History of Oriya cinema

History of Oriya Cinema

Oriya films have no silent movie like Assamese cinema. It started straight way with a talkie. The first Oriya talkie ‘Sita Bibaha’ was made by Mohan Sunder Deb Goswami in 1936. Drawn from the great Indian epic Mahabharata, the story tells about the marriage of Sita with Ram. The actual plot was made from a drama written by Kamapala Mishra. repared with a purse of only Rs 30,000, the film has 14 song sequences. Despite it being the first Oriya film with several drawbacks in every section of its making, the two-hour-long movie generated great enthusiasm among the people. Released by Laksmi Talkies, the 12-reeled film had in its cast line Makhanlal Banerjee (Ram) who received only Rs 120 for his performance, Aditya Ballav Mohanty (Lakhsman) who got only Rs 35 as conveyance allowance and Prabhabati Devi (Sita) who was paid the highest amount of Rs 150.This was a landmark film.The pace of Oriya film production in the initial years was very slow. After Sita Bibaha, only two films were produced till 1951. A joint consortium of landlords and businessmen who collected fund after 1948 produced those two movies.The 1951 production ‘Roles to Eight’ was the first Oriya film having an English name. It was released after 15 years of the first Oriya film Sita Bibaha. It was the fourth Oriya film produced by Ratikanta Padhi.Sri Lokenath was the first Oriya film, which got National Award in 1960. It was the eleventh Oriya film.

It was a great achievement going by the number of films produced by the Oriya film industry. Prafulla Sengupta directed the film. The same year, Prasantha Nanda wan National Award as best actor for the film Nau Bau.It was his debut film.The name of Prasantha Nanda would always come while dealing with Oriya films. He was present in Oriya films since 1939, but he became super active only after 1976. Nanda served Oriya filmdom as an actor, director, screenplay writer, and lyricist and even as a playback singer. Such a versatile genius is quite rare in Indian cinema history. Nanda alone carried Oriya films into the national honor list by winning National Awards for three times in 1960, 1966 and 1969 for his acting in Nua Bou, Matir Manisha and Adina Megha. Since then several Oriya films have earned laurels and the Oriya people are proud of their movies. Uttam Mohanty, whose debut film Abhiman won accolade, is now the ruling hero of the Oriya filmdom. His wife Aparajita is also a roaring heroine. Actress Nandita Das, who acted in several controversial Hindi movies like Fire, has Oriya origin. She acted in Biswaprakash which won National Award in 2000. Susanta Misra directed the film.Oriya films, especially in 1960s and in 1970s, were highly indebted to Bengali films. Several Bengali directors help their Oriya counterparts to help make films. Eminent director Mrinal Sen even directed an Oriya film Matir Manisha which won National Award for best actor. Prashanta Nanda was the winner.Of late, Bollywood commercials have greatly influenced Oriya movies in form and content. And by doing so, Oriya movies are losing touch with the rich Oriya culture. It is time Oriya filmmakers take root to Oriya soil and present the country unique movies since the Oriya filmdom has potential performers.