BHUBANESWAR: Filmmaker Anupam Patnaik’s ‘Pratikshya’ (The Wait) has won the 69th National Award for Best Odia Film. Patnaik will receive a Rajat Kamal and a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh. Based on a short story written by Gourahari Das, the film revolves around an unemployed graduate who faces the dilemma of securing a government job. He waits for the death of his father - a government employee - to secure the job under the government’s scheme of compassionate appointment where a family member gets the job of the deceased employee.
The film, which has Dipanwit Dashmohapatra in the lead, was screened at several prestigious film festivals including the International Film Festival of India at Goa before it was released on December 2 last year. Impressed with the story, actor-director Anupam Kher had announced plans to remake the film.
Apart from Patnaik, bureaucrat Sweta Kumar Das received the National Film Award (Special Mention) for his short film ‘The Healing Touch’, which is based on the Covid-19 pandemic.
Das, the joint commissioner of BDA, said the story revolves around a Covid-infected man who is on the verge of death in the ICU of a hospital. The doctor treating him facilitates the patient’s conversation with his wife through a mobile phone. “Due to constant positive vibes from his wife, the man survives the infection,” he said. The film won several awards at various film festivals.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan congratulated the director and all actors of ‘Pratikshya’ the award. After a gap of a year, an Odia film received the prestigious award. Last year when films were selected for the year 2020, no Odia cinema made it to the 68th National Awards list. As many as 18 Odia films had been released that year and almost all of them were released on OTT platforms. Since the year 2000, Odia film industry has received National Awards only for nine films.