Ekamra Walks Celebrates 51 Years of Jajabara with Colourised Screening and Cultural Evening

Bhubaneswar, Feb 7: Ekamra Walks will host a landmark cultural evening in Bhubaneswar to commemorate 51 years of the iconic Odia film Jajabara, with a special screening of its colourised version as part of the Odia Film Panorama initiative.

Originally released in 1975, Jajabara holds a unique place in Odia cinema and is widely regarded as a cultural milestone rather than just a film. The screening, to be held at the open-air theatre of Kalabhoomi, marks a historic moment as audiences will witness the colourised version of the classic black-and-white film for the first time in an open public setting.

Ekamra Walks is the flagship cultural initiative of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), aimed at celebrating and preserving the city’s rich artistic and cultural heritage.

The colourised version of Jajabara is the result of an extraordinary restoration and preservation effort led by noted film expert Shri Bapu Lenka. A team of 21 technocrats worked for 736 days to meticulously restore and colourise nearly 2.19 lakh frames of the original film.

This monumental achievement has created history in Indian regional cinema, making Jajabara the first black-and-white regional film in the country to be colourised.
The event will also feature the presence of several eminent cast and crew members, including actresses Banaja Mohanty and Tripura Mishra, singers Geeta Pattnaik and Trupti Das, along with Bapu Lenka, producer Bijaya Patnaik, and actor Shyamalendu Bhattacharya. Their participation is expected to offer audiences a rare moment of shared nostalgia and interaction.

The screening is scheduled for Sunday, February 8, at 5:30 PM at the Kalabhoomi Open Air Auditorium. Earlier in the day, at 2 PM, an Odia Literary Trail featuring Sakhi Kandei dance and a storytelling session on Kulfi will further enrich the cultural celebrations.