Alluri Sitarama Raju was an Indian revolutionary who waged an armed rebellion against the British colonial rule in India. Born in present-day Andhra Pradesh, he was involved in opposing the British in response to the 1882 Madras Forest Act that effectively restricted the free movement of adivasis in their forest habitats and prevented them from practicing their traditional form of agriculture called 'podu', which threatened their very way of life. Rise in discontent towards the British colonial rule in the backdrop of the non-cooperation movement (1920–1922) led to the Rampa rebellion (1922–1924) in which Alluri Sitarama Raju played the major role as its leader. Mustering combined forces of tribals and other sympathizers to the cause, he engaged in guerilla campaigns against the British forces across the border regions of present-day Andhra Pradesh and Odisha states in India. He was given the title "Manyam Veerudu" by the local people for his exploits.
Suma Josson is an Indian-American journalist and filmmaker. Her documentary film Niyamgiri, You are still alive, on the ecological and human damage done by bauxite mining, won a first prize in the Short Film, Environment category at the 2010 International Film Festival of India.
Nandita Das is an Indian actress and director. She has acted in over 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das appeared in the films Fire (1996), Earth (1998), Bawandar (2000), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Azhagi (2002),Kamli (2006), and Before The Rains (2007). Her directorial debut Firaaq (2008), premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and travelled to more than 50 festivals, winning more than 20 awards. Her second film as a director was Manto (2018). Based on the life of 20th Century Indo-Pakistani short story writer Sadat Hasan Manto, the film was screened at Cannes Film Festival in the "Un Certain Regard" section. In September 2019, Das produced a two-minute Public Service Announcement music video India's Got Colour. The music video is about the issue of colourism and urges the audience to celebrate India's diversity of skin colour. Her first book, 'Manto & I', chronicles her 6-year long journey of making the film. She wrote, directed, produced and acted in a short film called, Listen to Her, that sheds light on the increase in domestic violence and overburden of work that women have been facing during the lockdown. She had also sought petition seeking the commutation of the death sentence handed out to Ajmal Kasab.
Manoj Bajpayee, also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. He is the recipient of numerous accolades including three National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards, and two Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In 2019, he was awarded India's fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri, for his contributions to art.
Nagma Arvind Morarji is an Indian politician and former actress. She was a popular lead actress in the 1990s. She made her cinematic debut in the film Baaghi opposite Salman Khan in 1990. It was Hindi cinema's seventh highest-grossing film of the year. She is known for her roles in films like Gharana Mogudu (1992), King Uncle (1993), Suhaag (1994), Kadhalan (1994), Baashha (1995) and Lal Baadshah (1999). She began her acting career in Bollywood. Nagma has acted in a broad range of films in India's languages predominantly in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Bhojpuri films and has also additionally appeared in several other regional language films such as Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi Marathi.
Madugula is a village in Anakapalli district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It was also known as Vaddadi or Vaddadimadugula and was founded by the rulers of the Matsya dynasty. Later, it merged into the kingdom of Nandapur - Jeypore and during the British Raj it remained an independent Zamindari for sometime. Later, in 1915 the zamindaris of Madugula and Pachipenta were purchased by Maharaja Vikram Dev III and they became a part of Jeypore Samasthanam and were governed by the Maharaja of Jeypore until 1947.
The Odia cinema, 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.
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is an ongoing conflict between Maoist groups known as Naxalites or Naxals and the Indian government. The influence zone of the Naxalites is called the red corridor, which has been steadily declining in terms of geographical coverage and number of violent incidents, and in 2021 it was confined to the 25 "most affected" locations, accounting for 85% of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence, and 70 "total affected" districts across 10 states in two coal-rich, remote, forested hilly clusters in and around the Dandakaranya-Chhattisgarh-Odisha region and the tri-junction area of Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal. The Naxalites have frequently targeted police and government workers in what they say is a fight for improved land rights and more jobs for neglected agricultural labourers and the poor.
Swayamsiddha is a 2010 Odia film directed by Sudhanshu Sahu with a screenplay and dialogue by Dilip Choudhury, produced by Prabhat Ranjan Mallik, and starring Siddhanta Mahapatra and Yukta Inderlal Mookhey. The film focuses on the implications for the young mass adopting to Maoist insurgency and their sustained alienation from the mainstream as a result. Geo-strategic importance of changing the minds of young people adopting terrorism through love and affection. The film traces the crisis from social trauma to unfair state system encouraging Mao-Naxal insurgency in Odisha.
Manmohan Mahapatra was an Odia filmmaker, director, producer, and writer. He won eight consecutive national film awards for his films Nishita Swapna, Majhi Pahacha, Klanta Aparanha, Neeraba Jhada, Seeta Raati, and Bhinna Samaya, among others.
Priyanka Bose is an Indian actress and model. Active on stage and in films, she is best known for her role in the Italian film Gangor, among others. Priyanka started her film career with small roles in Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Sorry Bhai!, Johnny Gaddar and Guzaarish. Her first film in a lead role was Gangor by the Italian director, Italo Spinelli in 2010. She gained recognition as an actress with her performance as a tribal woman in the film and went on to win the best actress award at the New Jersey Independent South Asian Film Festival.
Koraput is a Vidhan Sabha constituency of Koraput district, Odisha, India.
An American in Madras is a feature-length documentary film directed by Karan Bali. The film highlights American-born Ellis R Dungan's pioneering contribution to the then-developing Tamil Film Industry in South India between 1935 and 1950.
Devashish Makhija is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, graphic artist, fiction writer and poet. He is best known for writing and directing the full-length feature films: Ajji, Oonga, and Bhonsle. He also authored the bestselling children's books, When Ali Became Bajrangbali and Why Paploo was Perplexed, along with a series of 49 short stories published as an anthology, Forgetting, published by HarperCollins. He has also worked on the films Black Friday and Bunty Aur Babli. He has also directed film Joram.
Biswanath Rath is an Indian film director, screenwriter, editor and producer. His films have received a total of 503 recognition/awards in various International Film Festivals across the globe. He is the first Odia filmmaker to achieve the milestone of winning 500 film festival accolades which includes 118 awards. He is the founder of production company BnR Films LLP.
Vetagadu (transl. Hunter) is a 1979 Indian Telugu-language action film, produced by M. Arjuna Raju and K. Sivarama Raju under the Roja Movies banner and directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. It stars N. T. Rama Rao and Sridevi, with music composed by Chakravarthy. The film was remade in Hindi as Nishana (1980). Both movies were made under the same banner and by the same director.
Ajji (transl. Granny) is an Indian Hindi-language crime-drama film directed by Devashish Makhija. The film stars Sushama Deshpande, Sharvani Suryavanshi, Abhishek Banerjee, Sadiya Siddiqui, Vikas Kumar, Manuj Sharma, Sudhir Pandey, Kiran Khoje, and Smita Tambe in major roles. "Ajji" has been positioned as a dark take on the classic fairy tale, "Red Riding Hood". The film is backed by Yoodlee Films, a production venture of Saregama.The film won the Fresh Blood competition at the Beaune International Thriller Film Festival, France 2018. Sushama Deshpande, who played ‘Ajji’ won The Flame Award at the UK Asian Film Festival and received a special jury mention for her performance in the film at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA). Ajji was officially invited to compete at the 2017 Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and was showcased in the New Currents section of the 22nd Korean film extravaganza. Ajji was also a part of the Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) which took place 12–18 October and was played as a part of the India Gold category. Other official selection for festivals include Dharamshala International Film Festival, Singapore International Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The film was nominated for the Netpac Award at the 2018 Rotterdam International Film Festival. The film was released on 24 November 2017. Ajji is now available on Netflix.
Balekempa is a 2018 Kannada drama film written and directed by Ere Gowda. Produced by Zoo Entertainment Pvt Ltd, the film is about the relationship between a travelling bangle seller and his wife. The film was included in the list of the ten most notable films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Bhonsle is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Devashish Makhija and co-produced by Piiyush Singh, The film stars Manoj Bajpayee in the title role: a retired Mumbai police officer who befriends a North Indian girl and her brother who are targeted among other migrants by local politicians. Its first look was launched at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
Joram is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language thriller film written and directed by Devashish Makhija and produced by Zee Studios with Makhijafilm. It stars Manoj Bajpayee, Tannishtha Chatterjee, and Smita Tambe.
