Cine veterans call for originality in home films

The Kendriya Sahitya Akademi organised a literary meet on the topic “Odia literature and Odia Cinema” here on Friday.

Inaugurating the programme, veteran actress Jharana Das shared her experience as an actress in the shooting set of movies like Malajahna, Amadabata, Adina Megha and Abhinetri. These films were made on popular Odia novels.

She said to be a good actor, one should understand all the characters of the story and he/she should meet the authors of the book.

Giving keynote address, cine journalist Surya Deo gave a brief outline about the history of Odia cinema. Around 80 per cent of Odia cinemas are women centric and rest 20 per cent are on social issues, Deo informed. He also discussed about different phases of Odia cinema like spiritual, social and literary. A film may not be commercially successful, but one day that film may be a considered a classic one, said Deo. He gave example of ‘Malajahna.’ When this was released in Hind Talkies in Cuttack, it was a commercial flop, but now-a-days, Malajahna is acclaimed as a classic film both by critics and movie lovers, Deo said.

Writer Bibhuti Patnaik attending as the chief guest in the inaugural session said picturisation of a novel not only entertains the audience, but it also has a strong appeal on them. Now, the Odian films are just copy and paste of other language movies, and have lost their originality.

Dr Gourahari Das introduced the guests and said, “There is a gap between Odia films and Odia literature, which needs to be bridged.”

In the first session, Dr Ajay Swain discussed on the topic ‘Odia literature- virgin land of film makers.’ In the same session, Bijay Malla presented a talk on the topic ‘Incomplete films based on Odia literary works’ and Dr Subodh Patnaik discussed on ‘Films on masterpieces: Opportunity and challenge.’ Playwright Bijaya Mishra chaired the session.

Among others, Akhil Kumar Mishra, lecturer, Biju Patnaik Film and TV institute of Odisha, Dr Dillip Pani and Ashok Palit made presentations on Odia literature and Odia cinema.

In the valedictory session, Gopal Ghosh was present as the chief guest and Ajit Das attended as guest of honour. Dr Bijayanand Singh chaired the session. Banoj Tripathy gave vote of thanks. The programme was followed by Aviskar. In the programme, Mohinimohan Pattnaik played flute on Kalidas’s Meghaduta based on Raga Megh.