Glowing tributes were paid to veteran film and theatre personality Govind Tej on his first death anniversary here on Tuesday evening At the Sahid Nagar Kalyan Mandap, a galaxy of eminent personalities from the fields of cinema, theatre, music and literature gathered and remembered Tej for his significant contributions to culture. Among them were many veterans like Anant Mahapatra, Prashant Nanda, Sarada Prasanna Nayak, Soudamini Mishra and Mihir Das, who had worked with Tej.
Those who could not join the occasion but knew him quite intimately were seen talking of the self-made engineer-turned-filmmaker who had won the State’s highest honour for cinema, the Jayadev Puraskar, through a documentary that was screened.
Among them were Puducherry-based writer Manoj Das, flute wizard Hariprasad Chaurasia, actors Bijoy Mohanty, Ajit Das, Debu Bose, Parbati Ghosh and Aparajita Mohanty, musicians Prafulla Kar, Pranab Patnaik, Shantanu Mohapatra, Basudev Rath, Chitta Jena and laxmikant Palit, writer Bibhuti Patnaik and theatre activist Dhira Mallick.
Tej’s family members, wife and academician Sushama Tej, son Debasis Tej and both the daughters, also spoke of the man who perfectly blended his professional and personal lives.“I owe much to him. Whatever I have been today is due to him as my mentor and guide. like me, many have been fortunate to be groomed by him,” stated veteran actor Mihir Das.
Clippings from his award-winning films like Ramayana, Kaveri, School Master, Tunda Baida and Krushna Sudama were screened on the occasion. The evening was aptly titled “Tumari Smrutire” (in your memory).