Of Odia movies & Luchakali

Incidentally after a long gap of about 15 years I watched an Odia movie with my father in a city plex along with Ashish Gadanayak & Surya Deo.  The later duos are well known cine-journalists as well as authors. I can memorize the last full movie I had watched with my parents in Nayagarh cinema hall in 1997. Perhaps the name of the movie was "Sasu Hatakadi Bhauja Bedi". Since then I have seen a few Odia movies on TV & during my 6 years with print & visual media I had tried to watch a few in halls, even me & Ashish bhai both had gone to watch together. But unfortunately we had to left the hall within a few minutes. But for the first time on last Sunday "LUCHALALI" made us to sit for more than three hours.
Though I have met some of the characters from this movie earlier in many Bollywood movies, even in a serial from LifeOK channel, I dare to say LUCHAKALI  is an original one. This is original in making, original in pictorial imagination & original in direction. It's a common hypothesis that Odia movies are substandard. But for the first time young director Sushant Mani visualizes LUCHAKALI to prove it false. And he proves that Odia films are not only for those who don't understand great films, it's for intellectuals & true film lovers.
Once upon a time when there were no technological advancement, no money to take risks, not a satisfactory number of viewers to watch movies; in that time our creative minds had taken risks and made new-wave & semi-parallel movies which were proved as hit ones. But ironically now a days though we have much money(even some people in Odisha are making movies only to waste money), modern technology, many cinema halls, quality filmy minds & finally more people to watch Odia movies, still our producers/directors are not ready to take risks. Most of the movies, now a days, in Odisha are copies even frame-to-frame. And the shameless producers/story-writers are receiving awards as if they have invented it of their mind. Some years ago with Ashish Bhai I went to watch an Odia movie, I can't recall the name, which was said to be a copy from Raja Hindustani. Shit. Our movie-makers even don't know how to copy. We left the hall after half an hour. However Sushant mani's Luchakali is an exception, a small boat of hope in blindfolded sea of contemporary Odia moves. Sushant Mani is young & dynamic and has all talent to present you a national class(may be classic) movie. But I think he also need to be freed from the paws of so-called copy-acquainted Odia producers. Likewise others just I found one poster of Sushant Mani's upcoming movie Sweetheart an optical copy from a wellknow telugu movie's poster. As I already have become a fan of Sushant mani, through this blog I would like to request him not to copy from others & not to prove us wrong.

SAMAKALA February 2012

Now you can read SAMAKALA magazine online. But it will be available only after completion of the month. From today(March 1) now you can read the February-2012 issue absolutely free in the link shared here.

Monthly Odia (Oriya) Literary Magazine SAMAKALA, February 2012

SAMAKALA gets its critic

Always a new thing creates jealousy in some like-minded people. However it gathers good wishes, praises & blessings if there are some noble & selfless cause behind it.

SAMAKALA got the first negative comment on its inaugural issue.

Mr. Manu Dash(an Odia translator) has sent a sms yesterday- “Dear Subhransu, I was disheartened to read ur periodical Samakala with reproducing stuffs & stale interview defeating the very name of mag. Sorry to tell d feelings. regards, manu dash.” Again he wrote a small write-up elaborating his feelings about SAMAKALA in his own blog.

Before coming to his blog, let me say few lines about the inaugural issue of SAMAKALA. It is a little magazine of 44 pages including cover. There are 14 articles out of which 4 are old but rare intellect stuffs. In 1955 Sradhakar Supakar had published a short story collection in which most of his stories were written in the backdrop of Hirakud displacement. I have taken one from them in SAMAKALA February issue. There is another old story by Bijay Prasad Mohapatra written some 3 decades ago.  The third one is a rare criticism by Surendra Mohanty on Odia criticism. And the last one is a part of an essay written on Odia fiction by Jenamani Narendra Kumar in which you will find comments on from Fakir Mohan, Akhila Mohan, Surendra Mohanty, Manoj Das to the then young Bibhuti Patnaik, new but promising Haraprasad Das & Davadas Chhotray etc. Apart from these there are 3 fresh poems by Bharat Majhi with an introduction from Ramakanta Rath, an unpublished interview of Rajendra Kishor Panda, Ajay Swain’s estimation on young author, some small fiction ideas by Asish Gadanayak, two articles by Saroj Bal & Subhasis Panigrahi, an feature on reproduction of Purnachandra Odia Bhashakosha, a letter from Debraz Lenka and an editorial.

All these stuffs seem trashes to Manu Dash as he named his blog on it “IS THE READER NAKED & EATING TRASH IN ODIA LITERATURE?” Most of the contents in SAMAKALA disappointed him. I doubt whether he has gone through at least two short stories. I am sure he had not read those old stuffs earlier. Leave away reading, had he even heard about them? If I would not mention in its introduction no one would know that the never-published-before interview was an old one. Mr. Dash wrote that the vision & objectives were not reflected in its editorial at all. I wonder, why always the visions & objectives should be reflected in editorials as in another page I have mentioned those clearly. Rather I wrote the editorial on poor fellow-feelings in Odia literary circle. Is it a crime not to write visions & objectives in editorials?

Though in a few days of publication SAMAKALA has witnessed a good response in sells counters & I have received massive applause from readers from many parts of Odisha, Mr. Manu Dash wrote that the silly and dull questions asked to Rajendra Panda also embarrasses readers.(Does he think himself the representative to Odia readers?) The interview was taken some 5 years back & I have mentioned clearly there that it was not an interview, rather Rajendra Panda responded to the curiosities of a young poet. There are 31 questions answered by Mr. Panda out of which many are critical & few are basic. Sometimes basic questions are interesting if the answerer will take them seriously. What’s wrong if out of 31 there were some questions like “What do you want to write in your poem? Do you feel your poems have any social relevance? etc.” What’s wrong with these questions? Why always we expect critical & conflicting questions? And after all, whatever a young poet felt in 2007 about Rajendra Panda’s poetry he asked. Why Mr. Dash expects all magazines having interviews with Rajendra Panda should ask the same questions as he wishes? I think basic questions about poetry like "What is poetry" & "What you want to write in your poems?" are very much critical & most of our poets want to avoid these things. They only want to say superficial answers, which doesn't have any meaning. 

Again Manu Dash wrote that SAMAKALA gave a wrong signal that contemporary Odia Literature is dearth of good stuffs. And according to him as the name denotes, SAMAKALA should publish only contemporary stuffs. who cares about past? But we care, we do. I think Sradhakar Supakar's story is relevant & contemporary at present, even more than when it was written. I wonder why Manu Dash translated old poems of Kedarnath Singh & others? I don't think everything written only in Hindi or English are timeless stuffs. There are 10 rules in SAMAKALA for writers & readers. In one rule I have mentioned it clearly that it will give emphasis on publishing old & rare stuffs. This blog is nothing but Manu Dash’s jealousy.

To Manu Dash SAMAKALA is a trash one and this is only the tip of an iceberg. Odia literature is full of such trash writings & inferior editing acumen. To this self-styled critic the readers in Odia language are now in the receiving end and in helpless situation & they have no other option than to eating such trash fed by self-styled editors. But my question is who forces them to eat trash things? I can proudly say that in recent years the style of editing in Odisha has developed a lot & so there are an increasing number of readers. The new editors have done a much to attract readers. Only man like Manu Dash can show a finger towards contemporary Odia editing as he never reads Odia magazines.

Manu Dash has done some good stuffs as far as translation is concerned. He always claims himself very close to some veteran Indian authors as he has translated Uday Prakash, Udayan Vajpeyi, Kedarnath Singh, Gulzar from Hindi & Namita Gokhle from English into Odia. May this closeness help him & Odia literature a much.
I see, there are some people who own a few Hindi or Bengali books project themselves as Maha-Critic in Odia literature. They have zero contribution to Odia literature, but are always critical of it. They never buy a Odia book, but are first to spit on it. I would have happy, had Manu Dash criticized SAMAKALA constructively.

As a person Manu Dash is kind & cool enough. After all he is a good friend of mine. Our rented houses are very close to each other in Bhubaneswar & we have telephonic chat almost every second day. We have shared many evenings together. Sometimes we pay a visit to film festivals together. I take all his comments as complements. And I hope these virtual differences will not affect our friendship.


know more about SAMAKALA on Facebook-
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samakala

Why This Kolaveri???

RAJENDRA UTSAV

One of my friends who was there at Hotel Swosti on 18^th December to witness the AKHILA UTSAV told me that this time the RAJENDRA UTSAV was a flop one.  I amended; not RAJENDRA, it’s AKHILA USTAV in remembrance of great story teller Akhila Mohan Patnaik. He laughted, “had it been so”.  Being just a mere spineless rubber stamp at this age Mr. Panda is inviting criticism, he added. This ceremony is purely controlled & operated in an autocratic way by Mr. Mishra who is very cleverly using rubber stamps.

During the above mentioned function another friend asked Mr. Mishra that who was this Anil Kumar Das, to whom this year’s AKHILA SAMMAN was conferred. Another source said that some invited delegates from western Odisha came pretty before & had their shelters in city hotels to witness and to participate in this celebration only. But surprisingly no senior or middle-aged authors from Bhubaneswar were present there except Mr. Aurabinda Ray. I personally asked many & collected data from several sources that Mr. Mishra knowingly invited no body besides his close associates. Cleverly Mr. Mishra had tried to avoid people who don’t want to be his comrades or followers. Taking the advantage of Mr. Panda’s blind support he has been propagating his own personal agenda in the daily activities of the foundation. Even though they preach secularism a certain group headed by Mr. Panda is now trying to be racist by supporting & grooming only western Odisha and people who praise their style of poetry writing.

Suddenly one of my friend advised me, “Subhransu, don’t worry about it. AKHILA USTAV became a purely private affair & being private they have all right to play their own game & to beat their own drum.” Ok, let it be. Fortunately I was not invited to that festival.

KENDRA SAHITYA ACADEMY FARCE-2011

I came to experience the same embarrassing situation today(19 December). There was a news on today’s Sambad regarding a function by Kendra Sahitya Academy at Bhanja Kala Mandap to celebrate 150^th birth year of Biswa Kabi & two of my favorite authors were supposed to be on stage as guests. Unfortunately I read today’s news paper late at 12 noon. I had some appointments in Bhubaneswar civil court, that’s in front of Bhanja Kala Mandap & I planned to pay a visit to that function as soon as my official job was over. I was in a hurry & finished the legal works by 3 pm and rushed to Bhanja Kala Mandap. In court campus I met one of my old media friends, coincidently who was present at Bhanja Kala Mandap earlier in that morning. He informed that the session was over by 1 pm where Manoj Das & Haraprasad Das had delivered their speeches. I missed them both & phoned to another author friend who was also there in the morning session. Perhaps in the meeting hall Mr. Ram Kumar Mukhopadhyay was the only non-Odia person. But he requested Mr. Haraprasad to deliver his keynote address in English which raised a few eyebrows. Academy could have translated the keynote address into English instead of requesting him to deliver the same in English in the heart of Odia state. I don’t know whether this can ever happen in Kolkata. Once the first session was over the hall became no man’s land. This because outnumbered the audience.

Though the first session was over a pretty earlier my friend advised me to go inside. There were some other literary programs going on. I entered in to the compound. There was a book exhibition outside the meeting hall. No people were there except the book seller & a stray dog. At once someone came out of the hall & he was no other but another media friend. We chatted a long. He told me that there was a poetry recitation program going on inside. And he showed me some photographs. I am sorry to say that there were 8 people on dias & 7 to 10 people in front of them. This stage was also presided over By Mr.Rajendra Kishore Panda. Mr. Kedar Mishra was also on dias. Incidentally Mr. Mishra was not present there during the first session. I have no complaint against Mr. Mishra’s poem. But as far as his generation is concerned, Mr. Bharat Majhi is most prominent & he truly represents his generation. There are many other poets of his generation, who are much more powerful than Mr. Mishra. But they were not invited. Because they are not as clever as Mr. Mishra & they are not in any literary politics. I don’t know who had made the list of invited poets. If it was made by Mr. Panda, I prefer to be silent. And if it was made by the people in charge of Sahitya Academy Odia Wing, then it’s very clear that in pressure & fear they have made all this.

In this case I can’t call it a personal affair. Sahitya Academy is spending a good amount of money for this kind of program. But numerous poets listen to each other & go home happily with their remunerations. Don’t think that no one came because it was a working day. The first session proved it wrong. All the seats were occupied in first session. Why they didn’t get any audience in second session? The real reason was the stage was taken over by some unwanted & ill-deserved people. That is what happened in AKHIL UTSAV also. There was a funny scene during the first session in Bhanja Kala Mandap. A senior poet who was on the dias in the second session was seen as he was taking a nap with resting his two legs on the front row chair like a rickshaw-puller sleeps on his rickshaw. Instead of listening to the speakers he was engaged with a book. Perhaps he was preparing for the second session. I have a photograph to prove this point.

Finally I preferred to come back from the doorstep instead of spoiling my time in that ghost chamber. Outside the Mandap there were three bikes & 12 cars in the parking place. When I came to the main road Mr. Satakadi hota & a lady editor entered the compound. Lol! They got two audiences more.
Really the academy was involved in too many farces. All the benefits are consumed by the academy members only. Writers-in-Residence scheme was a big example. It will be another essay if I write only about the writer-in-residence program in Odisha.

Making no sense, yet too much

Most of my non-Odia colleagues are from south. During our conversations, no doubt, they speak better English than me. However you will smell a southern fragrance in most their pronunciation & accents. But I have no problem with this. They speak more fluently & seamlessly.
OK. Let me come to the point. Usually I love to read news from newspapers, neither from TV nor Internet. Hardly I watch TV though I was working as a TV journalist for quite sometime. I use the Internet only to have a look on top news, sometimes for vernacular online editions. Apart from that I use the Internet for my official requirements, for social networking and yes, of course entertainment. I was out of my city for about 10 days. When I came back yesterday, as usual, first I gathered all newspapers & started looking them over. In THE HINDU of 23rd November I found a feature titled Why this 'Why this Kolaveri'?. Lo! I am a net-addicted person! But I had no idea about this "Why This Kolaveri" till yesterday. Pity; I am working as a communication manger! As I finished this The Hindu article by Sudhis Kamath, I went online & read another one by Barkha Dutt in Hindustan times. Before surfing Internet for more information, I lost my curiosity & went on listening the song in YouTube. Friends here is the link for you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR12Z8f1Dh8&feature=aso. But don't click on this before reading my stuff.
Why This Kolaveri is now became the national hit song. This song is from the upcoming Tamil movie 3. You can call this song a nonsense one. But it makes too much sense to Indian music lovers. From yesterday evening till today I have listened it more than 50 times. (I have not counted actually.) Any way, it made my day a happier one. If I write the lyric here, you will find no meaning. It's a mixture of three-four Tamil words & some English words each with a additional U to their end. This has been sung & written by actor Dhanush; the lead character in 3. you may remember Dhanush as the son-in-law of Tamil superstar Rajanikant. Rajanikant's daughter Aiswarya Dhanush is the director of this movie 3 which is scheduled to be released on 14th January 2012. As a situation in this movie demands a light-hearted fun song about love failure, she herself came with this tune of Why This Kolaveri.

                                                           the master-u mind-u

I notice in Internet some people call this song as anti-girl, some other as anti-Tamil & some else call it a caricature to English language. But simply, I can call this a love anthem with a vibrant music and a powerful lyric having no sense. What-u a paradox-u yaar-u? If you have a broken heart, just listen this song & ask your girl, Why This Kolaveri Di? But why this KOLAVERI DI? Kolaveri is a soft Tamil slang-u & Di means girl-u.
Now enjoy the link.