FOR THE ever expanding television industry in Orissa, there are a few awards unlike the Oriya film industry. Hence the AB Visual TV Awards instituted by the Cuttack-based visual communication agency nine years ago matters much for the small screen’s big community.
The award presentation ceremony hosted in the Capital on Sunday at Rabindra Mandap witnessed a great gathering of the who’s who of the television industry besides a large number of their fans. Popular serial Gayatri - that has set a record as one of longest aired serial besides establishing lead actress Neetu Singh as the diva of small screen – swept the maximum number of awards this year. It claimed the awards for best serial, best director (Trupty Biswal), best actor (Prithwiraj Satapathy), best supporting actress (Ezee) and best dialogue writer (Pradipta Nanda).
However, the pleasant surprise among this year’s awardees was debutante Upasana who walked away with the best actress award for her stellar performance in Debi. Acclaimed television actress and anchor Naina Das was honoured with the Special Jury Award for her entry into South Indian cinema. Similarly, Bijay Kandoi, producer of the serial Jaya Jagannath was specially honoured for his contribution towards promotion of Orissa’s culture and tradition.
The other awardees included Ajit Das and Jaya Swamy – both veteran actors of Oriya film industry – as the best character actor and actress for their roles in Dhara Srabana and Bohu respectively. Budding actress Binee Samal also bagged the best actress in a negative role for Bohu while Bhagaban Behera was adjudged the best actor in a negative role for Jibana Jamunare Juara Uthere. Kuna Tripathy was the winner as the best supporting actor (Dhara Srabana).
Veteran actress Trupty Sinha was this year’s winner as the best comic actress (Jibana Jamunare) while Pappu Pompom was the winner of the best comic actor award. Though there were no awards in the technical crew category, cinematographer Dhrubananda Panda (Jaya Jagannath) was awarded on the occasion.