Row over non-inclusion of Odia movies in Film Museum

Sandip.Bal@timesgroup.com

A misinformation about non-inclusion of

Odia

films in the newly opened National

Museum

for Indian

Cinema

in Mumbai has caused an uproar in the Odia film fraternity. This forced

Odisha Film Development Corporation

(OFDC) chairman Kuna Tripathy to write to the

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

and the PM.

Tripathy complained that despite Odia cinema’s history of around 83 years, it was overlooked by the

Films Division

while setting up the museum. “There are materials related to films in 21 languages displayed in the museum, except Odia language. While collecting related materials, the museum authorities didn’t even bother to consult OFDC, which has been working for the development of Odia cinema. We request the authorities to place related items on Odia film in the museum,” he wrote.

The Films Division, however, refuted the allegation. “Our cultural team has put together a number of posters, booklets and photographs of Odia films in Gulshan Mahal exhibition galleries and the New Museum Building gallery on the fourth floor apart from brief description on the history of Odia cinema in the first floor (regional cinema section) of Gulshan Mahal. We would make efforts to acquire more filmic material related to Odia cinema and shall have them displayed at the NMIC in the future,” wrote Anil Kumar N, nodal officer, NMIC, in an email,
while sharing some photos from the relevant gallery.
Tripathy, however, said he’s yet to get any response from the ministry to his letter. “I later got to learn that they have Odia films along with other regional cinema and that may have created the confusion,” he said.