Orissa Cinema

After a spate of festive film releases, Ollywood is now going to withstand an assault on its image.

In what appears to be a shameful case of dowry torture and domestic violence, an actor Chandan Kar (“Babu I love You”) has been arrested by Bhubaneswar Police this Sunday.

In a real life enactment of popular social theme on reel, Mr Kar and his family were harassing Sridevi Mishra demanding for a Honda City car and a LCD Television set. Interestingly, more than 3 lakhs rupees worth of goods have also been seized by the police in connection to this. It merely means that apart from already having given dowry (for which Sridevi Mishra’s family must be penalized), there were demands for more from the greedy actor’s family.

In connection with this case, Chandan has been forwarded to Jharapara Jail after his bail petition was rejected by the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM). A criminal case no-117/2007 has been filed against the accused under sections 498 (A), 323, 506 and 34 IPC read with 4 DP Act.

Chandan, a software engineer for Infosys had been married to Sridevi Mishra, daughter of Umanatha Mishra of Basundhara Colony, Kanana Vihar, Phase-II since only March this year. Inspector in Charge of the Mahila police station Bilasini Nayak said, “The police have seized all the dowry items worth over Rs 3 lakh from Chandan’s house. We are also looking into the angle of the in-laws involvement in this matter as is alleged by the victim. The investigation is still on in this case.”

This is an unfortunate incident and the police are investigating further. However in the process, the image of good old Ollywood has stood to be tarnished in no small measure.

UPDATE: Read the comments, and respond to them.

From Afar

A weekly column by
Sahasranshu Mahapatra, New Delhi

“Now FM (Frequency Modulation) mobile phones and radio sets are on high demand in Bhubaneswar.”

This was the information from my friend, on his maiden visit to Delhi recently. This has made me little more enthusiastic about the entertainment business in Orissa. This shows that the FM radio, within a month of its launch since May, is slowly emerging as a big business in the twin city of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, the entertainment heartland of Orissa. I think the FM radio has reached at a right time to provide the healing touch to a bereaved industry, still struggling with the aftermath of the 1999 Super cyclone.

Being a highly localised medium, FM radio stations come up with lot of promises for the state, be it employment or business. If the results of other metro cities are to be believed then Ollywood will also not be far from minting money in collaboration with the radio industry in the state. But everything will depend on how the Ollywood insiders are ready to tap these opportunities.

As the employment and business opportunities expand in the twin city, the immediate beneficiaries will be the artists, technicians, producers and musicians. Being largely driven by the film music the producers and music composers will have a fair chance to encash on their old musics by selling of radio rights. The advertising industry will also widely depend on the scriptwriters, artists, musicians and audio studios for the production of radio jingles. This slowly will open up round the year business opportunity for the concerned sections in the industry and so as the better earning.

Being a personal medium the radio has an immense potential to create an instant appeal and mass awareness. The film producers in the state should now learn to collaborate with a new medium like radio for the publicity of the films. The collaboration for braodcasting of Mahurats, live shoots and premiere shows will create mass awareness among the audience. This in turn will draw more cine-goers to the theatres. The radio partnership has become a successful formula for the Bollywood producers and the result is quite distinct in the south as well. So this is the time for Ollywood producers to take a cue from their Bollywood counterparts.

The opportunities also comes with responsibilities and challenges. Be it television, radio or film the growing competition and expanding business have always taken serious toll on content. To mint easy money the producers often adopt the populist approach which may not work for a family centric audience base in Orissa. The responsibility before the Oriya film industry will be not to succumb to the pressure of a highly demanding business and the growing competition while delivering the same quality content acceptable to the Oriya viewers. The challenge will be to meet the demand of a more enthusiastic,alert and aware audience as radio will create a mass appeal towards film in Orissa.

Orissa witnessed its first ever FM radio station with the launch of Choklate FM this April by the Esasern Media Pvt Ltd. The big players in the industry like Reliance owned Adlab’s Big FM( 92.7 MHz) has entered the Orissa market and the latest to join the fray is the South Indian media leader Sun group with S FM (93.5 MHz). This adds to the credibility of Bhubaneswar as the emerging entertainment business hub in Eastern India. If media reports are to be believed the All India Radio’s FM channels Rainbow and Gold will also be available in Orissa soon. Like the other metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata, no doubt the FM radio will have a significant impact on the show business in the state.

This is just the beginning and emerging scenario seems to be quite glossy. But the future will mostly depend how the Big brothers of Ollywood channelise every possibility into a success story. But the caution must not be ignored while jolting down the stories of the achievers. That not the ‘sibling rivalry’ as prominently noticed in this industry but cordial relationship will prove healthy for both film and FM radio business in the state.

All the Best Ollywood friends!