Orissa Cinema

From Afar

A weekly column by
Sahasranshu Mahapatra, New Delhi

In a world of filmmaking the allegations of copy right violation and stealing of ideas or concepts are not new. World’s largest film producing industry Bollywood is also not free from this. The latest in the row is the Ram Gopal Verma’s remake of GP Sippy’s superhit ‘Sholay’. Though this kind of allegations are not prominent in Oriya film industry but the recent release ‘Ea Mana Manena’ has drawn attention of many outside theatres for its alleged ’stolen’ storyline. The producer of this film, Bhubaneswar based Maa Bhavani Productions, has been facing a legal battle against Hyderabad based Prasad Productions Pvt Ltd.

The south Indian production house has accused the Oriya producer of stealing the story idea from its Telugu blockbuster ‘Arya’. At first instance it may seem to be a simple matter of copyright violation against an Oriya producer. But in a broader scenario the issue is much more serious. Perhaps it is the failure of an industry (Ollywood) to create an identity and to build a reputation. This reflects that Oriya film industry still struggles to garner respect and support outside Orissa.

Even having talents, technical efficiency and a conducive market atmosphere, why Oriya film industry is still reeling under serious accusations of loosing creativity and innovation in content? Perhaps the time has reached for us to seriously contemplate on this question. In my view the real culprit is the ‘lack of ideas’. We are lacking in new concepts or innovation and thus allowing others to point fingers at us. Some of the filmmakers just want to be a part of the flow and others who have the potential to emerge with innovation lack the trust of producers.

Perhaps the time has reached to think out of box and establish an empire of own creativity in the highly creative world of celluloid business.

It was spirituality which ruled the screen in the early days of filmmaking in Orissa. Then came the stories which talked of feudalism in society, serious consequences of caste system and other social evils. For decades the family feuds, the protagonist against the evil and romance in the backyard kept Oriya audience indulged in pure entertainment. The Saas-Bahu sagas also dragged the audience to the theatre for sometime. Now the time has reached to look beyond making of this protagonist or ‘they lived happily ever after’ cinemas.

The love triangles and running around the tree will no more be interesting for the metro bound ambitious young generation of Orissa. The highly aspiring young generation with a never say a die spirit will hardly show any interest in the current Ollywood products. With Bollywood films making way to our drawing rooms every day, the filmmakers should understand the pressure.

The changing socio-economic scenario, emergence of nuclear families and the difficulty of the present generation to hold to their roots are some of the subjects which need much attention from the directors to begin a new phase of filmmaking. In the changing scenario the stories like that of ‘Hakim Babu’ may not be appropriate one but the constant pressure on the tribals to hold to their roots due to the rising urbanization would provide enough substance for a good cinema these days. The highly ambitious young generation and the woes of city bound village lads need to be deliberated upon than the stereotype college love stories. Dowry deaths, child abuse, growing criminalisation in the urban set up are some of the new are some of the areas which should be looked into besides the Saas-Bahu stories or ‘Sahar Jaluchhi’ type gangster themes. The Oriya literary heritage can also open up its treasure box for new age auteur.

It is true that keeping the Oriya audience in mind the stories of Ollywood films can’t go Bollywood way. The constraint of financial support also restricts the industry to go on a widespread experimentation on subjects. At the same time the Oriya filmmakers should not forget that the populist approach or on screen expose alone will not work to attract the new generation cine goers.

The present generation of producers and directors need to think beyond the ‘formula’ and emerge with innovative ideas, which can be projected as our own and help to build the reputation for the industry as well.

Mr Amiya Pattnaik has clapped the mahurat shot of SAMAYA HATARE DORI at Hanuman Temple near CRP Square at Bhubaneswar.

The film credits are as follows:

Banner- Dreamland Cine Crafts
Presented by - Choudhary Ashok Das
Proudced by - Smt. Tilotoma Das, Choudhary Pinky Das
Script & Direction - Amulya Das
Music - Rati-Alok
Lyrics-Nizam, Arun Mantri, Purendu Dasmohapatra, Ratikant Barik, Purna Mohapatra
Vocals: Namita Agrawall, Md. Aziz, Manas Pritam, Kumar Bapi, sailabhama, Tapu Mishra, Pami
Camera: Ganeswara Mohapatra
Art - Partha Mohanty
Dance - Murali Babu
Fight - kundatara Babu
Costume - Babuni
Make up - Promod
Graphics - sasikant Rout
Still Photo - Tukuna (Payal Studio)
Star Cast - Sidhant, Anu Choudhrary,Mihir Das, Meghna Mishra, Debajani, Debu Bose, Braja singh, Suman, Neelam, Nayanatara, Raja Mohanty, Ashok Bal, Krushna, Chanda, Tota, Pagul, Bijoy Mohanty (Rourkela), Hena, Julie, Satyanaran Bhatter, Sapan Gupta, Arun, Master swaraj, Baby Nikitaa and Aparajita

Orissacinema wishes her readers a Happy Ratha Jatra!

We also invite you to the premier show of Jai Jagannath which took place in Bhubaneswar!

(Photographs by Ashok Panda)

Remember E Mana Manena?

The Mihir Das/Arindam/Kajal/Barsha starrer is currently running houseful and also is mired with controversies.

The film has entered into a legal problem as Hyderabad-based film production house M/s Prasad Production Pvt Ltd (PPPL) has alleged the movie has violated Copyright Act.

The movie `Ea Mana Manena’ produced under the banner M/s Maa Bhavani Pictures of Bhubaneswar was released on March 29 just hours before a lower court in Bhubaneswar had restrained its producer from releasing the movie. The producer of the movie Bijaya Kumar claimed as the movie was released before the court verdict was pronounced, the court’s ruling had become “in-fructuos” and the same was not binding on him. The young film producer, who has made a movie after almost a decade of his premier movie in 1995, has also challenged the lower court’s order in Orissa High Court. A fast track court of Bhubaneswar had on March 29 restrained the producer from releasing its movie after taking up a petition filed by the managing director of PPPL. The PPPL in its petition had prayed for an ad-interim injuction against Bijaya Kumar and urged the court to restrain him from releasing his movie as the later has violated the Copyright Act. The Hyderabad-based film production house claimed in his petition that the Oriya movie is a copy of a Telugu blockbuster film `Arya’.

The managing director of PPPL in his petition had claimed that he had purchased the copyright of the Telugu film in January 2006 for Rs 37 lakhs to make films in other different languages, including Oriya language. But the Oriya film producer maintains that the storyline of his romantic movie is entirely of his own and he has not copied it from any other cinema. “I have never seen the Telugu film `Arya’ nor have I read or heard about its content. I released my movie after obtaining a certificate from the Censor Board, Kolkata,” Bijaya Kumar who is also in construction business told mediapersons here .

Petition filed

He also said his movie was running full house in many places and it would be released in other cinema houses of the soon. In order to avoid any further legal hassles over his movie, Bijaya Kumar also filed an application before the Orissa High Court on Monday urging the court to set aside the lower court’s order of March 29.

Did you know the legendary Bollywood star Mithun Chakraborty is largely responsible for making an Oriya film a runaway hit?

“Ae Jugara Krushna Sudama”, released across Orissa in January, is back at as many as 11 cinema theatres for a second time primarily because of the performance of the Bengali actor, who dazzled Bollywood with his dancing in the 1980s.

Basanta Naik’s Brajaraj Movies has produced A Jugara Krushna Sudama , which features Mithun in a lead role. “People in Orissa have shown extra interest to watch this movie,” a thrilled Naik said.

About eight Oriya films had been released since January, but A Jugara Krushna Sudama was the only one that had been a commercial success, the producer said.

Directed by Hara Patnaik, A Jugara Krushna Sudama is Naik’s 12th Oriya movie. It is the story of two friends, one poor and the other rich. Mithun plays the poor friend while Uttam Mohanty, a top Oriya actor, plays the rich one.

Naik is perhaps the only Oriya film producer who has risked roping in stars from Bollywood and Bengali cinema to add to a movie’s appeal. He had cast Raakhi Gulzar in his film Maa in the 1990s.

“Maa was a super hit at that time. I also introduced Prasenjit, Debashree Roy and Sujit Kumar (from Bengali cinema) before Orissa audiences. However, Mithun’s film has broken all past records,” Naik said.

This is the first time Mithun has played the lead role in an Oriya film. Earlier, he had made a guest appearance in Sahara Jaluchi .

“I saw his guest appearance in Sahara Jaluchi and decided to take him in my movie. He spoke good Oriya,” Naik said.

The experience of working with the star of such Bollywood hits as Disco Dancer was enriching, said the producer.

“We learnt many things from him. Mithun was very punctual and sincere. We had a 28-day schedule of shooting for him but one of the leading stars was ill. Therefore, we had to extend it to 62 days and Mithun cooperated. Looking at the commercial success (of A Jugara Krushna Sudama ), I am planning to dub the film in Bengali and Chattishgari languages,” added Naik.

Is Ollywood in dire need of moral pundits and censor boards? Will the creativity of latest genre of lyricists and composers be affected by the way their freedoms are restricted? Or are they simply abusing the liberties while pretending their works to be reflections of society at large?

The answers may be more complicated than they appear. Perhaps, we need a censor board not just for films and music, but also for the way the society is conducting itself in the current political anarchy. However for now, some leading film personalities are holding our cinema culture responsible.

In the latest round, the Orissa Cine Critic Association has criticized the vulgarity in Oriya cinema and music. In a seminar organized in Bhubaneswar, the Association has proposed that tax rebate should only be made available to original Oriya films and not remakes. It has also proposed that a censor board to screen music should be immediately formed comprising lyricists, composers, music critics, etc., while a similar censor committee should keep tabs on the video albums keeping in view the vulgarity of costumes, poses and lyrics. Subsequent to this, CDs cleared by the committee can only be telecast in various channels including the Door Darshan.

In this regard, a memorandum has been submitted to the State Culture Minister to act on. “It is now the time of remakes and remixes. Oriya cinema and music have been vitiated by crass commercialization because of some dubious elements. The vulgarity and banality is crossing all limits,” according to the association. Included among those who advocate for the censor boards are filmmaker Prashant Nanda, musician Prafulla Kar and actor George Tiadi. Cine critic association secretary Dillip Hali, highlighting the steps being taken in Maharashtra, asked the Government to come up with remedial measures immediately in the light of the memorandum presented. The event was organized in collaboration with the cultural outfit `Sanskruti O Sanskruti’.

Close on the heels of Hollywood teen trivia, Orissa cinemas are going to provide quite a few relief as well.

The latest is our superstar Siddhanta Mohapatra has set a standard regarding hogging the headlines.

No wonder, he had to be booked for that. Siddhanta was caught while talking on his mobile phone even as he drove amidst a crowded area in Bhubaneswar. Nothing fancy happened after that, although he was booked for violating traffic rules

Anup Kanungo, the city traffic inspector informed that Siddhanta was returning after the shooting of a film and the police have registered a case against the actor for violating traffic rules. Later on of course, Mohapatra was let go free to the real world subsequent to his written submission that he will not violate traffic rules in future.

Lets only hope, for Siddhanta, promises are meant to be kept outside the film world as well!

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.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Industry Minister Biswa Bhushan Harichandan, Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera at the inauguration of Kalinga Digital Recording Studio on Sunday at Kalinga Studio. Orissacinema Photos by Ashok Panda.

Monika O My Darling is slated for release next week. Its a rip-roaring comedy awaited eagerly. Following are the details. For the complete gallery, please click here!

Presented by: Debraj Movies
Producer: Binapani Sahu
Director: Nilamani Sahoo
Assistant Director: Ratikanta Sahu, Prasanta Siddhu
Story, Dialogue: Nilamani Sahoo
Sound: Asmita Das
Camera: Ajit
Makeup: Sankar, Mantu
Costum: Amiya
LIghts: Maa Mangala Cine Equipment
Spot: Bulu, Rabi
Lightsmen: Kapila, Amulya, Kalia
Transport: Mumi, Tukula, Butu
Artists: Rabi Mishra, Mamuni Mishra, Hari, Hadu, Chakradhara Jena, Pintu Nanda, Rajdip, Suman, Rachita, Baby Pradhan, Aksaya Bastia, Santosh, Tulu, Rabi, Duji, Kuna, Umesh, Bikash, Prashant, Bitusmita, and Nilamani
Special thanks to: S Routray (Bapi), Kailash Ch, Sethi, and Jooz Company.

Story: Four heroes and three heroines star in this serious comedy cinema. Confusions strife high as the male protagonists fall for Monika, the heroine, without realizing her actual class status. And as events start unfolding and the realities hit the suitors, the movie turns into nothing less than a great comic relief.