Bhubaneswar, March 8: Two big names from two different genres of acting have been roped in for the upcoming Odia movie Paglu.

Rajatava Dutta, popular theatre artiste and actor from Calcutta, and renowned jatra artiste Daitari Panda will be seen in prominent roles in the film.

The shooting of the scenes involving the actors finished recently. It was a learning experience for the cast and crew of the film. Abhishek Behura, the director of the film, said that working with Dutta and Panda was like taking part in an acting workshop.

'Both of them are experienced artistes and are experts in live performances. I would only tell them the scenes and they took care of the rest. They used to discuss among themselves on how to make the scene better and most of the scenes were shot at one take. All of us got to learn a lot from them,' said Behura.

Behura, who has been an assistant director in a number of Hindi films, said the actors occasionally gave him tips on filmmaking. 'Our actors got an opportunity to hone their skills on the sets. The senior artistes applied method acting into their performances and also encouraged other actors to do the same to improve their skills,' Behura said.

For the artistes, it was an opportunity to understand the growing trends in theatre and traditional jatra. 'The culture of theatre is quite rich in Calcutta. While acting with Dutta, I got to know about the various techniques they use on stage to make the play better. I will definitely try to employ those at jatras,' said Panda who is playing the role of a cook at a government-run school in the film.

Dutta was also all praise for the jatra culture of the state. 'The enthusiasm among the people of the state to watch jatras is incomparable. I am happy to share the screen with someone like Daitari Ji. We became quite good friends on the sets and had long discussions over world theatre and various other topics related to art,' said Dutta who is into theatre since 1987 and has worked in a number of award-winning Bengali films. Dutta is plays a scientist Paglu.

The film is set to hit the theatres during Rath Yatra. 'Around 70 per cent of the film has already been shot and I am quite hopeful about the film,' said Behura.

With Mihir Das and Aparajita Mohanty in the lead roles, Paglu portrays a love affair between a man and a woman in their late 40s.