Nila Madhab Panda’s Odia film “Kalira Atita” selected for Panorama section at IFFI

Bhubaneswar: Nila Madhab Panda’s Odia film “Kalira Atita” (Yesterday’s Past) has been selected to be screened at the Panorama section at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa.

The 51st film festival in Goa was postponed due to Covid 19.

Speaking on the selection, Nila Madhab Panda said, “Kalira Atita is my first Odia film and I am really happy that it will start its journey with the prestigious IFFI. This is definitely one good news this year and I hope the year ahead will bring more cheer.”

If prophecies are to be believed, the global warming and subsequent rise in the water level in the Bay of Bengal will result in Puri being submerged in the sea. 

Achyutananda Das, a 16th century saint from Odisha, had written about doomsday in his famous book titled Achutananda Malika.

 National Award-winning director Nila Madhab Panda’s first Odia film, Kalira Atita (Yesterday’s Past), is inspired by the prophesies of Achyutnanda.

It revolves around a man from the Satavaya village in east coast of Odisha which has been swallowed by the sea, a phenomenon common on our east coast.

 Panda who has been shooting since 2005, said the reason he wanted to make it is because for many climate change is still a future shock and so leave them untouched.

“This film emphasizes that it is a harsh reality and that people are losing their lives and livelihood because of it,” the director asserted.

  Synopsis

Gunu, a disillusioned young man from Satavaya village, travels restlessly towards death, memories of a past cyclone propelling him into the eye of one that is coming. 

Hoping to reunite with his lost family, he returns to his village, five days before the cyclone, to find that it is now under water. Gunu’s struggle to survive the fury of nature is a portrayal of emotional trauma and human triumph.