The serial has begun airing this week. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, April 21: Fifty-year-old Ramakanta was an avid reader of Oriya author Fakir Mohan Senapati’s stories as a youngster. But he had never imagined that his teenaged son, an engineering student and a fan of the Twilight series, would ever come to know about the tyranny of Mangaraj, the evil zamindar from Chha Mana Aatha Guntha.

The celebrated classic is being screened as a television series from this week and many youngsters are being introduced to the novella.

Set in the colonial era, the novel is one of the first in India to deal with the exploitation peasants by landlords. The television series is able to bring alive the plot quite well.

“Chha Mana Aatha Gunta was Fakir Mohan’s first novel. It not only presented the social conditions of the early nineteenth century, but also dealt with the distinct mindsets that the characters of the plot reflect,” said Raju Mishra, director of the series. “It was a very difficult task for our team to bring the classic, which has been admired by generations of Oriyas, out of the book and make into a serial,” he added.

The series has been shot in villages of Rajkanika and Binjharpur. The costumes, make-up and the way of speech and dialogues have been specially taken care of to bring out the effect of colonial times.

“Playing a character, that too of Mangaraj, which stands out in the entire plot, was a huge responsibility. It is so close to people’s hearts that any thing over or under the line could attract criticism,” said popular television actor Kuna Tripathy. “I tried to immerse myself into the character and found it very contemporary. In fact, Mangaraj comes from an economically backward background and as he becomes a zamindar, he aspires to be a part of the higher class. He is cruel to his peasants but is a good father and a husband,” said Tripathy.

Actress Priyanaka said the toughest part playing a village girl was chewing betel leaves. “My mouth had to be full of betel juice all the time in almost every scene. The entire look was very different from what I have done in my career so far. But it was a memorable experience and one I will always cherish,” she said.

Other artistes in the crew are Pradyumna Lenka, Somesh, Madhu and Sweta Acharya. The well-appreciated music has been composed by Bikash Das and Ratikant Satpathy while the lyrics of Ei Matira Katha, the title track, has been written by Bijay Malla. Keshab Chandra Rout is the producer of the series.

“This story is a part of the series that will in future include the television form of classics like Kaa, Malla Janha, Rebati, Daka Munshi, Matira Manisha and so on,” said the director.