies heralded in the golden era of the Oriya film industry by bringing in freshness to Oriya movies. His directorial debut was Phoola Chandana for which he won the best director award from the state. He had to his credit 16 box office successful movies in his directorial stint. He started as an actor in character roles and gave household names like Raaka to Odisha. Mohsin started his career with B.R. Chopra as an assistant director before making his presence felt in the Oriya film industry.

Amiya Ranjan Patnaik, who started his career directing Mamata Mage Mula, changed the dimension of Oriya film Industry by producing big budget movies with multiple star cast, which was a new trend that time. He had introduced many newcomers, musicians, technicians and singers from Mumbai and Chennai. He has also produced the National Award winning film "Hakim Babu' in 1985. His film "Pua Mora Kala Thakura" directed by Raju Mishra was one of the biggest hits in the Oriya Film Industry, followed by "Chaka Aakhi Sabu Dekhuchi and "Asuchi Mo Kalia Suna". He frequently collaborated with Raju Mishra, Akshaya Mohanty, Bijay Mohanty and Uttam Mohanty. He started the trend of producing trilingual films in the Oriya Film Industry. "Raja Rani", "Paradeshi Babu" and "Parimahal" in Oriya, Bengali and Bangladeshi.

Uttam Mohanty, whose debut film Abhiman won accolade, was ruling hero of the Oriya Film Industry in 90s. His wife Aparajita Mohanty is also a roaring actress. Actress Nandita Das, who acted in several Hindi movies like Fire, has Oriya origin. She acted in Susanta Misra directed Biswaprakash which won National Award in 2000. Many critic have so far termed Bijay Mohanty and Mihir Das to be two of the best ever Oriya actors so far. Siddhanta Mahapatra, a new generation star, has an increasing number of fans following rightly to be included amongst all-time greats. Archita, another successful actress in the millennium era of Oriya cinema has been also hitting the silver screen with a golden touch. Anubhab Mohanty is a well-known name in Ollywood. He is famous for his action and romantic movie.

Eminent director Mrinal Sen even directed an Oriya film Matira Manisha which won National Award for best actor Prashanta Nanda.

Cast and crew

Personalities of the Oriya film industry include:

Actors

Actresses

Directors

Music directors

Singers

Art directors

Awards

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "History Of Oriya Film Industry". www.fullorissa.com. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  2. ↑ "Position of Oriya Film Industry". Directorate of Film Festivals.
  3. ↑ Nanda, Jayanta K. (2001). Industrial Development. Sarup & Sons. p. 146. ISBN 978-8176252539.
  4. 1 2 "Orissa Cinema :: History of Orissa Cinema, Chronology of Orissa Films". orissacinema.com. Retrieved 2008-10-23.

References

External links

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