Odia Web Series, The Beginning Of A New Trend

Bhubaneswar: In a first of its kind, ‘BnR Films’ has come up with ‘100% Original’, a web series to tickle the funny bone of Odias. Created by Pune-based Odia artists and technicians, it is the first ever Odia web series made entirely outside Odisha.
The first episode, titled ‘Aama Odia Cinima’ is scheduled to be released on December 24 and is a satirical take on the way Odia film industry functions. It features Sarada Nath, Sagarika Pati, Subhasmita Jena, Akshay Sethi, Dipak Nayak (DJ DCode) and Sumat.

Sampad Maity has assisted in the direction and equipment. Filmmaker Biswanath, founder of BnR Films, has written, shot, edited and directed the first episode.
The official teaser of the web series was released on December 14 and received a huge response on social media, making the series one of the most awaited Odia web series of recent times. Co-producer Archana Rath says, ‘100% Original’ is a genuine effort to do something out-of-the-box and to bring positive changes in the Odia industry.

“We hope our efforts will pay off,” she said. Writer-director Biswanath says it is incorrect to say that there is a dearth of good quality Odia content. “It’s far from true. In the recent past, so many independent Odia feature films and short films, made by our fellow Odia filmmakers have received prestigious awards and recognition throughout the globe. The issue is that most of this content is not available online. On the other side, we have our commercial Odia film industry, which unfortunately has little to offer in terms of original entertaining content,” he said.

However, on the brighter side, recently a few Odia web series have been launched on YouTube, but the audience is either not much aware of these projects or has not found them impressive, he added. “This inspired us to do two things – to create awareness about good quality engaging and entertaining Odia content ourselves so that the general perception about Odia content or filmmakers can (slowly and steadily) changes,” he said.
He said this is a humble attempt at creating unique and engaging content for the YouTube audience. “Although the primary language is Odia, we hope even the non-Odia audience will also appreciate it (there are English subtitles),” Biswanath said.
On December 4, Biswanath’s international documentary, ‘Kotpad Weaving: The Story of a Race Against Time’ received the ‘Best Short Documentary Award’ in the Kashmir World Film Festival, Srinagar.