PSBT Film Challenge Awards For Odisha Youth’s ‘Khidkiyaan’

Bhubaneswar: Odisha youth Arjun Samanta Ray’s short Hindi movie ‘Khidkiyaan’ has won the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) Film Challenge Awards for 2020-21.

The movie received awards in the best director category and for technical excellence.

The 10-minute-long film, which based on the COVID-19 pandemic, was shot in Bhubaneswar, Puri, and Khurda in December 2020.

Soumya Ranjan has played the lead role in the movie, which has Amisa Mohanty and Nachiketa Mallick in the supporting cast.

Suryasnata Tripathy has written the script while the music has been composed by Parag Behera.

The movie has been produced by Suryasnata and Arjun, who had also edited and handled the camera. 

A native of Jatni in Khurda, the 29-year-old is currently staying in Bhubaneswar. He is known for his documentaries, ‘Prahalada Natak’ and ‘Dola Purnima’.

Besides, he has directed over 10 short movies like ‘Our River of Seas,’ ‘Mati Muhan’ and ‘They Worship Me’. Now, he is working on two feature films.

“While the shooting of one of my feature films has been completed, the other will soon go on floors,” said Arjun, a theatre artiste.

He has worked in many plays in and outside Odisha.

“My father was a tent house manager at Annapurna Theatre B in Cuttack. I used to often visit the theatre with my father. I used to see the rehearsal through the windows. That inspired me to become an actor and director,” he said.

He has trained under Heisnam Kanhailal, the late Indian art theatre exponent, who is a Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee, and Sabitri Heisnam, a Padma Shri awardee as well.

Arjun has worked with theatre directors like Satyabrata Rout, a Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar winner and the late Dr Subodh Patnaik.

Notably, the awards were given by the PSBT in collaboration with the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

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