Ashiit Patra Hopes To Win Over Audience With Odia Cineplay ‘Sakharam Binder’

Bhubaneswar: A special treat is in store for Odia cinema lovers with ‘Sakharam Binder’, a cineplay, to be released on OTT platform soon.

What is a cineplay?

“It’s a play presented on screen as cinema while keeping its dramatic soul alive and original essence undisturbed. It is a new concept in Odisha,” explained Ashiit Kumar Patra, actor and director of ‘Sakharam Binder’.

The trailer of the movie will be released on Ganesh Chaturthi, but the release date of the cineplay is yet to be decided.

Written in Marathi by noted playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1972, ‘Sakharam Binder’ was banned after its stage debut for alleged vulgarity. The ban was lifted after two years.

Ashiit, who has performed in over 200 plays since 2005, loved the story of Sakharam Binder when he came across it.

“I translated the story into Odia and planned a cineplay,” said Ashiit.

Sakharam is a book binder who does not believe in marriage. He prefers live-in relationships with women. “To know the entire story of Sakharam, audiences have to watch the cineplay,” he added.

Ashiit and Sunil Pattnaik have co-directed Sakharam Binder, which features Sweta Acharya, Reshmanjali, Sujit Paikray and Pintu Nanda, apart from Ashiit.

“Space is very limited in a play, whereas there is no such restriction in cinemas. We have to stoke feelings among the audience through dialogues and our performance at one place. We have completed the shooting of the 2-hour and 40-minute long cineplay in one house,” Ashiit informed.

“We started shooting the movie after the first wave of coronavirus but the second wave halted us.” Ashiit said of the cineplay which has been produced under the banner ‘Brajalaxmi Movies’.

“We hope audience will like it, as it is based on a classic subject,” Ashiit said.