Life & times of Odia legends to come alive on stage – Times of India

In the first phase, the Akademi will be staging five plays from April 25 to 29 in Bhubaneswar on five eminent personalities — Utkal Gourab Madhusudhan Das, Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja, Gana Kabi Baishnaba Pani, Santha Kabi Bhima Bhoi and legendary freedom fighter Veer Surendra Sai.

“Called the ‘Legends of Odisha’, the biopics will be directed and written by eminent theatre directors and writers of the state. We planned theatre first as it is a good medium to introduce culture to people,” said Prabodh Rath, secretary of the Akademi. Work on the plays started six months ago, when the theatre personalities did extensive research and selected actors (more than 25 artists in each play) to put in place the productions.

Director Kailash Panigrahi will put into action “Nisidha Neelchal” — the biopic of Das written by veteran playwright Rajat Kar. The play will feature Sangram Keshari Pati as Das and Sudesh Chandra Nayak as Karmaveer Gourishankar Ray, the president of Utkal Sammilani. The duo was among the few persons responsible for the formation of a separate state on April 1, 1936.

“Madhubabu came to Odisha as the lawyer of Lord Jagannath when the British administration wanted to take over the Jagannath Temple administration,” said Panigrahi. “Madhubabu’s arguments stopped the sinister designs of the British. Being a Christian, Madhubabu could never enter the temple. So the name Nisidha (bar) Neelachal (Jagannath),” he further said.

Director-actor Satya Behera will be playing the role of Veer Surendra Sai Sai in the biopic of the freedom fighter that will showcase his life from his birth in 1809 to death in 1884, out of which 37 years were spent in jail. “It will include start of his revolutionary life in 1827, arrest in Sambalpur in 1840 and sending to Hazaribagh jail, release from jail during the sepoy mutiny and capturing of Sambalpur palace in 1857, laying down arms in 1864 to stop British atrocities on his people. The character has many shades. It is both strenuous and satisfying to play it,” said Behera, who will have two assistant directors to support him.

The biopic of Pani is being directed by eminent director-writer-actor Dhira Mallick. He had to go through the life story and plays of the poet, whose compositions touched every Odia heart though he was educated only till class IV. Pani, a Brahmin by birth, set aside the caste system to live with the love of his life, Harapriya Dhobani, a washerwoman. Pani said that artists do not have caste, according to Mallick.

Theatre veteran Ananta Mahapatra will be working on Upendra Bhanja’s biopic and director Manoj Patnaik on Bhima Bhoi’s play.