Year Ender 2022: Ollywood sees a silver lining; achievements and controversies in Indian cinema
For the Indian cine industry, 2022 was a year of some incredible stories, unique presentations and outstanding achievements.
From box office hits to the most remarkable achievements and controversies, here’s everything that the entertainment industry witnessed in 2022:
Revival of Odia movies
Over the years, regional movies have always held a soft spot in the hearts of movie lovers and language barrier has hardly been an issue. In times where content really is considered the king, Ollywood (Odia cine industry) has carved a niche in the entertainment industry with some incredible movies and plays.
Here’s a list of few of them:
- DAMaN
This movie is based on the malaria eradication program named ‘DAMAN’ (Durgama Anchalare Malaria Nirakaran) by the Odisha government. With actors Babushaan Mohanty and Dipanwit Dasmohapatra in major roles, this Debi Prasad Lenka and Vishal Mourya co-directorial portrayed ground zero situation of the malaria infested remote areas of Malkangiri district and the relentless efforts of a team of several government officials to tackle it.
Released in theatres on November 4, DAMaN managed to bring Odia cinephiles back to movie theatres and ran successfully for weeks in a row. Later, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announced the movie ‘tax-free’ in the state saying, “The movie would inspire the employees of the state government, including the health staff, to perform their duties with utmost care and sincerity.”
DAMaN became a box office hit. Following this, the makers have decided to release the movie in Hindi language soon.
- Pratikshya
Even before it’s theatrical release, Odia movie ‘Pratikshya’ created a lot of buzz and in all the right ways. The Anupam Patnaik directorial starring Dipanwit Dasmohapatra and Choudhury Jayprakash Das in pivotal roles, became the only Odia movie among 25 feature films that were screened at the 53rd International Film Festival (IFFI). The movie was then screened at 11th Annual DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF) where it won the ‘Best Story Feature Film’ award.
Following that, Bollywood actor Anupam Kher announced at the IFFI Table Talks held in Panji, Goa, that he would make a Hindi remake of Pratikshya which he will produce and also play one of the major roles in the movie.
Pratikshya released in theatres on December 2 and after running successfully in the theatres for weeks, the movie was selected for screening at Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) on December 20.
- Adieu Godard
This Amartya Bhattacharya directorial starring a cast of seasoned actors like Choudhury Bikas Das, Choudhury Jayprakash Das and Shankar Basu Mallick along with Dipanwit Dasmohapatra and others, was of an unconventional taste.
‘Adieu Godard’ became the first Odia movie to release across India on September 2. It bagged the Best Film award in the Indian Language’s Competition at the 27th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) 2022 and later the ‘Dare to Dream’ award at the 24th UK Asian Film Festival (UKAFF). It had a Spanish premiere in Barcelona and later, won ‘Best Feature Film’ award at Cardiff Film Festival.
- Ahe Nilashaila
‘Ahe Nilashaila’ is historical drama under Choklate Productions that became a rage among theatre lovers. The play, depicting King Gajapati Ramchandra Deva’s continuous efforts to protect Lord Jagannath from the evil eyes of Naib Nazim, was first staged in Bhubaneswar between April 7 and 10 this year and garnered immense love from the audience. Later, on several audiences’ requests, the play was re-staged from July 8 to July 10.
After a huge success in Odisha’s state Capital, ‘Ahe Nilashaila’ was staged in Bengaluru in October. Later, the play was re-staged for the third time in Bhubaneswar in November.
Odisha’s Shreya Lenka becomes first Indian K-Pop star
While a majority of the world’s population is crooning to Korean Pop music, Odisha’s 18-year-old Shreya Lenka made it as the first Indian to become a K-Pop star.
Shreya, hailing from Jharsuguda district of Odisha, was selected to join popular K-Pop girl band ‘Blackswan.’
Kantara beats KGF
Rishab Shetty’s movie ‘Kantara’, a Kannada-language action thriller, smashed at the box office on its release on September 30 by making business of about Rs 450 crore. The movie, later, made headlines by beating both the instalments of Prashanth Neel’s KGF.
After theatrical success, ‘Kantara’ was later scheduled for OTT release and was dubbed on Hindi and Telegu languages for broader audiences.
RRR emerges as India’s Biggest Blockbuster
Director SS Rajamouli’s yet another magnum opus ‘RRR’, featuring actors Ram Charan and Jr NTR, smashed the box office on the first day of its release. The movie was said to have emerged as India’s biggest blockbuster. Not just in India, the movie opened to record numbers in New Zealand, Australia, UK and USA as well.
‘Doctor Strange’ screen writer C. Robert Cargill and Russo Brothers, directors of Marvel Films, showered praises on the Indian movie.
Controversies
Sushant Singh Rajput’s murder mystery
Two years after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, a mortuary employee of Cooper Hospital told media that the actor’s death was a case of murder and not suicide.
Roopkumar Shah, who claimed to have been present during SSR’s post mortem, said that he saw beating and injury marks on the actor’s body and suggested his seniors to videograph the entire process of post mortem.
Shah also told media that there were deep injury marks on Sushant’s neck and other body parts and it seemed like the bones of his hands and legs were broken due to assault.
Jacqueline Fernandez, Nora Fatehi in money laundering case
Actress Jacqueline Fernandez was named as an accused by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a supplementary chargesheet filed in Rs 200 crore money laundering case involving conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.
Earlier, Jacqueline and her contemporary Nora Fatehi, had recorded their statements as witnesses in the case. Pinky Irani, an associate of Jacqueline was also summoned to join the investigation.
Later, the actress appeared before the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police to join the investigation in the money laundering case.
Chandrashekhar was arrested for cheating and extorting money from some high-profile people, including former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh’s wife Aditi Singh.
Deepika Padukone trolled for latest song in SRK-starrer ‘Pathaan’
Actress Deepika Padukone faced severe social media backlash after the release of the latest song of upcoming SRK-starrer movie ‘Pathaan’, ‘Besharam Rang’. The actress was trolled for her alleged bold dance moves and excessive body exposure.
The Kashmir Files
Released on March 11, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s movie ‘The Kashmir Files’ gathered lesser mixed and more of bold reactions from the audiences. The movie that briefly portrays the genocides of Kashmiri Pandits back in the days, became quite a debatable topic.
Despite controversies, the movie ran successfully in theatres and later, it was scheduled for OTT premiere in multiple languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.
However, in May, media reported that the movie was banned in Singapore’s InfoCommMedia Development Authority on the grounds that it could disturb religious harmony. Later, Navad Lapid, IFFI’s jury head, at the concluding ceremony of the festival, termed the Indian movie as ‘vulgar propaganda movie’ that seemed ‘inappropriate’ for an artistic competitive section.
Following that, Anupam Kher, who played one of the major roles in the movie, said, “It is a film based on true incidents. Film Director Vivek Agnihotri interviewed around 500 people all around the world for the movie. On the night of January 19, 1990, five lakh Kashmiri Pandits had to leave their homes and memories in the Kashmir Valley following rising violence. As a Kashmiri Hindu, I lived with the tragedy. But nobody was recognising the tragedy. World was trying to hide this tragedy. The film started a healing process by documenting the tragedy.”
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