Odia Youths Give Thumbs Down To Ollywood!
The movie industry in Odisha, more popularly known as Ollywood, started in the year 1936 with ‘Sita Bibaha’. Mohan Sundar Deb Goswami was the maker of this first-ever Odia movie. Since then, Ollywood has produced numerous classics and blockbusters, crafting a rich heritage of filmmaking.
But it’s a different story these days. The charm of Ollywood seems to be waning with youths in the state least interested in watching an Odia film. To know the reasons behind this decadence, we caught up with some youths. Here’s what they had to say:
Nonsensical Names
Even if the film has a good storyline, but the title of the movie is embarrassing and affects all the interest in watching it. Titles like ‘I Love You Babu’, ‘Pagala Karichu Tu’ and ‘Daha Balunga’ among others are a big let-down and convey no logic to moviegoers. The directors don’t do hard work to come up with suitable and good titles for the films; rather they sometimes use the lyrics of Hindi songs as the titles of their movies.
Loud Music
Unlike the earlier songs, there is no originality in Odia film songs these days. They have lyrics in mixed languages (Hindi, Odia, and English). The music too is very loud with sounds like ‘Dhoom dhadaka’ which are a pain to the ears. Nevertheless, young Odia singers have really good voices and if given the right opportunity, they would nail it.
Full Of Melodrama
These days, Odia films are full of drama. The filmmakers of Ollywood show no originality in their films; they don’t show what is really happening in Odia society or Odisha. What they show is really melodramatic and illogical.
Same Storyline
In this era, every Odia movie has the same story line. There is a hero and a heroine who fall in love and have their moments. Suddenly a villain appears, the hero bashes him and then everything turns out well in the end with the hero and heroine getting married. This storyline is so common that it’s boring and the viewers have lost all interest in watching Odia films.
Ridiculous Remakes
Odia filmmakers are churning out remakes, which seem like parodies of the original ones. For instance, the amazing movie ‘Magadheera’ was remade in Odia as ‘Megha Sabarire Asiba Pheri’. Those who have watched both the original and remade versions are of the opinion that SS Rajmouli, the maker of the original movie, would surely commit suicide if he watches the Odia remake.
Low Budget
The Odia film productions have a really low budget and as a result, the cinematography gets worse and worse. The actors get really poor makeup for which they seem to be less attractive in the movies. The state government should really support them financially.
No Originality
The new crop of Odia films are always copies of popular Telugu and Hindi films and lack original ideas. There are no interesting contents on which a movie can be made and which can attract the viewers. In the 80s and 90s, the Odia films had original contents that every Odia moviegoer was proud of. Sadly, originality is vanishing now.
While this is what most youngsters had to say about Odia films and why there are not able to create the right noise, we at My City Links also believe that the industry does keep churning out a few classics from time to time, many of which are making it to international film festivals as well.
If such a trend continues, in no time, the young crowd too would be visiting the theatres to watch their favorite Odia films, which in turn will encourage filmmakers to focus more on quality and original cinema.