BHUBANESWAR: It's yet another year of celebration for the Odia film industry. After ‘Daman’ and ‘Pratikshya’, Ollywood is back with two new blockbusters ‘Mind Game’ and ‘Pushkara’ that are being hailed for their stories, production quality and everything else that makes for a good cinema.
While the foundation of both the films is laid on original content and good story-telling, the award-winning filmmakers Subhranshu Das (Pushkara) and Rajesh Touchriver (Mind Game) have used characters and situations that Odias can connect with.
‘Pushkara’, starring Sabyasachi Mishra and Supriya, is the directorial debut of ace cinematographer Subhranshu Das. Based on writer Shankar Tripathy’s Odia novel ‘Nadabindu’, the film was released on September 19 and has been receiving rave reviews from critics as well as cine-goers since then. The film has been released not just in 37 theatres within the state but also in multiplexes at Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. And all the shows are running to packed houses both within and outside the state.
And what makes ‘Pushkara’ unique? Its story has elements of Odia culture and traditions, replies Das. “It’s a 30-year-old story based in Puri in which a love story evolves from a post-death ritual. We have shown Sahi Jata folk art forms, and rituals like Kartika Purnima, and Boita Bandana, which are central to the rich cultural diversity of Odisha. I am glad that cine-goers of all age groups have been appreciating the movie from day 1,” he said.
Business-wise, Das is happy that he is recovering the investment from ‘Pushkara’. “Apart from the appreciation from audience and critics, what is important for any filmmaker is the business that his or her film gets. I have been lucky that way,” he said. Similarly, crime-thriller ‘Mind Game’ boasts of a brilliant script, screenplay, sound quality and also an award-winning star cast of Atul Kulkarni, Manoj Mishra, Yashpal Sharma and Anu Choudhury.
Inspired by the true incident of Patnagarh's wedding gift bomb blast that claimed the lives of newly-wed Soumya Shekhar and his grandmother in 2018, the film is a story of revenge and explores the mindset of a criminal. It was released across 40 theatres in Odisha on October 6.
Mishra, who portrays the key character said it is a realistic cinema that has no element of melodrama in it. “Apart from the film-making aspect of it, Mind Game is a content-driven film which is why people like it,” said the actor who hails from Sambalpur.