Bhubaneswar, April 26: The first Odia film was released in theatres on April 28, 1936. To celebrate the 80 years of journey of the industry, film lovers and the state culture department have come together to organise an exhibition of Odia film posters at the state museum.

Around 80 posters of classic films made from 1936 to 1986 will be put up at the exhibition that will continue till May 3.

Posters of popular Odia films such as Lalita , Shri Jagannath, Kaa , Puja and Sansar and many more will be put up at the exhibition, "Chhaya Pratichhaya".

The state government will set up a separate gallery in the museum where the posters will be displayed.

"We do not have any archival documents of our films so we would preserve them for future use once the exhibition is over. It would help visitors know about the history of Odia films and also help in research," said culture secretary Manoranjan Panigrahi.

The committee has also decided to collect the posters released till date for archival processes.

With the original posters not available anymore, the organisers have scanned advertisements of the films put up in newspapers and printing them in poster formats.

"Posters have been used since the earliest of times to give public an idea of the film. Posters have used artistic interpretations of a scene or even the theme of the film represented in a wide variety of artistic styles. We wanted to bring before the younger generations glimpses of the same," said Deo.

He said that over the years posters of Odia film have evolved.

"Nowadays, posters often feature photographs of the main actors. Before 1986, illustrations instead of photos were far more common. The text on film posters showed the film title in large font and often the names of the main actors. It would also include a tagline, the name of the director and characters," said Deo.

Veteran artist Asim Basu, who has made posters of a number of Odia films, said: "During our times, posters were handmade. We had to send it to other cities to get it printed. Those were the golden days of Odia cinema. Now, the digital printing has made the job easier."

"Posters work as pieces of public art. In many countries, poster making is treated as an art form. In an age where we are saturated with information, posters remain the shortest and crispiest way of telling an audience about what the film is about," said veteran filmmaker Gadadhar Puty.