BHUBANESWAR: It was another year of drought for Odisha at the National Film Awards. The State could not land a single accolade at the 66th edition of the awards which were announced on Friday. Not even one in the regional feature film category.
Just four Odia films out of 35 made in 2018 were sent for screening but none made it to the nominations for the final awards including ‘Bhija Matira Swarga’ by acclaimed film-maker Manmohan Mahapatra who is credited with ushering in the new wave of Odia cinema and has eight National Film Awards to his credit.
It is not for the first time that Ollywood, one of the oldest regional film industries in the country, has drawn a blank in the National Film Awards. Between 1960 and 1968, the film industry picked up a National Film Award every year except in 1965. However, the 1969-1975 period saw a barren phase. Prashant Nanda’s ‘Shesha Shrabana’ and Biplab Rai Chaudhari’s ‘Chilika Teerey’ won the Best Regional Film in Odia language in 1976 and 1977 respectively but there were no nominations for the next three years.
Similarly, no Odia film qualified for Regional Film category in 1978, 1980, 1982, 1990, 1994, 2000 and 2004. The award drought continued between 2007 and 2013. In the 12-year period between 2007 and 2018, it made no cut in nine years in the regional film category.
It was Sabyasachi Mohapatra who brought the awards back with ‘Aadim Vichar’ and ‘Pahada Ra Luha’ in 2014 and 2015 while the Best Film in Odia Language was given to Sambit Mohanty posthumously for ‘Hello Arsi’ in 2017. In fact, ‘Hello Arsi’ picked up two National awards and a Special Mention for lead actress Prakruti Mishra. There was no award for Odia cinema in the regional film category in 2016 too. For Chairman of Odisha Film Development Corporation (OFDC) Kuna Tripathy, 2018 should serve as a wake-up call for filmmakers.
Few Takers for Parallel Films
The parallel cinema movement hit India in the 1960s and Odisha created a niche for itself with great art-house films. The socio-political mood of Odia society, its class struggle and aspirations found a new voice in Odia cinema. The advent of film education brought in a crop of enlightened filmmakers like Nirad Mohapatra, Manmohan Mahapatra, Sabyasachi Mahapatra, Biplab Ray Chaudhuri, Bijaya Jena, Apurba Kishore Bir and the good work was followed by Himanshu Khatua who experimented with this genre of cinema. ‘Maya Miriga’ explored the generational divide, ‘Bhinya Samaya’ dealt with corruption of youth, ‘Aranya Rodana’ showed complexities of tribal life, while ‘Shunya Swaroopa’ depicted the conflicts of a layman in the world of ‘sanyasias’ as ‘Magunira Shagada’ unravelled the agony of a man trapped within tradition. Such films captured the mood of Odisha and Odias and brought laurels to the State.
The 2000s probably saw the beginning of the end of that realism which Odia cinema once boasted of in its content and competed successfully with its commercial arm. What’s ironic is that multiplex cinema culture in India blurred the line between commercial and socially relevant films. Odisha, though, seems to have missed the trick. Today, the industry has only a handful filmmakers who make meaningful cinema that reflects the aspirations of Odia society as realistic films have been relegated to the backburner.
“If you look at the trend in last 19 years, very few filmmakers have focussed on making cinema which is socially relevant. Prior to that, films dealt with family and social mood which had great relevance and audience appreciated that genre of cinema. That is why producers came forward to fund the films”, says award-winning writer Devdas Chotray, who was a jury member of the awards in 2016 when eight Odia films were in the race for the prestigious award but none could make it to the second round of screening.
In the last few years, the film industry has undergone a massive shift and the taste of film-goers seems to have gone south. As a young audience chooses entertainment over art house films, parallel filmmakers struggle. Funding is the biggest constraint for parallel films now. “Like good filmmakers, in Odisha, good producers are a rare breed which is willing to invest in quality cinema because the profit margin from such films is meagre.
For the last decade or more, Ollywood has preferred quantity over quality. There is no one to invest in a new script, forget meaningful cinema”, points out Tripathy, adding few films made in the State that can be sent to the prestigious Indian Panorama Film Festival.
Ajay Routray, the producer of ‘Hello Arsi’, says Hindi films like ‘Padman’ and ‘Toilet Ek Prem Katha’ were not only socially relevant but also commercial hits because of the filmmaking craft, cinematic experience and audience acceptance. “In Ollywood, there is no money for such films as a majority of producers is not confident of investing in new stories. Besides, a movie like ‘Hello Arsi’ that deals with displacement finds no takers as the audience, comprising youths, is now used to cheap remakes”, he says.
Snehasis Das, director of ‘Kakoli’ which was also sent for National Film Awards screening, had to crowd-fund for making the film as no producer in Odisha came forward to invest in his movie that dealt with fishermen community battling livelihood loss due to coastal erosion. Odisha Government does not provide subsidy nor exempts tax to such cinema which is also a reason why socially relevant films do not reach the general audience and are confined to film festivals. “If there is no business involved in films, why will producers come forward?” asks Snehasis.
Today, Odia films to cater to a specific category of audience. Odisha once had audience for good cinema but over the years, the audience was offered no-brainers in the name of films which forced them to stay away from theatres, explains filmmaker Sabyasachi who was a part of the central jury for this year’s National Film Awards.
Culture of Copying
The problem is of a different magnitude when it comes to mainstream or commercial cinema which has an audience but these too do not last beyond two days in theatres. Only those having stars like Anubhav Mohanty, Babushan or Sabyasachi run for four to five days.Money invested in commercial films mostly comes from real estate and business house owners who are not producers in the true sense of the word and want quick returns. This has led to the culture of cheap remakes of Telugu, Tamil, Bengali and now, Marathi films.
“Absence of content is the second loophole,” says film critic, Surya Deo. “While every other Odia movie being made is a copy of Telugu or Tamil films today, cinema in Odisha does not connect with Odias. Remakes have practically limited the scope of filmmaking in the State,” he rues. Even popular films like ‘Lal Bhaari’, ‘Sairat’ and ‘Magadheera’ were remade as ‘Jaga Hatare Pagha’, ‘Lalila O Laila’ and ‘Baisi Paheche Kheluchi Mina’ respectively but tanked at the box office.
“The problem does not end with copying scripts. They copy costumes, locations, dialogues and even look of the characters. The Odia films have no Odia flavour and do not deal with Odia society and hence, do not click”, Deo says.What has not helped is that famous directors from Odisha like Nila Madhab Panda, who received rave reviews for his “I am Kalam,”, “Halka” and “Kadvi Hawa” tested the Odia film industry with a commercial film like ‘Biju Babu’ last year. It too fell flat.
Business of Cinema
At least 30 films are made annually in the State but if one goes by the box office returns, a film does not fetch beyond Rs 40 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, and a majority of this money (Rs 20 lakh to Rs 35 lakh) comes from selling copyright of the movie to channels. Till a decade back, there were over 300 single screen cinema halls across the State but the number today stands at a meagre 80. Increasing cost of maintenance, service tax and other issues have focrced these 80 halls to stay afloat.
“If a movie does not run beyond two to three days, where will the profit come from?” asks Prashant Behera, a film distributor. For the number of films being made in a year, the number of screens is too less and before the audience comes to know that a film is good, its screening timings are changed or it is replaced altogether. Interestingly, Odisha continues to churn great film technicians but most of them work either in Mumbai or Delhi because the eco-system back home is not conducive.
OFDC chairman Tripathy says that the State Government has cleared the State Film Policy and is working on its operation guidelines. “The policy which will be released soon, has provisions of financial help to independent filmmakers who want to make meaningful cinema, subsidy and tax exemption benefits besides, funds of running single screen theatres”, Tripathy adds. How will the policy impact the 83-year-old film industry’s struggle with the drought, only time will tell.