Bhubaneswar: A group of youngsters from the city has released a documentary on art director Asim Basu on his first death anniversary.

The 15-minute-long documentary sheds light on Basu's life and journey as a student of fine arts in the 1950s, how he became a painter and illustrator for hundreds of book covers, how he led production designing in the Odia film industry and directing plays.

The documentary is based on an interview with him in his Pokhariput house here.

After month long illness, the veteran stage designer died on February 1 last year at 81. The octogenarian, apart from excelling himself in stagecraft, is also known for his stints in the fields of sculpture and painting.

He had directed a few plays. More so, he is also known as a book cover and film poster designer.

Subhashish Panigrahi, co-founder of the O Foundation, shot the video with support from Debadatta Pati.

Subhashish is a culture activist and works with the Internet Society. Pati is a theatre artiste and runs a Facebook fan group to bring regular posts from Basu's writings as well as conducts events to celebrate his works.

The documentary will be screened during Asim Utsaba, a three-day-long event that the Asim Basu Foundation is organising between February 9 and 11 at Idcol auditorium in Bhubaneswar.

Asim Basu: Eka Bhinna Manisa, a roundtable discussion, will also be conducted as part of this event where many renowned individuals from the fields of art, theatre and literature such as Asit Mohanty, Bibhuti Patnaik, Rajendra Panda, Prasanta Nanda, Dhirendra Nath Mallick, Ramahari Jena, Sachi Das, Tarun Kanti Rout, Jagadish Kanungo, and Ramapada Nanda will join.

"It was shot with minimal equipment and totally impromptu. We're sitting litterateur Subhransu Panda's house, and Debadatta was sharing about the deteriorating health of dada. So, we thought of meeting him to conduct an interview," said Panigrahi.

He said: "Anyone can use the documentary, share it and even make commercial derivatives from it."