No patriotic movies now!

Patriotic movies have been a staple on television channels as far as August 15 screenings are concerned. Starting from Mother India, Purab Aur Paschim, Shaheed, Roja, Border to more contemporary films like Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, Lakshya or Peepli Live, there is no dearth of Hindi patriotic movies to choose from. Unfortunately if one wants to watch a patriotic Odia movie to celebrate Independence Day, there aren’t too many names that come to mind.
In fact, apart from a lone Balidan that released way back in 1979, Odia directors can’t name at least Odia movie that has explored the patriotic genre. While romance, comedy, action and drama are being churned out regularly, patriotic films are being given a complete miss. If pan-Indian directors can explore this genre and even make contemporary films about the state of affairs in our country, why is it that Ollywood doesn’t share the same urge?
Directors raise various concerns when asked about the absence of patriotic movies in the Odia film industry. According to Prashant Nanda, who directed and acted in Balidan, patriotic films are not being made in Odisha because directors now lack in originality. “The Odia film industry has gone through a lot of changes during the 90s era. A new group of producers emerged during this time. They wanted to play safe. So, rather than risking with original scripts, they started doing remakes. That started the trend of remaking the South action or romantic hits. The trend has continued and even if you come up with an original script based on a patriotic theme, their lack of ability to visualize a film from its script prevents them from exploring this genre,” he says.
Nanda, in fact, wants to debunk the myth that the Odia audience won’t accept good patriotic films. “Directors and producers must give options to the viewers. This system can also be changed if we have multiplexes. A section of society doesn’t prefer to see commercial Odia movies that are being made now. With a different script and high-quality presentation to attract them to halls, things can change. If this multiplex-crowd starts accepting Odia movies, producers will also be interested,” Nanda says.
However, director Susant Mani thinks a good patriotic film needs to be mounted well. That requires a huge budget, which the producers are not ready to give. “Patriotic films are completely different from what we are now making in Odisha. Not only patriotic films, genres like thriller or horror remain vastly unexplored here. To break this trend and to invest in something different, both the producers and directors have to be extremely passionate about the project. Remaking Tamil or Telugu movies will take us nowhere,” says Mani.
But, budget can’t always be a constraint since small films exploring contemporary social issues are being churned out in Mumbai too. Films like A Wednesday or Peepli Live have also been accepted by the Indian audience. Why can’t Ollywood replicate this model? According to director Chakradhar Sahu, Ollywood should refrain from following the habit of following a formula and learn to take risks. “Nothing good happens if you don’t take any risk. If we learn to go beyond following a trend, quality movies can be made. There’s actually no point in blaming only the producers. We directors have equal responsibilities to shoulder. It’s very sad that only the name of Balidan comes to our mind as an Odia patriotic film. I’m sure we can do better than this,” he muses.
Sudhakar Vasanth, who is very much into the trend of remakes, thinks that the Odia film market is not big enough to make experiments. “If you talk about a Rang De Basanti or A Wednesday, they also reap benefits from the profits that come from the overseas market. We don’t have that opportunity for Odia films as yet. Making experimental films that explore genres like patriotism may sound good in theory. Ollywood doesn’t have the market to recover the cost by making such movies,” he clarifies.
Opinions are divided but as things stand now, people in Odisha will have to settle for watching Hindi patriotic movies on screen today.