Author: Dinabandhu Nayak

Uttam Mohanty As covered in an earlier post, Odia cinema was in financial crisis for a very long time. Throughout the 80s and 90s, both quality and quantity of films from Odisha was in decline. It teetered on the edge but did not cross over to completely shutting down. This can all be attributed to Uttam Mohanty, a movie actor who ruled the Odia film industry in the 80s an 90s. It was his consistent box-office success that kept the mostly insolvent Ollywood out of the waters. Uttam Kumar Mohanty was born in 1955 in Baripada in the Mayurbhanj district of…

The Jagannath Temple in Puri publishes an almanac in Odia every year which sets the date for every occasion throughout the year. Every puja, every celebration, every festival in Odisha is based on this almanac. This book on astrology (panjika) is considered essential for every devout Odia in and out the state. This almanac itself is based on the calculations provided in the book Siddhanta Darpana which was written in 1899 by the renowned naked eye astronomer Mahamahopadhyaya Chandrasekhar Singh Harichandan Mahapatra Samanta, better known to us as Pathani Samanta. Siddhanta Darpana is a masterpiece of observational astronomy and the calculations made…

Young Innovators We still consider Odisha to be a developing state. There are good districts and there are districts so bad off they need constant attention. These include all kind of indices like living standard, access to water and indeed, access to good education. Even with all these things weighing us down, ingenuity and perseverance can overcome them. This was shown in past year by these child geniuses who invented devices making life easier for themselves and others. Naisargik Lenka This class X student from DAV Public School Unit 8 of Bhubaneshwar won the prestigious Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar…

Alongwith the big rebellions against the British rule, numerous smaller Kandha Rebellion of Ghumsur rebellions also rose up in Odisha. One of them was the Kandha Rebellion under the leadership of Dora Bisoi in 1836. In those days Odisha was in a state of upheaval. The Bhanja Kandha Rebellion of Ghumsur Royal family had lost their throne to the British. In addition, the British had started suppressing the local religion. Christian missionaries were also adding to the religious turmoil. And on top of that, 50% of the food grown by the tribals was taken away by the British establishment as…

Utkala Mani Gopabandhu When you have very little food to satisfy your hunger after a hard work, and someone approaches you asking for some food, would you give him your’s ? Certainly not!  Very less about one in a thousand people, think of others before themselves. One such great soul was born on the soil of Odisha, who took much pleasure when he could do anything for the needy, for the poor. He is popularly known as Utkal Mani Gopabandhu Das. He was in line the creator of our state,  the Modern Utkal, an educationer, a nationalist, the pioneer of truth…

“Udi udi udi… Jaa re Udii.. E mora gudi.. Khaa na khaa na tu kaani.. E mora lachaka maani.. ” and “Jaa re vaasi vaasi jaa, nauka mora bhasi jaa” the popular Odia Songs are still able to freshen the minds and memories of the Odia music lovers. The creator of these awesome songs, was not only a play back singer, but also was a composer, writer, lyricist, musician and an actor. The very versatile, the legendary music composer of Odisha Akshaya Mohanty popularly known as Khoka Bhai to the people of Odisha was a true legend of Music who…

Dutee Chand Of the few Indian participants who earned the prestigious medals in the 2018 Asian Games hold in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dutee Chand became one of the girl from Odisha to bag silver in 200 m in women’s category. She is a professional sprinter from Odisha. After her incredible achievements as an Indian, she becomes the third Indian woman ever who qualified for the women’s 100 meters event at Summer Olympics. She is compared with the legendary athlete PT Usha due to her matchable feat with the later. Struggling in life up to extreme, going through every possible hard works,…

Most film stars are offered to portray diverse characters in different movies, particularly in the state of Odisha, where the number of good actors is reasonably less. But the audience is not always satisfied by the transformation of characters undergone by an actor. Suppose an actor playing the character of the main lead (hero) in most films, chooses to act in a negative character (a villain), there is very less chance that both these characters are greatly appreciated by the audience, unless the actor is Bijay Mohanty. A prominent lead actor of the Odia film industry “Ollywood” in the 90s,…

The Babushan Mohanty Odia film industry known as Ollywood bears a countable number of Megastars or so called Heroes; namely Uttam Mohanty, Bijay Mohanty, Mihir Das, Sidhhant Mohapatra and Sriram Panda. Well it was 80s or 90s when these Odia Film Stars captivated the Odia Movie watchers by blending them with their acting skills, humor and styles. The current trend in Odia Movies demands style plus action plus comedy plus humor plus many more with great acting skills. Babushan Mohanty, the son of the famous Odia Film Stars couple Uttam and Aparajita has already turned the heads of Odia Film audience with his versatile skills. Babushan Mohanty : The Ollywood Trend Changer The Romeo of Ollywood, the Loafer, the Idiot, the Chocolate hero, Babushan, is appreciated…

The 90s period in Odia film industry (Ollywood) was a good time for the movie makers as well as the movie watchers. This was the time when Ollywood was sincerely craving for a hero or the lead male actor, many faces rose and sank, but one name created history, giving back to back block buster movies. The name is Siddhant Mahapatra, who ruled the Ollywood industry for almost a decade. Ever since his debut in 1993, the audience saved in their memories this good looking and highly efficient actor. Beating all the existing lead actors of Ollywood, Siddhant gained huge…