Bhubaneswar: With the demise of eminent actor Bijay Mohanty, an era in Odia film industry came to an end. He will be forever remembered for his unparalleled skill of portraying characters ranging from a small character role to eponymous protagonist or antagonist with equal aplomb.
Bijay, born at Pandiri village in Kendrapara district in the year 1950, started his education in Mayurbhanj district’s Baripada town as his father was posted there. His tryst with acting started as a child when he was studying in Class X at Maharaja Krushnachandra School. It was a small character in a play staged on the occasion of annual day function of the school. Since that day he fell in love with the art of acting and there has been no looking back.
After Matriculation exams, he secured a job at the Odisha State Road Transport department and continued with his studies at Maharaja Purnachandra College simultaneously.
In the very first year at college, he bagged the best actor award in his college function. And there was no stopping this creative powerhouse.
He founded a theatre group by the name of ‘Jugechha Natya Sanstha’ taking like-minded artists and friends. They staged several plays, winning audiences’ hearts. It was then he realized that he was born to be an actor.
Mohanty left Odisha for New Delhi and joined the prestigious National School of Drama. He was one among those who received national scholarship there. Actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Raj Babbar were his distinguished batch mates there with whom he shared a great rapport.
It was when he was still continuing his study at NSD, Basant Mohapatra offered him a role in a film titled ‘Sankalpa’ and he returned to Cuttack. But the film could not get completed due to certain technical reasons.
His next stint was as a lecturer in acting department of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalay January 14, 1977. 1977 proved lucky for one more reason as in the same year, he was offered a role in the film ‘Chilika Teerey’. Biplab Raychoudhury was the director of the film. The film won great critical acclaim and bagged the National Award. Bijay Mohanty suddenly shot into limelight.
Though ‘Chilika Teerey’ was his debut film, ‘Nagaphasa’ where in he appeared in a negative role released first. However, ‘Chilika Teerey’ won national award. But it was his negative character in ‘Nagaphasa’ that earned him overnight popularity and he started getting a table full of offers.
In ‘Kaberi’, released in 1983, he was seen portraying a character role. Over this period, he still continued staging plays. He made his debut as a director in 1987. The film was ‘Bhuli Huena’, but it did not earn him much success and he stopped directing films.
He also tried writing and penned ‘Ajaati’, for which he received the Odisha Sahitya Akademy award in 2009.
The actor also tried his luck in politics when he joined National Congress in 2014 which at best was shortlived and a dud. He contested for the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and was defeated. Since then he sequestered himself from active politics.
His swansong was ‘From Me to You’, directed by Hemant Kumar.
PNN