Odia film DAMaN that released recently is doing wonders in the box office. FIlm is released in select theatres across India and the film shows are witnessing housefull and more than 80 percent occupancy. People are recommending dubbing of the film in other languages. Hindi version of the film is going to come out soon.
Looking at the rousing response for Daman, filmmaker and director of DAMaN movie, Debiprasad Lenka is happy. He recalls the challenges that he along with his team had to face while shooting for the film. First challenge he recalls, finding the appropriate cast for the film. They wanted the film to look real and natural (raw). That is why they deceide to hire local tribal people for the acting part of the project. Language and the local dilaect were important for the filmmakers. That is why local people were brought on board for the project. The hiring process, finding the right talent for the role and other difficulties were the main trouble for this film.
He says, that they even auditoned people who have done theatre in local language even at a small level in their area. And the best ones were got onboard for the project after participating in various worshops and training sessions.Location was also key to the project. They wanted to shoot at the same location where the film actual incident took place. But the weather cconditions were not favourable enough. Sometimes it used to rain suddenly in the between of their shoot. That was another challenge.
Budget was also a challenge. Happy to see that these challenges have been overcome and have finaly paid off. People not only in Odissa but outside the state (within India) are also watching it. Recently Kannda film Industiry stating crossing the boundaries of their state. Started releasing theor film n other states in their languages. Hopefully with this films sucess, we hope that Daman also becomes such kind of boundary-crossing film for Odia cinema.
DAMaN Hindi version is also going to come soon. Debiprasad Lenka also talks about the message that this film is trying to provide. He says that DAMaN film showed the situation where diffferent departments of government Worked in unision to fight aa challenge called malaria. Unity is one of the important messages of the film. That unity was successful and they were able to sucesfully eradicate malaraia from their village. He says that this film, though it was released in Odia language, was appreciated by all. End is conversation with an important saying that goes ”cinema has no language. Wherever it goes, nice films always get appreciated.”
