Veteran Odia short focumentary film director and producer KP Acharya who has made several documentary films of contemporary relevance spoke about the status of the Odia film industry in an interview with our Correspondent.
Speaking on the current status of the industry, Acharya said that, after marching a long way since the release of the first Odiya film “Sita Bivah” released on April 28, 1936 till the present day, the state of Odia film industry is not all that good due to lack of its fully commercial exploitation.Most of the film producers could not recover even their production cost from theatrical exhibition, Acharya added.
Odisha is currently having more than 80 cinema houses and apart from these, there are some other avenues available for selling the Odia films like TV channels for telecast and audio video rights to different agencies. However, these avenues fail to prove to be sufficient and viable source to recover the investment unless the film becomes a super duper hit, he opined.
To save the film producers from bankruptcy and to make them earn profit from their films, the State Government should come forward to adopt some viable mechanisms and strategies by way of providing logistic support for building low cost cinema houses in different cities, small towns and block headquarters equipped with digital projection system and supportive as well as cost effective state of the art electronic gadgets in every block headquarters of the State which will not only generate revenue, but also provide employment to local youths.
As the State is currently having more than three hundred blocks, the existing number of cinema houses in Odisha would be increased and would definitely help the producers of Odia films to survive besides generating more revenue for the Government by way of tax, Acharya pointed out.
On the other hand it will also create job opportunities for the people associated with the industry.If the State sincerely wants that the Odia film industry grows and becomes self reliant, the Government can entrust the OFDC to prepare a clear-cut roadmap to implement the low cost cinema houses, Acharya stressed.
Acharya further pointed out that, the West Bengal film industry is a glaring example of revival after the state government intervened and set up “Nandan Theatre”.
Unfortunately, the Kalinga Studio remains neglected for years and the progress of its renovation was going on at a snail's pace. We have to attract the audience to theatres first, he added.