Ulka: Odia Cinema’s Meteoric Star Forever

Bhubaneswar: Written on the lines of the famous American sitcom Welcome Back Kotter (1975-1979) first as ‘Ashant’ and then with addition of Indian ethos, plots and elements of filmmaking, ‘Ulka’ (meteorite), the legendary Odia movie with new-age storytelling style and memorable songs, was conceived by US-educated management professional Surya Mishra.

He was the screenplay writer and co-director as well.

In fact, ‘Ukla’ is perhaps the first Odia movie to have been inspired by Hollywood style of professional filmmaking as Mishra, during his US days, once encountered technically-sound and professional filmmaking at the Universal Studios in Los Angeles.

Not only for the pure love for quality filmmaking, ‘Ulka’ in many ways was a film ahead of its time and perhaps the only Odia film for which leaflets were distributed as part of public outreach through helicopter during the 80s. It was made with an investment of Rs 8 lakh.

The Odia movie from Cuttack-based Rajlaxmi Productions of Debabrata Kar, the publishing house of Odisha Book Emporium fame, has all these things to its credits. And after so many decades, the entire auditorium of Jaydev Bhawan on July 19 saw a packed house with nearly 100 viewers, many of whom watched the film by standing for almost 2.5 hours.

This time of course, it was screened after being restored by Odisha Film Journalists Forum.

The title ‘Ulka’ refers to the three brothers (actually adopted by their mother Radha) of the main protagonist Sunny (Sanat), who appeared in their life just like meteorites and disappeared as it happens in the celestial way. All the three adopted sons appeared, played their roles and along with the ailing mother Radha, died in a tragic road mishap.

According to the veteran actress Mahashweta Ray, who played the lead opposite the main protagonist, barring Gloria Mohanty, Byomokesh Tripathy, Radha Panda and her, almost all actors were new. She also had to do her own makeup while shooting for the song ‘Abhimanini amania dheu’ while Art Director Sampad Mohapatra chipped in at times. The lead actress also designed costumes for some scenes of the film.

Convener of Odisha Film Journalists Forum Surya Deo, narrated how it was a herculean task even to get the prints of the film and the more than two years it took for the processing work.

Lyricist Sacchi Mohanty was the cynosure of all eyes as the songs were another major attraction of ‘Ulka’. Many in the audience, who are fans of these evergreen numbers, perhaps never knew that Sacchi Mohanty had penned the philosophical lines, “E jiban mane nuhen aha, piladina dhuli ghara balighara, Jibana pathe asile jhada nahin dara.” (life is not a childhood play, we have to face its challenges without fear).

The film’s music has beautiful compositions of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia’s flute, guitar of Bhupinder, mouthorgan of Bhanu and ‘Jaltarang’ of Shiv Kumar Sharma. While music arrangement was done by Uttam Singh, music director and a well-known violinist, Michel Power and Brooze of Jatni’s Anglo Indian band “Irpsons” were also part of the background music score.

The film was shot near Rambha, Gopalpur, Berhampur University, Chilika, Bari and around Cuttack. Beautiful sites around Berhampur, including Pota Gada near Chhatrapur, were includes in the scenes.

The Mahurrat of ‘Ulka’ was held on October 23, 1980, at Rambha and it was premiered at Grand Talkies in Cuttack on March 19, 1981.