BHUBANESWAR: Veteran filmmaker and actor, Govind Tej passed away in a private hospital at Bhubaneswar on Thursday. He was 88 and is survived by his wife, Sushma and son Debashish. Tej was ailing for the last few days and was under treatment at a private hospital here. He started his career as a director in 1979 with ‘Ramayana’.
Prior to that in 1976, Tej had produced ‘Krushna Sudama’. As an actor, Tej debuted in ‘Kedar Gauri’ in 1954 and went on to do films like ‘Maa’, ‘Naga Phasa’, ‘Bandhana’, ‘Dharitri’, ’Bandhu Mohanty’, ‘Gauri’, ‘Ramayana’, ‘Krushna Sudama’ and ‘School Master’. For ‘Bandhu Mohanty’ (1977) that was directed by Nitai Palit, he had received the Odisha State Film Award for Best Actor.
Tej adapted three Odia novels into films, which included author Gayatri Basumallick’s ‘Kaveri’ that featured Mahasweta and Sriram Panda in the lead characters. The other two films were Kanhu Charan’s ‘Tunda Baida’ and Bibhuti Patnaik’s ‘Dhuli Ghara’ that was made by the name ‘Gare Sindura Dhare Luha’. In fact, ‘Gare Sindura Dhare Luha’ was his last directorial venture featuring Anu Choudhury and Sritam.
While he got the Best Director Award for ‘Gare Sindura Dhare Luha’, ‘Tunda Baida’, ‘Kaveri’ and ‘School Master’, Tej received the prestigious Jaydev Puraskar in 1986 for his contribution towards Odia cinema. Members of the Odia film fraternity and Culture Minister Ashok Panda have condoled Tej’s death. Panda said Tej was instrumental in bringing a new wave to the film industry. His last rites will be performed in Swargadwar, Puri.