Book On Odia Cinema Finds Place At Indo-American Arts Council’s 2024 Literary Festival In New York

Bhubaneswar: Author and commentator Sanjoy Patnaik’s book Of Reels, Romance and Retakes : Social Narratives of Cinema in Odisha published by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group will be one of the highlights at the Indo-American Arts Council’s 2024 Literary Festival scheduled for November 9-10 in New York City.

The festival provides a platform for established and emerging writers to engage with audience and connect with fellow literary artists.

In her email, festival director Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) Preethi Urs expressed hope that the discussion on the book and Odia cinema will contribute to the vibrant literary discourse and provide audiences the opportunity to engage with Patnaik’s work and ideas directly.

The festival has hosted His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Nobel Prize Winner Prof Amartya Sen, Indra Nooyi, Madhur Jaffrey, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr Kailash Satyarthi, Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, Chandrika Tandon, and Ramchandra Guha, in the past.

Of Reels, Romance and Retakes : Social Narratives of Cinema in Odisha is about the fascinating journey of Odia cinema from 1936 till date. The book by Sanjoy, a social development professional, gives an account of how Odia cinema, aesthetically intertwined with the indigenous folk and literary tradition, carried forward both the project of modernity and Odia cultural identity is particularly illuminating and instructive. At the same time it takes an introspective look at the crisis Odia cinema faces now, sandwiched as it is between two competing social trends – one following the route to Hindi as the chief language of entertainment and the other that is focused on regional cultural assertion as a key to commercial success.