3 Odia filmmakers win National Awards

BHUBANESWAR: Three

Odia filmmakers

received the prestigious National Award on Monday.

While veteran filmmakers

Sabysachi Mohapatra

and

Nilamadhab Panda

jointly shared the honour of the Best Odia Feature Film for Sala Budhara Badla and Kaliara Ataita respectively, Ashutosh Pattnaik won the Best Arts and Culture Film award for Srikshetra-Ru-Sahijata, a documentary.

Rajat Kamal, Rs 1 lakh cash award and a citation were conferred on Mohapatra and Panda. Pattnaik received a cash award of Rs 50,000 and a citation. "The award is indeed a recognition of the hard work that we have been putting in. This will keep motivating me. Today, I am missing Atal Bihari Panda, my protagonist in the film, who was flawless in his acting and beautifully depicted the thoughts of the writer and director on screen," said Mohapatra.

Sala Budhar Badla

is the third film of a trilogy, which comprises Sala Budha and Adima Vichar. The latter one had bagged the National Award in 2015.

Panda's debut feature film in Odia, Kaliara Ataita, focused on the issue of climate change. "Odia cinema has an amazing past. I miss seeing such classics being made these days. I hope we can bring back those glorious times with these films," Panda said.

Srikshetra-Ru-Sahijata, a 35-minute documentary, focussed on the centuries-old open-air theatre of Puri, where artistes of different sahis (colonies) present the story of Ramayana.