‘Kali Paain Kalira Cinema’ an attempt to preserve heritage of Odia movies: 68th National Film Awards winner Surya Deo

Authored by Odisha’s eminent film historian Surya Deo, “Kali Paain Kalira Cinema” won Best Book on Cinema (special mention) at the 68th National Film Awards announced by the I&B Ministry on Friday.

Deo was honoured with the prestigious award for his work ‘Kali Paain Kalira Cinema’. Deo authored the book which was published by Pakshighar Prakashanee. 

The book traces the evolution of Odia cinema and repletes with rare photographs and information which Deo painstakingly pieced up from myriad sources, having all the ingredients of academic rigour.

Speaking to OTV, Deo said that the book was an attempt to preserve the heritage of Odia cinema from fading away with time. “It contains the history of 21 classical films, their analysis along with some interesting anecdotes,” he said.

Some of the contents were earlier released in the form of booklets on the occasion of the screening of Odia movies retrieved and archived from obscurity by Film Journalist Forum.

“I want the book to be translated to Hindi and English so that it reaches a wider range of readers and art lovers,” Surya Deo said. 

Notably, Tamil superstar Suriya Sivakumar and actress Aparna Balamurali won the best actors award for film Soorarai Pottru. Similarly, Ajay Devgn won the National Awards for Tanhaji. 

The announcement of the 68th National Film Awards was held at National Award Centre in New Delhi today.