KENDRAPARA: A pall of gloom descended on Pandiri village on the outskirts of Kendrapara town after the demise of veteran Odia cine actor Bijay Mohanty due to cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
Locals gathered at the actor’s house, where he was born on April 8, 1950, to console his family. “Bijay was passionate about acting since childhood. He acted in several plays and dance dramas when he was in school,” said the veteran actor’s classmate Prakash Das. He said Bijay not only brought laurels for his village but also the entire State with his contribution to the field of entertainment. Murali Mohanty, another local said the actor, fondly called ‘Biju’ was known as an outstanding son of the soil.
The villagers had been praying for his recovery and had organised a special puja at the Laxmi Narayan temple while he was admitted to the hospital. The villagers said Bijay will forever remain their hearts. “We have watched several of his films and loved his outstanding performances,” said Padmalava, a local.
Bijay passed out of National School of Drama where he studied acting with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Raj Babbar and Om Puri. He acted in theatres and stayed in New Delhi till 1975. After returning to Odisha, he devoted himself to directing plays.
In 1977, he started his career in the Odia film industry with the film ‘Chilika Tire’ which won the National Award for that year. Initially he opted mostly for negative roles and some of his notable performances were in ‘Naga Phasa’, ‘Samay Bada Balaban’, ‘Danda Balunga’, ‘Sahari Bagha’, ‘Chaka Bhaunri’ and ‘Chaka Akhi Sabu Dekhuchi’. He also directed an Odia movie ‘Bhuli Huena’ and joined the Drama department of the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya in 1977 and retired as a professor from the institute.