Ragini and (right) Jina at the premier of Gadbad in Cuttack. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 29: Gadbad, the multi-starrer comedy film that hit the screens at 25 theatres in the state today, had its premier show at Jayashree, Cuttack.

This year saw several films that had oodles of drama and action in them, but there had been a dearth of flicks that tickled the funny bones of Odia cine watchers.

Gadbad is probably the only full-fledged comedy film of the year.

The story is about three dreamers, played by Partha Sarathi Ray, Prithviraj and Ashwini, who come to Bhubaneswar from Berhampur, Balasore and Sambalpur and become friends.

Since finding rooms on rent for bachelors is difficult, they cook up a plan to coax a Casanova kind of character, played by Siddhanta Mohapatra.

The film also pits the capital toka (a guy from the capital city) against the sandha marka tokas (village bumpkins). Other actors in the film are Jina, Minaketan, Mausumi and Bengali actress Ragini.

The screenplay and direction is by Shubhashish Pati.

“The Odia audience has never seen such a feature film that is an out and out comedy caper and a multi-starrer. I have spent a lot of energy on the story. So, I have my fingers crossed,” said the debut director.

“Most of my star cast includes newcomers. Even a veteran such as Siddhant believed in the character and me as the director. Everybody enjoyed playing their respective characters and the mood on the sets had always been jovial,” he said. The film has been made under the Babamani Entertainment banner, owned by Ajit Sahoo and Subhashish Pati.

“The chemistry among the stars was fabulous. The fact that we had so much fun in making the film will definitely be seen transcended on the screen. When such films with original screenplays would work, the trend of remakes would take a backseat,” said Partha for whom the film is the second project in the industry after his debut with Nai Separi Kanak Gori earlier this year.

Prem Anand composed the film’s music, while Arun Mantri, Basant Raj Samal and Devdas Chhotray penned the lyrics. The album has six songs that have been crooned by mellifluous voices such as Shakti Mishra, Tapu Mishra and Maadhav Dash.

The film with the tagline “Confusion continued” is an open-ended one leaving scope for a sequel depending upon the audience reaction.