“The movie is being discussed, people are eagerly waiting for it. The trailer has gone viral, this is the biggest compliment that I have received in the 9-10 years of my stint in Ollywood. This is the best moment for me other than the national awards and the state award I won for Hello Arshi,” the actor said in an exclusive interview with Odisha Bytes.
Partha said Hello Arsi, which proved to be a game-changer for him, was meant for a niche audience and would not have been a hit with the masses commercially, but Charitra has a mass appeal. “It is neither mind-bending nor abstract,” he said.
Partha plays sub-collector Abhishek Pattnaik, who is leading a happy life with his beautiful wife Madhu, before it gets interspersed with some strange turn of events.
The movie was meant for a theatrical release. It was supposed to hit theatres in May-June last year but had to be postponed because of the lockdown. “Then there was this 50 per cent occupancy rule for cinema halls. We were hoping for things to improve when suddenly the situation went back to square one. If you keep a movie for too long then its charm somewhere fades. Therefore, we decided to have a television release,” he said.
Partha cannot stop gushing about the poetic flow in the frames and the audio-visual quality of the movie, the haunting melody, and foremost, an original script and cinematic storytelling by director duo Sisir Kumar Sahu and Peenakee Singh Rajput.
This was perhaps what he had aspired for while leaving the City of Dreams.
After theatre in Delhi and a few movies in Mumbai, the actor returned to Odisha in 2011 to try his luck in Ollywood, and luckily for him, he landed with two original scripts. He shot for Nai Separi Kanaka Gori and Gadbad in 2012. Both movies were released in 2013.
“While Nai Separi Kanaka Gori was based on a little outdated concept, Gadbad is a movie that I will always be proud of. A situational comedy by Subhasis Pati, the movie, however, was not promoted properly and it also did not get good theatres. Still, it got a lot of word-of-mouth and was appreciated. The best part was that the educated mass went to watch the movie. I have in every interview of mine said that unless and until the educated middle-class Odia people go and watch our films in theatres, our industry will not be able to grow,” he said.
After a brief lull of few years when two of his movies, Dhumava Swapna and Manna Re Tu Hi Tu, did not see the light of the day, Partha started his own business and got busy with it. After a music video Tera Chehera and a TV serial Mu Bi Ardhangini, he was back in the movie game with Hello Arsi in 2018.
He was then cast in a supporting role in Tu Mora Love Story. “The payment was good and I got a good footage and prominent place on the posters of the movie,” said the method actor, who has been dabbling with different characters to avoid being typecast.
Navigator, a short Odia horror flick, was released in April last year. “It was declared the best short film of the day on May 18, 2020, on national-level portal Shorted and had a rating of 7/10. It also received a good review on Asian Movie Pulse,” he said.
During the lockdown, Partha shot for Boffin, a socio-psychodrama, with a paper-thin crew. It was released on YouTube in February this year. He sported his lockdown beard and long hair in the movie. “I got just five days to prepare for the role. I tried to understand the psyche of the character, a political science student who was an avid reader of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky and Franz Kafka,” he said.
Partha spent all five days of the shoot in one pair of shirt and pants. Sweated it out by buying groceries during the lockdown. Did not take bath for five days and no brushing of teeth for three days to get that messy look. “When we shot for it there was a level of authenticity, which people loved,” he said.
Then came Durgatinashini, where he played the antagonist opposite Archita Sahu. The movie had a 2020 Diwali release. “When I take up a film, I read the entire script to understand the journey of the character and the happenings in his life. I prepare a back story and an ideology. My role in Durgatinashini was appreciated because it was not over the top and people realised that Aditya Chopra had his reasons. The character of Archita, who broke his heart and screwed up his business, was the villain in his life,” he said.
The transition to Anthony, a movie about a gang of boys where he plays an honest cop, was a little tiring for him. “I shot for the climax of Durgatinashini clothed in blood the whole night and could hardly get any time to prepare for an entirely different character before the pick-up car was there to take for the shoot of Anthony in Cuttack,” he said.
Partha makes a conscious attempt to visualize how a character needs to look or behave. “For the TV serial, he tried to imbibe some mannerism of person who played his father by copying his gait. “People saw it too,” he said.
For Daalcheeni, a travel love story, he had a month and lost 7 kg to look the character. “My characters in both Daalcheeni and Charitra are romantic yet different,” he said.
Partha has also done a cameo in Hubris, a short film that was screened at the 13th Jaipur International Film Festival in January this year.
“I am glad that I am getting to do the different genres of movies,” he said.
Talking about the new breed of directors in Odisha, the actor said they are coming up with fresh ideas. “They watch world cinema and the best part is that they are educated in cinema, they come from film school and I am also a trained actor. When you work with a trained fraternity of people, you get to understand each other better, and working becomes very smooth because you know the technical procedure and have the discipline to follow it. That’s the reason I had a different level of comfort with these people. Honestly, they have become family now,” he said.
Partha has acted in all three recent movies directed by Sisir and Peenakee.
Besides Daalcheeni, his movie Baji- The immortal Boat Boy will release on April 30. “I have a pivotal role in the movie which tells the story of the youngest martyr of the freedom struggle from Odisha,” he said.
Partha will also start shooting for a horror web series from next week and is sporting a french beard for it.
A bound script has always been one of the criteria for him for picking movies. “I have been choosy about my movies right from the beginning. But in Odisha, it is very difficult to survive because the remuneration is not that good. Earlier, I had a couple of businesses so I could manage, I don’t think I can be very choosy right now,” he said.
The actor, however, hopes to continue doing the films he believes in and have them showcased on national-level OTT platforms someday.
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