The announcement of 24th State Film Awards for 2012 has come as a shock for the Ollywood fraternity. This time, the Department of Culture has decided not to give awards in seven categories including Best Film in the industry where of late every other movie is a ‘cheap remake’ or ‘inspired’ by movies of other languages.
The remaining six categories which have no takers this year are Best Director, Script Writer, Art Director, Documentary Film, Dialogue Writer and Choreographer. Out of 12 releases, there were nine entries of selection of which, the jury shortlisted seven films for the awards.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Monday, Minister of Culture Maheswar Mohanty said the jury did not find any film qualifying for the seven categories. “The films that reached the jury for scrutiny neither had any story flow, original scripts, proper usage of language nor any message for the society and were of very poor quality. We hope this year’s selection will be a lesson for Odia film directors and producers and force them to make good cinema,” he said.
The Minister also added that the Culture Department is contemplating to put in a regulatory mechanism to prevent those in the music industry from making vulgar and double-meaning songs. “Songs being made for both Odia films and the album industry are indecent and raunchy in nature and double-intended. To stop this, we are exploring legal aspects to prevent production of such songs in future,” Mohanty said.
Meanwhile, the jury has decided to confer Jayadev Puraskar for 2012 on Raj Gopal Mishra for his contribution to Odia cinema. While Barsha Priyadarshini will receive the Best Actress award for 2012 for her movie ‘Prema Sabuthu Balaban’, Sabyasachi will get the Best Actor award for ‘Emiti Bhi Prema Hue’. Best Music Director Award (Bala Krushna Das Samman) would be conferred on Baidyanath Das for ‘Tu Mo Arambha Tu Mo Sesa’ while singers Babushan and Tapu Mishra will get the awards for Best Singer (Male) and Best Singer (Female) respectively. The jury has selected ‘Tu Mo Suna Tu Mo Hira’ as Best Story and ‘Nai Separi Kanaka Gauri’ for Best Photography. Aryan Mishra has been adjudged as the Best Child Actor and Hrushi as best Comedian. Similarly, Puspa Panda and Ashrumochan were selected for Best Supporting Actress and Actor respectively.