Devotees across the world are drenched in festive fervour as Lord Jagannath with his siblings, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, has stepped out of Srimandir for his devotees. Lord Jagannath, fondly called Chakadola, is the God 'of and for' devotees. All his ‘leelas’ hold significance and of them Ratha Jatra or Rath Yatra is unique.
Ratha Jatra is famous across the world as this splendid event witness the spectacular union of the Supreme Power and his devotees, irrespective of caste and religion. Ratha Jatra is much more than just a symbolic journey of Lord Jagannath and his siblings from Srimandir to the Gundicha temple.
Lord Jagannath symbolises Odia culture and the spiritual connection of every Odia with the Master of the Universe (Jagata Ra Natha- Jagannatha) is deep since their birth.
With such a significant influence of Lord Jagannath in the lives of every Odia, the divine Master of the Universe is not away from the entertainment world. While countless bhajans have been dedicated to Lord Jagannath, several Odia movies have also been created, either with pivotal screen presence or with a thematic existence.
Here we bring the list of five Odia movies, either based on Lord Jagannath or with his thematic existence.
Shree Jagannath
1950’s devotional film Shree Jagannath is the third flick of the Odia cine industry. The film was based on Shree Jagannath's culture and history. Gopal Chandra Ghosh, Gloria Mohanty, Chapala Nayak, Ramachandra Mania, Khagendra Nath Mitra, Samuel Sahu (Babi) and Bhim Singh were seen in different characters. Actress Chapala Nayak (Parbati Ghosh) made her debut as a child artist in this movie.
Manika
Popular movie Manika, based on Lord Jagannath, was released in 1976. While the movie was produced by Jogendra Mohapatra and Purna Mohapatra, the screenplay and dialogues were penned by Premanjan Mohanty. The movie directed by R. Asrar was based on Lord Jagannath’s famous ‘Kanchi Abhiyan’ and curd seller Manika.
While Bijay Mohanty played the character of Manika’s husband Chandra Behera, Tandra Ray played Manika’s character. Guru Dutt portrayed Lord Jagannath’s character.
Jai Jagannatha
2007’s multilingual film Jai Jagannatha, directed by National Award-winning director Sabyasachi Mohapatra, was based on Laxmi Purana. The movie was all about Lord Jagannath’s leela of uplifting backward classes and untouchables in society.
The movie was released in 2007 during Ratha Yatra in Odia and Hindi languages. Later, it was dubbed into 13 other languages including English. Sritam Das, Pintu Nanda and Jyoti Mishra were seen in Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra’s characters. While Mohini Shilalipi played the lead character of Sriya Chandaluni, Sarat Pujari was seen in the character of Gajapati Maharaja.
Several other popular actors including Hara Patnaik, Sadhu Meher and Pradyumna Lenka were a part of the award-winning movie.
Hisab Kariba Kalia
1990’s movie Hisab Kariba Kalia, starring Debu Bose, Sriram Panda, Mihir Das, Rai Mohan Parida and Dukhiram Swain, got highly admired by movie lovers. While Debu Bose played the protagonist Dinanath Master’s character, Dukhiram was seen as the antagonist. The movie showed a glimpse of Lord Jagannath.
Jaga Hatare Pagha
Tarang Cine Productions released its 3rd movie ‘Jaga Hatare Pagha’ in 2015. Directed by Murali Krishna, Dr Nirmala Nayak was the dialogue writer. Music director Prem Anand composed the songs in the movie.
While Anubhav Mohanty and Jhilik Bhattacharjee were seen in the lead, Buddhaditya Mohanty was seen as the antagonist and Elina Samantaray was the second lead actress. Moreover, Ajit Das, Minaketan and Asit Pati were seen in different characters.
Even another movie with the same title was released earlier in 1985. The movie starred Uttam Mohanty, Bijay Mohanty and Aparajita Mohanty in the lead.