Bhubaneswar, April 26: Film enthusiasts of the city got a chance to watch Shuka Asuchi, an Odia movie, which focuses on the plights of the people living in the mining areas of the state.

The film was screened at the Idcol Auditorium here. The premier was attended by many movie buffs who love different kinds of films. Many senior filmmakers, scholars and students watched the special screening and praised it for its bold theme and sensible portrayal of a sensitive topic. The film was nominated for the best Odia film award in the national film festival this year.

Inscreen, a film society founded by a group of film enthusiasts in 1991, organised the screening. The film society works for the development of cinema by holding such screenings. It organises screenings for the movies that do not usually get promoted and are different from mainstream cinema.

According to Sanjoy Patnaik, the film's director, the movie is made against the backdrop of the large-scale illegal mining scenario in the state and the issues of displacement. "The film's story urges the viewer to think about the illusory divide between the rich and the poor, and the invisible conflict among the poor who suffer endlessly," said Patnaik.

The film puts focus on the power of social mobilisation. Through this 121-minute film, Patnaik wants the world to know about the common battle, in which poor and marginalized people fight everyday.

The plot revolves around four friends - Sandeep, a rich man's son who believes that success is about accumulating wealth and power, Buddha, a middle-class boy with an aspiration to become a professor, Ranjana, a sociable smart girl with an ambition to become a journalist, and Samaresh, the protagonist, who is a socialist at heart and does not conform to established norms.

Samaresh, who goes to his native village to fight for justice for the poor, meets Shukabou, the widowed mother of his childhood friend Shuka. Shuka, a labourer, showed the audacity to challenge the company's ways of tricking its workers by paying lower wages. Later, Samaresh comes to know that Shuka is missing.

The story unfolds with Shukabou knowing about her son's demise. She describes how the company goons killed Shuka - a secret she does not want to reveal, lest people lose courage to fight the battle for their existence.

Veteran Odia filmmaker Gadadhar Puty, who attended the screening, was all praise for Patnaik for his choice of subject and beautiful narration. " Shuka Asuchi focuses on a strong social message about how exploitation prevails in the mining areas of the state and how common people are paying a heavy price for it," said Puty.

Patnaik has been associated with theatre and films since long. His interest in films was inspired by the knowledge he got on film appreciation at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.