Orissa HC trashes 2019 State Film Awards, orders publication of fresh award list in a month

The ‘duty of judgement’ is a sacred one; be it a judge of law or the jury of the cine awards, observed the Orissa High Court while nullifying the Odisha State Film Awards-2019.

A single-bench of Justice SK Panigrahi has quashed the final selection list of 31st Odisha State Film Award, 2019 and ordered publication of fresh list of nomination keeping in ‘rules that govern the procedure’.

“The jury members are great stalwarts of Odia cinema and nothing but the highest standards of integrity and vision is expected of them. I firmly believe that the jury would be impartial and truthful in their approach and strive to represent a vision of evolutionary creativity that is espoused in the industry,” Panigrahi said.

The court direction came in response to a petition filed by film Director Bobby Islam who had submitted his application for consideration in Odisha State Film Awards-2019 for his feature film "CHHABIRANI" released on 19.09.2019. 

However, when the final selection list of 31st Odisha State Film Award-2019 was declared on 05.11.2021, the petitioner’s film did not find mention in any of the categories. 

The petitioner alleged that the films ‘Khusi’, selected for awards in 5 categories, is a remake of a Korean film "Hope" while "Golmal Love" is plagiarized from a Punjabi film "CARRY ON JATTA".

While quashing the award list, the Court directed that the 31st Odisha State Film Award, 2019 shall be declared within one month. The court clarified that ‘Khusi’ and ‘Golmal Love’ shall not be considered for any award category in the fresh list.

Reported by Gautam Panda, OTV