Shailendra Parida First Fight Master from Orissa

Shailendra Parida, the unsung hero who has taught the actors how to take on 10 villains at once. Out-of-the-world jumps and flying kicks have jazzed up the Oriya cinema scene during its 76 years long journey. Action scenes have been an integral part of Oriya movies.

Parida, who holds a black belt in taekwondo from a martial arts school in Kalimpong, once nurtured the ambition to become a hero in Oriya films. When he approached various directors and actors, however, they told him that the industry had an urgent need for a stuntman. Earlier, they had been using the resources of stunt artists from Mumbai and Chennai. As Parida fit the bill, they urged him to become a “fight master” instead of an actor.

Shailendra began assisting fight masters from 1992 and worked under the likes of Judo Ramu, Rashid Mehta and R Raju, who were from Mumbai and Chennai. He began with the Oriya film Janma Data. So far, he has directed action sequences for more than 17 Oriya films, 35 Chhattisgarhi films, 5 Bhojpuri films and 5 Bengali films. The “fight master” has already worked with the leading stars of Oriya films like Sidhant, Anubhav, Arindam, Sabyasachi, Akash and so on.

The fight master, who has a team of 20 assistants being trained under him, feels that the remuneration today is quite good. “Depending on the budget of the film, I get close to Rs 50,000 per fight for a film,” he says.