Ritwik Kumar Ghatak was an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor and playwright. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily remembered for its meticulous depiction of social reality, partition and feminism. He won the National Film Award's Rajat Kamal Award for Best Story in 1974 for his Jukti Takko Aar Gappo and Best Director's Award from Bangladesh Cine Journalist's Association for Titash Ekti Nadir Naam. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri for Arts in 1970.
The Odia (ଓଡ଼ିଆ), formerly spelled Oriya, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Indian state of Odisha who speak the Odia language. They constitute a majority in the eastern coastal state, with significant minority populations existing in the neighboring states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Ravi Baswani was an Indian film actor, best known for his role in Sai Paranjpe's Chashme Buddoor (1981) and Kundan Shah's cult comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983), for which he won Filmfare Best Comedian Award in 1984. He was noted for his comic timing and underplaying a character in the true sense of the word. In a career spanning 30 years he acted in some 30 films. He died in Haldwani, on his way to Delhi from Nainital, to where he had travelled to scout for locations for his upcoming debut directorial feature film.
Nirad Narayan Mohapatra was an Indian film director. Mohapatra was born in the Indian state of Odisha. He directed the Oriya language film Maya Miriga, television soap operas and documentaries.
| birth_date = 6 June 1955 | birth_place = Delhi, India | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = National School of Drama | known_for = | years_active = | organization = Aakar Kala Sangam, New Delhi | occupation = Theatre Director }}
Pritish Nandy is an Indian poet, painter, journalist, parliamentarian, media and television personality, animal activist and maker of films, TV and streaming content. He was a parliamentarian in the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, elected on a ticket from the Shiv Sena. He is the author of forty books of poetry in English and has translated poems by other writers from Bengali, Urdu and Punjabi into English as well as a new version of the Isha Upanishad. Apart from these, he has authored books of stories and non fiction as well as three books of translations of classical love poetry from Sanskrit. He was Publishing Director of The Times of India Group and Editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, The Independent, and Filmfare in the 1980s, all simultaneously. He has held six exhibitions of his paintings and calligraphy. He founded Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd, the content company, in 1993. He also founded People for Animals, India's first animal rights NGO which is currently run by co-founder Maneka Gandhi as chairperson.
Jagadish Mohanty was a renowned Odia writer, considered as a trendsetter in modern Odia fiction, has received the prestigious Sarala Award in 2003, Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990 for his novel Kanishka Kanishka, Dharitri Award in 1985, Jhankar Award, Prajatantra Award. Born in Gorumahisani, an iron-ore mines in northern periphery in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, he spent more than 30 years of his life working in the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited(MCL) in western periphery of Odisha. Though he kept himself away from the cultural capital of Odisha, but still his writings highlighted him in the mainstream of Odia literature and culture.
The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile Prabhat Film Company in Pune. It was established in 1960 and its alumni includes technicians, actors and directors in the film and television industry.
Anil Chatterjee was an Indian actor in the Bengali cinema during the early fifties through the mid-nineties and is mostly remembered as a character actor. He acted or performed in about 150 movies, including a few in Hindi.
Ramesh Prasad Mohapatra was an Indian archaeologist and scholar on Odia Studies. He served as curator for archaeology at the Odisha State Museum from 1963 to 1989 and made significant contributions to historical research, especially in the fields of archaeology, art history, religion, and other aspects of Odia cultural history.
Mrinal Chatterjee is an Indian academic and author. He heads the Indian Institute of Dhenkanal. He has authored five academic books on media studies in Odia, including History of Journalism in Odisha and Glossary of Terms for Media Persons. His has authored ten novels and seven short story collections in Odia, including Jagate Thiba Jate Dina published (2010), Kandhei (2013), Eka Sundar Chandini Ratire (2016), Yamraj Chutire (2015), Yamraj Number 5003 (2016), which is translated into Assamese, and a series of columns in Odia
Navnindra Behl is an Indian theatre and television director, writer and actor.
Uday Shankar Pani is an Indian film maker. He graduated in 1974 from the Film and Television Institute of India. He was an assistant director in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. A 1974 documentary on the National Film Archive of India made by Pani was screened on that organization's 52nd anniversary. In 2016, he was selected as one of thirteen jurors for that year's International Film Festival of India. He is on the faculty) at Flyking Film Academy.
Lipika Singh Darai is an Indian filmmaker, editor and sound recordist from Odisha. Lipika has received four National Film Awards for direction, sound recording, and narration in the non-feature section. Her documentary Night and Fear (2023) premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in Ammodo Tiger Short competition. She is developing her debut fiction feature Birdwoman which has received the Hubert Bals Development Fund 2023. She is one of the ten creative talents in BAFTA Breakthrough-India 2023.
Himansu Sekhar Khatua is an Indian director, educationalist, and journalist. He directed the national film award winning movies Sunya Swaroop and Kathantara in 1996 and 2005 respectively. He was the previous managing director from the house of Kalinga Media and Entertainment Private Limited (KMEPL) and also the Ex-CMD of Kalinga TV, a news channel and Knews Odisha, a digital platform.
Binapani Mohanty was an Indian Odia language writer and academician. She was well known for her works such as Patadei and Kasturi Mriga. She was a professor in economics before retiring. She had been awarded Padmashree by the Government of India and Atibadi Jagannatha Das Sammana by Odisha Sahitya Akademi. She had earlier won the Sahitya Akademi Award and Sarala Award. She had served as chairperson of Odisha Lekhika Sansad.
Kuntala Kumari Sabat (1901–1938) was an Odia poet during colonial India. She was one of the women poets who came into prominence from Odisha during India's freedom struggle. She was multifaceted personality. She was a physician, writer, poet, editor, leader of nationalist movement and social worker. She was honored with Utkala Bharati in 1925.
Hussain Rabi Gandhi was an Indian Odia writer of the late-twentieth century, a politician, a public intellectual and a cultural activist hailing from the Indian state of Odisha. Being a founder member of Biju Janata Dal, he served as the general secretary of the party from upon its formation in 1998 till 2005. In 1994 the title of Biplabi Loka Kabi was conferred upon him by the Mayor of Cuttack. He was also awarded with the title of Utkala Jyoti in 1996 by the then Deputy chief minister of Odisha, Basant Kumar Biswal on the behalf of Freedom Fighter's Organisation. Gandhi primarily wrote in Odia language and was bestowed with the Secular India Harmony Award in 1993 by the former President of India, Giani Zail Singh and with the Gangadhar Meher Kabita award in 2015 for his notable contributions to the field of Odia poetry. Hussain served as the President of Odisha Sahitya Akademi (2008–2010). He was famously known as the Gandhi of Korei and was regarded as a bridge between Western Odisha and Coastal Odisha. He also served as Lead Member of Smt. Nandini Satpathy Memorial Trust (SNSMT).
Ajit Das was an Indian actor, director and playwright. He started acting in Ollywood with the Odia film Sindura Bindu. He received the moniker Hakim Babu from the film of the same name.
Gauribidanur Suryanarayan Bhaskar familiarly known as G.S. Bhaskar is an Indian cinematographer. His work is predominantly seen in films belonging to the Indian languages, Kannada and Hindi. He is a member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers. Known for his prominent work as a second camera assistant in the magnum opus Gandhi (1980). Karnataka State Film Award for Best Cinematographer has been bestowed upon him twice for Nagamandala (1997) and Koormavatara (2011).
