Awards night for state film industry

Surya Singh Besra (centre) along with members of RASCA in Jamshedpur on Tuesday. (Bhola Prasad)

Jamshedpur, Feb. 15: Actors of Jollywood — the fledgling Jharkhand film industry — will soon be feted at the Santhali Filmfare Awards, much like their Mumbai counterparts.

The Pandit Raghunath Academy of Santhali Cinema and Art, a socio-cultural organisation, will soon promote Santhali culture and tradition through the film awards.

The socio-cultural outfit will organise the second Santhali Filmfare Awards on May 5 this year, on the birth anniversary of Raghunath Murmu, the founder of the Ol Chiki script.

If all goes well, Shatrughan Sinha and Mithun Chakraborty will add the much-needed stardust to the event.

Elaborating on their plans, Surya Singh Besra, director of the organisation, said: “We have decided to promote artistes from the film industry in Jharkhand. Though the film industry in Jharkhand may not be as huge as its Hindi or other regional counterparts, we want to give artistes their due recognition.”

The awards this year will be divided into two categories — video and feature film.

The organisation had planned its first award ceremony in 2008, which could not not take place.

The outfit also has plans of launching a television channel called Johar TV soon. “Johar means Jollywood originated home network art and cultural regional television to showcase the culture of Jharkhand. Literature, theatre and other folk art will also be promoted by the organisation,” added Besra.

One of the outfit’s objectives is to produce documentaries that depict tribal lifestyles, history and preservation of culture. It also aims to popularise Santhali, conduct talent hunts and hold film festivals.

“Even though 10 years have passed since Jharkhand was born, the state lacks a film development corporation and a Santhali Sahitya Akademi. Since the government has been incapable of doing so, we have taken up the task,” said Besra.