Eminent Odia singer Chitta Jena passes away in Odisha’s Cuttack

Eminent Odia singer Chitta Jena passed away at a private hospital in Odisha’s Cuttack this morning. He was 76.

Family sources said that Jena had undergone a open heart surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi in 2016. But as his health condition had deteriorated, he was admitted to a private hospital three weeks ago.

Born in 1941, Chitta had first lent his voice in 1974 for the movie ‘Mana Akasha’ and was awarded the prestigious ‘Prafulla Kar Samman’ by Prafulla Kar Foundation.

Jena had become a household name across the state with his mesmerizing voice in the songs ‘Mo priya tharu kie adhika sundara’, ‘Rupa hoithiba labanyabati’, ‘Puja kahin puja’, ‘Ae bana jharana’, ‘Najare naja gori bali jatara dekhi’, ‘Manika alo manika’ among others.

A pall of gloom descended on the Odia film industry after the demise of Chitta Jena. Odisha top-ranked state in per capita data consumption in India