Odia cinema is on a revival path: Siddhanta

A discussion on Odia Cinema reaching out to the masses was held at Bhubaneswar. The session was organised by Omkar Entertainment, at Jayadev Bhawan. The talk saw participation from leading names of the industry.

Gracing the occasion, popular actor Siddhanta Mohapatra said that after a long dwindling phase, Odia cinema seems to be on a revival path as the recent success of some content-driven movies has triggered a lot of conversations.

The Bapa Superman actor Mahapatra said, earlier in 1990s , when I made my debut the around 95 per cent viewers watched Odia movies. But later the situation has witnessed dark phase over the years and now we are in a state where there is nothing to lose. We can only win and gain from here,” he added.

Film critic and expert Surya Deo lamented saying, “Odia movies are barely being watched in theatres.”

Producer Sudhansu Mohan Sahoo opined that few not so good movies have created a negative impression among the cinema goers as to the quality of films being churned out. Sahoo urged the government to pull out the ailing Odia film industry from the slack. The government also needs to know that there are viewers who still wait to watch Odia films in theatres, he further said.

Towards the end of the programme, Odia film Mukhagni starring Manoj Mishra and Priyanka Pattnaik was screened.