Oriya Directors Views about Remakes

Almost 90 per cent of the oriya movies produced are frame-by-frame copy of Tamil, Telugu or Hindi hits. Several films are imitating the same costume, dialogue, script and location. Some directors are going to the extent of lifting films scene by scene.

Hara Patnaik – I don’t think there is anything wrong in taking inspiration from a Tamil or Telugu hit. It is the content of the film that’s drawing the audience to the cinema hall. If Odia films can adapt these stories, we would be making good films.

Raju Mishra – The socio-economic and political scenario directly or indirectly influences entertainment and the taste of the audience. The industry has become a platform for fun and pleasure and serious film-making has become a thing of the past.

Prasanta Nanda – These film-makers are looking at easy success routes. These films are hits already. So all they have to do is remake them in Odia. This is a bad trend because serious and thinking film-makers, who are passionate about cinema, are losing ground. Some people are making money and want to invest that somewhere. The best venue has become the film industry.

Ajaya Mohanty – It is not true that people want to see remakes. If we give them good original films, they will see them, too. Some people are giving the industry a bad name.

Anonymous – Odia directors and producers don’t have the professional ethics to get a copyright. Film-makers have also had to pay compensation. But of late film-makers have been getting satellite rights from the original film-maker by paying some amount to avoid legal tangles.