(Top) A still from Purusottam Mishra’s Prem and another one from CD film Sashisena by Gadadhar Barik

Balangir, March 30: Youngsters in western Orissa are suddenly finding themselves yearning for the spot behind video camera. They are making feature films in Koshali or Sambalpuri that are not screened at theatres. They are CD films, the new medium of film-making.

With a budget of Rs 1-5 lakh, these youngsters are making CD films that don’t even have to face the snips of the censor board. What is good about these films is that they talk about the vagaries of nature and manmade problems in this part of Orissa. Drought, migration, unemployment, illiteracy and so on are major themes.

So, if Elenora Images’ Laleera Sansara (The World of Lalee), directed by Madhab Panda, depicts how children of villages in drought-prone Balangir and Nuapada districts are deprived of education because of large scale migration, AK Film’s Samiar Khel (A Game of Time), directed by Ashok Mishra, is about how a simple, unemployed village youth is lured by money to enter the crime world.

Sweta Priya Productions’ Prem (Universal Love) by Purusottam Bharadwaj (Mishra) is about the power of love that does not have anything to do with caste and religion. Ace director Gadadhar Barik’s Sashisena tells the epic tale of a legendary character of 8th century AD Sonepur.

Purusottam Mishra, who has produced and directed Prem, claims that this is the first serious film in Koshali or Sambalpuri language.

“A number of Koshali CD films have been made which are cheap comedies. I have made an honest attempt to make a serious Koshali film,” said Mishra.

Gadadhar Barik, who has earlier made documentaries on the Kutia Kondh tribe of Kandhamal and temples and festivals of Sonepur, said that he had always attempted to depict the unsung.

“I always go for something that has the potential to become famous, but is not due to want of publicity, such as the temples and festivals of Sonepur.”

About his historical film Sashisena he said: “I had to read a lot about Sonepur’s history and thoroughly studied Sashisena. Only then did I decide to make the film. I have tried to recapture the story that is a memory for the people of Sonepur.”

Incidentally, the film came in for special mention at the Festival du Cinema de Paris, which was held some time back. There is hardly any market for these films.

“Doordarshan does buy the rights of such films, but only from well known filmmakers,” said a young filmmaker. “This forces us to depend upon video parlours,” he said.

But the news from there is not good either. “I have in my shop copies of a good number of Koshali CD films, but buyers don’t show any interest in them,” said Lokanath Sahu, a video parlour owner in Balangir.