Odia is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the official language in Odisha where native speakers make up 82% of the population, and it is also spoken in parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Odia is one of the many official languages of India; it is the official language of Odisha and the second official language of Jharkhand. The language is also spoken by a sizeable population of at least 1 million people in Chhattisgarh.
Pratibha Ray is an Indian academic and writer of Odia-language novels and stories. For her contribution to the Indian literature, Ray received the Jnanpith Award in 2011.
Manoj Das is an Indian author who writes in Odia and English. In 2000, Manoj Das was awarded with Saraswati Samman. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2001, the fourth-highest Civilian Award in India, Padma Bhusan in 2020, the third highest Civilian Award in India for his contribution in the field of Literature & Education.
Akshaya Mohanty, also known as Khoka Bhai, was an Indian singer, lyricist, composer, musician and writer in Odia. He has contributed Odia bhajans, Odissi songs, folk songs, film and non-film modern light songs in Odisha on contemporary themes and ballads based on popular legends in Odisha.
Kalindi Charan Panigrahi was a noted Odia poet, novelist, story writer, dramatist, and essayist. He is famous for his magnum opus Matira Manisha. He has been awarded Padma Bhushan and Sahitya Akademi award for contribution to odia literature.
Odia literature is the literature written in the Odia language and predominantly originates in the Indian state of Odisha. The language is also spoken by minority populations of the neighbouring states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The region has been known at different stages of history as Kalinga, Udra, Utkala or Hirakhanda. Odisha was a vast empire in ancient and medieval times, extending from the Ganges in the north to the Godavari in the south. During British rule, however, Odisha lost its political identity and formed parts of the Bengal and Madras Presidencies. The present state of Odisha was formed in 1936. The modern Odia language is formed mostly from Pali words with significant Sanskrit influence. About 28% of modern Odia words have Adivasi origins, and about 2% have Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu), Persian, or Arabic origins. The earliest written texts in the language are about thousand years old. The first Odia newspaper was Utkala Deepika first published on 4 August 1866.
The Odia film industry, colloquially known as Ollywood, is the Odia language Indian film industry, based in Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack in Odisha, India. The name Ollywood is a portmanteau of the words Odia and Hollywood.
Anubhav Mohanty is an Indian actor, film producer, television personality and politician. He has a significant following in Odisha, referred as the "Bhaijaan", "Baadshah" and "Kalinga Sandha" of Ollywood.He is currently the highest paid actor of Ollywood.
Ramakrushna Nanda was an Indian writer, educator and author of children's literature. He composed the song Ahe Dayamaya Biswa Bihari, a favourite of Mahatma Gandhi when Gandhi was at Sabarmati Ashram. This song was included in his Odia-language textbook Sahitya Sopana.
Sanjay Nayak is an Indian Oriya filmmaker. He regarded as one of the most successful filmmakers in Odisha. Nayak, the young filmmaker has directed 32 movies in a short career of 15yrs in the film industry. He has also produced several movies under his production house 'Sanjay Nayak Films'. He not only directs but also write scripts, lyrics and does the screenplay. He produced and directed Keun Duniaru Asila Bandhu which is the first science fiction in Oriya.
Sabyasachi Mohapatra is an Indian film director, writer, and producer in Odia cinema. He owns a production house named Mohapatra Movie Magic.
Bijay Mohanty was an Indian film actor of Odia Cinema. He was honored a National Film Award.
Jatindra Kumar Nayak is an Indian translator, literary critic, columnist, editor and academic from Odisha. Nayak has translated several works of Odia literature into English, including Yantrarudha, a novel by Chandrasekhar Rath, as 'Astride the Wheel'. Astride the Wheel for which he received the 2004 Hutch Crossword Book Award for Indian Language Fiction Translation. He also won the Katha Translation Award for his English rendering of Tarun Kanti Mishra's short story as The Descent. Nayak is a co-translator of the English translation of Odia novel Chha Mana Atha Guntha by Fakir Mohan Senapati. The English translation of the book was first published in the USA under the title Six Acres and a Third. He has also translated into English the Atma Jibana Charita, the autobiography of Fakir Mohan Senapati, as Story of My Life. His other notable translations in English include the translation of Jagannath Prasad Das's Desha Kala Patra into A Time Elsewhere. Rupantar, an organisation that he founded in Bhubaneswar publishes translation of Odia books in English.
Gopala Chandra Praharaj was a writer and linguist in the Odia language, well known as the compiler of the Purnachandra Odia Bhashakosha. He also contributed significantly to Odia literature by his works in prose. A lawyer by profession, Praharaj wrote several satirical and analytical essays, in magazines such as Utkal Sahitya, Rasachakra, Nababharata, and Satya Samachar, on the social, political and cultural issues of contemporary Odisha (Odisha) during early 20th century.
Krushna Chandra Kar was an Indian poet and literary critic who has written both in the Odia and English. He has authored books on Odia literature and inspired other writers like Bidyutprabha Devi and Chakhi Khuntia. He received a feliciation from the Odisha Sahitya Academy for his contribution to Odia literature in the year 1971 to 1972. He spent most of his life in Cuttack, Odisha.
Balunga Toka is a 2011 Indian Odia-language romantic comedy film directed by Sudhakara Basanta. The film stars Anubhav Mohanty and Barsha Priyadarshini as lead role. Balunga Toka was released on 2 October 2011. The film was commercially success and became the highest-grossing Odia film of all time. It is a remake of the 2004 Tamil film 7G Rainbow Colony. The film score was released by Amara Muzik.
Ramesh Bhanja was a writer, a teacher, an educationist, a linguist, a historian, an editor, a dramatist. He has many short-story & poetry collections for children of all age groups. For his book Gapa Ganthili he received the Odisha Sahitya Academy Award.
Kanhu Charan Mohanty was an Indian Odia language novelist who has authored fifty-six novels in a career spanning over six decades from 1930 to 1985. He is considered as "one of the most popular and celebrated novelists of Odisa". Mohanty was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1958 for his novel, Kaa, published in 1956, and was one of the fellows of the Sahitya Akademi. Mohanty died on 6 April 1994 at the age of 87.
Sitadevi Khadanga (1902–1983) was an dramatist, novelist, poet and translator from Orissa, India. She wrote in and translated into the Odia language. Set in rural Orissa, her writings depicts social problems of the area in the 20th-century. Her contribution to Odia poetry is considered to be a landmark in Odia literature.
