suchitradash-90109

Pushkara (Odia movie)

Rating: 3.5/5

I watched Pushkara in Bangalore today evening with my family. The movie is an adaptation of Odia novel Nadabindu.

What I liked:

1) Sabyasachi's career-best performance stands out throughout the film. Supriya, Ashrumochan and Choudhary Bikas Das also did quite well. Nobody could have played Sunanda better than Supriya. Kudos to her.

2) Original story based on a novel and the direction and treatment are honest without any commercial masala 3) Odia culture and Puri provide a great value addition to the screenplay 4) Despite a tragedy, the film manages to touch heart strings of audience and evokes strong emotions

Areas of improvement:

1) Screenplay was a bit slow in the first half 2) The transformation of Nilakantha to Pushkara should have been explored a bit more and shown 3) Due to budget constraints, the funeral setup looked a bit haphazard. It could have been shown in a more realistic way.

4) The movie at times gave the feeling of a TV serial, especially the scenes after Nandu's death where her family members were mourning felt very cringe to me

I would urge fellow Odias to watch the movie in large numbers and support good Odia films. It is critical to keep Odia cinema vibrant so better films can be made in future.

Thanks for reading.

I watched Pratikshya, a Odia movie in Bengaluru today. It was directed by debutant Anupam Patnaik who has arguably created one of the best Odia movies of all time. This is no mean feat considering Odia cinema has a history of 86 years. The screenplay is amazing and the movie has been shot in real-life locations of Bhubaneswar. I didn't find any artificial locations or sets anywhere. The story is extremely relatable to every Odia middle class person. The idiosyncrasies and struggles of an Odia unemployed youth is portrayed realistically. The movie is 2 hours 15 mins long and has only 3 songs. The music is quite refreshing with the use of guitar and unadulterated Odia lyrics. The music directors and singers deserve credit for this. There are no unnecessary songs and the casting is absolutely spot on. Dipanwit shines through brilliantly throughout the film. He has immersed himself into the role so much that audiences are bound to engage with the character. The movie also shows the frustration and pessimism of Odia youth with the corrupt government offices and recruitment system in most government organisations. The general preference for government jobs even at the cost of unemployment for multiple years, a massive social issue in Odisha also comes across in the film.

Choudhary Jayaprakash Das is a theatre veteran and plays the role of the father so effortlessly that it doesn't feel like he is an actor. He seems like every other typical Odia father who is nearing retirement and is worried about his son's unemployment. Barsha Nayak and Siddhant Mahapatra have played their limited roles well.

The movie is currently running at Innovative Multiplex in Bengaluru. The tickets are available on Paytm. It is expected to see greater response from Odias in Bengaluru and elsewhere in India in the coming week. The response so far in Odisha has been quite encouraging. I would urge fellow Odias to watch the movie in theatres in large numbers and support this film. Thanks for reading 🙏