Nila Madhab Panda Dedicates His National Award For ‘Kalira Atita’ To Mother Earth; Other Winners From Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Odisha bagged three awards under the regional film category at the 67th National Film Awards, which were presented by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu at an event in New Delhi on Monday.

Sabyasachi Mohapatra’s ‘Sala Budhar Badla’ and Nila Madhab Panda’s ‘Kalira Atita’ were jointly conferred with National Award for Best Odia film while Ashutosh Pattnaik’s ‘Srikhetra Sahi Jata’ won the Best Arts/Cultural Film Award.

“Dedicate this honour to Mother Earth with folded hands. Kalira Atita is my first Odia film as director. This film is dedicated to the planet. I feel so elated and honoured to receive this National Award for the film,” Panda tweeted.

Scripted, directed and produced by Panda, Kalira Atita revolves around the life of a man from Odisha’s Satavaya village in Kendrapada district, which has been swallowed by the rising sea level. Pitobash Tripathy plays the protagonist in this film, through whom the filmmaker has expressed his own trauma of witnessing the ferocious sea gobble up village after village.

Panda, a Padma Shree awardee, started his celluloid journey with the acclaimed ‘I Am Kalam’, which won 34 international awards and a national award.

His subsequent work focused equally on environmental as well as children’s issues.

His other films include Babloo Happy Hai, Kaun Kitney Paani Mein and Kadvi Hawa.

Also Read: Odia Filmmaker Sabyasachi Mohapatra Misses His Protagonist As ‘Sala Budha Ra Badla’ Bags National Award