Foundation stone laid for re-development of Kalinga Studio

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday laid the foundation stone for re-development of Kalinga Studio.

Established in 1980, the Studio has a significant role in changing the face of Odia cinema. During that period, the Studio was the only Film Studio with all best equipment in Eastern Region of the country.

Further, the creative talent pool of Odisha places itself into a niches market, and the State has produced some of the finest movies in the past. However, over the period, the industry has lost its glory primarily due to not being able to catch up with latest infrastructure and technology in film making.

Keeping in view, the State Government has approved Rs 200 crore for re-development of the Kalinga Studio into a Modern and Futuristic Film Studio with State-of-the-Art infrastructure.

Today, the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik unveiled the plaque to mark the foundation stone laying ceremony of the redevelopment of Kalinga Studio.

Satybrata Tripathy, Chairman, OFDC was also present during the ceremony and has explained to Hon’ble CM Shri Patnaik regarding key infrastructure of the proposed re-development project.

The project work will be executed by IDCO and is expected to complete the construction and landscaping of the core support area by December 2022.

The project concept and master plan by an international consulting firm M/s Grant Thornton Bharat LLP and will be developed spreading into three different Zones comprising infrastructure such as multi sized indoor shooting halls with all modern facilities, make believe shooting locales, theme based parks, post-production facilities such as dubbing and mixing studio, animation work station, editing suite, DI (Digital Intermediate) Studio, preview theatre, Directors’ room, space for brainstorming, script narration, casting etc, recording lab, radio and media houses etc.

Along with film production, the studio proposes to contain comprehensive fun, entertainment, and a leisure hub.

The infrastructure includes live performance stage, adventure parks, kids play area, water games, castle view, snow world, iconic points etc along with boarding and lodging facilities for the film crew, and space for social and cultural gatherings.

The objective of the project is to preserve the heritage property of the State and support in upliftment of Odia Film Industry. The infrastructure will create a film industry eco-system which would help develop not only the Odia Movie Industry, but also cater to many downstream affiliates of the sector in the larger entertainment and creative services industry.

The project would also catalyse employment in film, media, and entertainment industry. It envisages direct employment of around 2,000 in film, media, and entertainment sector along with indirect and induced employment generation of more than 10,000.

Moreover, the creative talent pool of Odisha who migrates to other states for livelihood would get employment on their home state.