Woh Subah Kabhi to Aayegi: In Search of Good Cinema
During times of promises and resolutions, one wonders how this year’s resolution of the Odia film industry would be different from that of the past years. By the end of every year, there is a pledge to make watchable films. But did we? Close to 50 films are censored every year in Odisha – 48 in 2022 and 49 in 2023. While approximately half, if not more, manage a release in halls, a majority of them don’t even run for a day. With an average cost of production per film in the range of 7-8 million INR, about 80 per cent or more of the total investment of the film industry goes down the drain every year. Though filmmaking in Odisha has largely been a loss-making venture, it strangely doesn’t impact the number of films made every year. Therefore, one may conclude that the Odia film industry has no dearth of finance but certainly operates in a state of acute skill deficit to make good and commercially viable films.
Aspirations set standards. What does an Odia film aspire to? The aspirations are realistic and mundane amounting to financial returns both from hall release and sale of telecast rights to the satellite television channels, while another set of filmmakers aspire to a national award in the best regional film category. The aspirations, therefore, are merely survival to intellectually stimulate a thinking mind. While there is hardly any sensible scrutiny of Odia films, its plastic presence and eulogy are limited to a garrulous and self-congratulatory space like social media.
Over the last two decades, while constant criticism concerning poor quality and reduced viewership hovers over the Odia film industry, 2023 has been a year of hope and dreams. There is a flurry of young, innovative and tech-savvy filmmakers who made films like Phalguna Chaitra, Pushkara, Mind Game and My Sweet House Wife that are innovative, fresh and fast-paced. With a caravan of realistic grossers, the urban middle class is not only back to theatres but Odia cinema appears to be forming a significant part of their drawing room conversations.
The pan-Indian lessons for Odia cinema are loud and clear. Culturally relevant content, innovative storytelling and slick making are to be the new filmmaking mantra. Small is beautiful – let there be at least five good films than 50 unremarkable ones. Good films would create a diverse demography of viewership and will help Odia filmmakers realise that it is the endless production of bad and banal films that are responsible for the current slump, and not the state government nor the film distributors.
Sanjoy Patnaik
Filmmaker and writer