Odia Crime Thriller ‘Patnagarh’ Turns ‘Mindgame’, To Be Screened At 27th Kolkata International Film Festival

Bhubaneswar: Remember the Odia crime thriller starring Bollywood actor Atul Kulkarni and Ollywood fame Manoj Mishra inspired by the true incident of parcel bomb case—masked as a wedding gift—in Odisha’s Patnagarh? Well, the film never made it to the theatres after it faced legal hurdles with both the victims’ as well as the accused’s family objecting to its release.

The film—which was first titled ‘Patnagarh’ in 2018—was dropped from 25th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) in 2019 after Soudamini Meher—wife of the key accused, Punjilal Meher, who was arrested in 2018 for his alleged involvement in the blast case that claimed the lives of newly-wed Soumya Shekhar and his grandmother—sent legal notices to the festival organisers and Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), urging the authorities to stop the film’s screening at the prestigious event.

But, it’s 2021 and here’s some twist in the tale! After getting a go-ahead from the CBFC, the film has now been rechristened as ‘Mindgame’ and it has again made it to KIFF. The film will now be screened at the 27^th edition of KIFF—scheduled to be held between January 7 and 14 in Kolkata—under the Indian Language’s Films category. Meher had moved the Supreme Court as well, seeking a stay on the film’s release. But, the apex court had refused to stay the film’s release in 2019. “The Supreme Court had asked CBFC to look into the matter. As per the direction of CBFC, we changed the film’s title to ‘Mindgame’. The same will be released in the theatres soon,” confirmed the film’s producer, Sridhar Martha.

Earlier, the makers of the film had maintained that it is a work of pure fiction and not a biopic. It has been directed by award-winning filmmaker, Rajesh Touchriver. Interestingly, the blast case of Patnagarh was also aired on a popular television crime series.