Noted Odia film producer and director Amiya Patnaik passes away

Noted Odia film producer and director Amiya Patnaik passed away after a prolonged illness at New Delhi on Friday. He was 63 and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital there for pancreatic cancer.

The filmmaker, who is the younger brother of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Chief Niranjan Patnaik, is known for producing movies like ‘Pardesi Babu’, ‘Mamata Mage Mula’, ‘Hakim Babu’, ‘Pua Mora Kalathakura’, ‘Chaka Akhi Sabu Dekhuchi’, ‘Raja Rani’, ‘Asuchhi Mo Kalia Suna’, ‘Chakadola Karuchhi Leela’ and ‘Tulasi Apa’.

He is survived by his wife Seema Patnaik and son Anupam. Amiya Patnaik, known for making socially epic films including 1985 National award-winning ‘Hakim Babu’, was an engineer before he ventured into producing and making Odia films.

He was also the founding member of Kanak Manjari Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and director of Eastern Media Limited. Patnaik’s last film as director was ‘Tulasi Apa’, the first Odia biopic on social activist Tulasi Munda. ‘Tulasi Apa’, which released in 2015, won several accolades internationally and nationally.

Also a dramatist, Amiya Patnaik had formed TechnoArts, a theater group, during his stint as a student in NIT, Rourkela. He made dramas like ‘Pruthak Pruthibi’ and ‘Byabhichara’, ‘Narka re Chahala’ to name a few. In 1978, he was adjudged the best director in Lok Kala Mahotsav and shot to fame in 1981 with ‘Byabhichara’. He is credited to have started slow-motion techniques on the stage.

Amiya Patnaik also ventured into the small screen with one of the longest-running Odia shows ‘Gotie Mana ra Kotie Swapna’. A pall of gloom descended in the film fraternity with condolences pouring in from different quarters following the demise of Patnaik.

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