When the Crime Branch claimed to seize two reels of forthcoming Odia movie Matira Bandhan (The Inheritance) as the fraud deposit collection company Seashore head Prashant Dash had invested in it, the same film was already screened at the prestigious Mumbai Film Festival organsied by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) on October 15, 2011 at Cinemax, Sion between 3.30 pm and 5.30 pm in the Indian Frame category. This was revealed by the programme schedule of the festival.
“In the annals of Odia film history, for the first time the Odia film industry is under scanner for wrong reasons. With the Crime Branch conducting a series of arrests of fraud deposit collectors, they found that many of them have produced Odia movies. But while the CB claimed to have seized the reels of Matira Bandhan directed by Himanshu Khatua made under the banner of the Seashore Films, the movie was already screened in 2011. So what reels have the CB officials seized,” asks noted film critic Ashok Palit.
Eyebrows were raised when Khatua made this film with a budget of more than Rs 1 crore, which was never heard of in the State for any film of this genre. Critics are of the view that none of the other films made by Khatua was made with such a high budget, adding that it is difficult to understand the intentions behind such lavish spending in such a film.
The so-called offbeat film Matira Bandhan starring Mihir Das, Anu Choudhury and Samaresh as main protagonists, is based upon “The Trunk of Ganesha”, a short story by renowned English poet Jayant Mahapatra.
The story revolves around an aging idol maker (played by Mihir Das) and his search for meaning of his existence which is affected by the ravages of changing time and the psychic trauma he undergoes during the search, said Palit.