Sir,
This refers to the report “Jeypore’s heritage cinema halls on the dying course” published in The Pioneer of September 23. Being born and brought up at Jeypore, I felt nostalgic to read this report. I saw the Odia film Dasyu Ratnakar in the very laxmi Talkies (mentioned in the report), whose part owner Kella Rama Rao was my classmate at the Vikram Dev College.
The reporter, Paresh Rath, forgot to mention another hall, Pratap Talkies, named after the elder son of Kumar Bidyadhar Singh Deo (locally known as Juin Raja), son-in-law of Rajashri Vikram Dev Varma. According to a report, this cinema hall (now defunct) was as old as the Capital Cinema of Cuttack.
The earlier name of Pratap Talkies was Sri Jaganmitra Kala Mandiram and on occasions dramas were also staged. While Pratap Talkies screened Telugu films, Sri Krishna Talkies did Hindi films, many of which I saw in 1950s and 60s.
Regarding cinema dying, it is because of technological obsolescence. Many of our traditional communities such as Kamars (blacksmiths), Kumbhars (potters), Tantis (weavers), etc., lost their jobs because of advancing technologies. Here in Bhubaneswar too, the fuel-driven auto-rickshaws replaced their manual-driven cousins.
May I appeal, as an alumnus, to the Principal of Vikram Dev College in general and the Head of the Department of History in particular, to initiate projects (MPhils/PhDs) for documenting a comprehensive History of Jeypore, if it has not already been done! Kavivara Chintamani Mohanty, made an effort in this direction and published a book entitled Jayapur in 1934 and dedicated it to Rajashri Vikram Dev Varma. This book was republished in 1996 by the noble efforts of Sri Krishna Chandra Panigrahi of Sri Sabar Khetra, Koraput.
SC Panda, ½ HIG BDA Colony, CSpur, Bhubaneswar