When many of his friends opted to try their fate in commercial movies, Ashutosh Pattnaik, an alumnus of Cuttack-based Biju Pattnaik Film and Television Institute of Odisha (BPFTIO), preferred to work hard on non-feature films, a category which is not very popular among the viewers. His sincerity paid off and he went on to bag a national award for his documentary Srikhetra Ru Sahijata followed by two State Film Awards last week. The Puri-born writer, director and producer took some time off from his busy schedule to speak to Sunday POST on a host of topics.
Excerpts:
Why made you drawn towards the non feature category while many others of BPFTIO pursued careers in mainstream/commercial movies?
The genre excites me because it is based upon facts and figures, life, truth and land’s tradition. Besides, I feel that I have it in me to document those for the upcoming filmmakers to provide a backhand support so that they can carry the legacy forward. I want to explore the areas and make an archive of them which are fading into oblivion due to lack of research and documentation.
You’ve always said that you wanted to pursue your passion. How important is it for you to turn passion into a profession?
It is believed that passion and profession are two different things but when you get to follow your passion with your profession and both are equally balanced, one can’t ask beyond that. Yes, I am blessed to have that. But let me tell you, before filmmaking my passion was photography, from there I developed a keen desire towards writing. For me, writing plus photography equals filmmaking, so my passion became my profession.
As you are into direction, which directors do you look up to for inspiration?
I can think of Sushant Mishra, Nirad Mahapatra and Raju Mishra in the regional circuit and at the national and international level I love the works of Anurag Kashyap, Satyajit Ray and QuentinTarantino.
And the actors you would love to collaborate with?
In Odisha, there are some passionate performers like Partha Sarathi Ray, Hara Rath, Samresh Routray, Manoj Mishra and young artistes like Prasanjeet and Abhishek Giri, I would love to work with. At national level I have huge respect for people like Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Piyush Mishra and several others.
Earlier, you had mentioned in an interview that you wanted to bring global recognition to the heritage of Odisha, can we expect more such ventures on Puri? If yes, which area would you like to explore?
Holy City Puri is an ocean of heritage. There are art, culture, sculpture, artists, and various other fields that need attention. I would like to work on lesser known subjects and traditional things like the sevayats and the mutts ‘mathas’ and other Srimandir traditions and portray Odisha as the beautiful state that it is. I want to make the resources available on the internet so the upcoming generations don’t miss out on the historical remains.
Being from Puri, do you think the popular Odia web series Gangs of Puri is a true reflection of your home town and its culture?
Gangs of Puri is not exactly the reflection of Puri and its culture. The local dialects are missing. But for Odia entertainment industry and for us, it’s a game changing project and a well made crime series. Kudos to the effort of its makers – Anupam Pattnaik and Jagdish Mishra.
With awards comes the responsibility. Now that you have five of them including a National Award, what should the viewers expect from you next?
I always set goals to achieve and I still think that there is enough room for improvisations and that needs to be taken care of. So in my next work, I will make sure that I don’t repeat the past mistakes. But the awards and recognitions are just motivation to take a step ahead for anybody who has a passion towards working.
If you ever think of switching your genre in filmmaking, what would that be?
It is difficult for me to even think of switching the genre which has all my interest and dedication. But if I were to change ever it would be crime drama and psychological thriller. I’m an ardent follower ofAnurag Kashyap and Ram Gopal Verma for whom content is the hero.
Year 2022 is viewed as the turning point in the history of Odia cinema with movies like Daman and Pratikshya drawing crowds to the theatres like never before. How do you think the new age filmmakers should capitalise on the changing mood of viewers?
They should feel the changes and accept the audience’s dissatisfaction towards the repetitive content in the movies and rampant copying of films of other languages.
Even as non-feature/documentary films continue to get recognition at various festivals, mainstream viewers are still not exposed to this genre. What do you think should be done to reach out to the viewers to popularise the culture of Odisha?
I have always felt that it is our problem and inefficiency in fetching their attention and never their problem to add our work to the watch list. Just like people are entertained by commercial movies and have appreciation for that, the same should happen with documentaries as well. The transition from DD to Netflix has given us a platform to showcase our work and we shouldn’t miss the opportunity.
There is a feeling that Odia audiences are quite stranger to documentary films. What will be your message to make them more excited about documentary films?
There’s only one thing that I would like to do is request everybody to watch and love documentaries. Be a critic of our work which will help us create something that you expect us to. The mindset of the audience towards documentaries needs to be changed; they think that documentaries are boring. But documentaries can be entertaining as well if they are well-shot and well-edited and having good music.
If you could advise the upcoming and to be filmmakers from your own experience, what would it be?
Only thing I would suggest is learn before you earn. If you are earning from filmmaking then first go for learning. You learn the basics, the history, and observe the works of your predecessors as experience is what speaks. And there is nothing old and nothing new, nothing commercial and nothing art. So you have to explore both of them and then you choose what you want to do.