The added incentive: the lyrical flow of language which, at no stage, allows you to get overwhelmed by the abundance of information-and proper nouns!Įxcept for this small gap I mentioned above-in the subtitle which is somewhat misleading-the entire content is flawless. Though the author’s deep insights into the subject (and the research behind it) pop out sometimes, he ensures that it does not affect the readability in fact, he plays those beautifully at places to make the narrative only richer and more engaging. The size, the style of narration, the language, the amount of detailing, and the anecdotes in the language of the individuals associated with Odia film music-all contribute to making of a great narrative. When I read it, without noticing the subtitle, I did not find that the book fails anywhere in what it attempts to do. It does beautifully what it aims to do-to inform, educate and entertain the general reader about Odia film music. The book does not get into all these questions, I believe, because it never intended to do that. For example: Where and why did Odissi and other traditional music disconnect from Odia cinema? Why is it that some songs ( like this one from Arundhati) are never listed anywhere? Or what explains the dominance of non-Odia female singers in the 60s even though most of the male voices belonged to Odias-and this despite hits such as jaa re manadoli udi jaa? What was the relationship between Odia light music and film music and how they evolved together? Or who were the musicians/men behind orchestration and what was their background (In Bollywood, this is probably the most researched aspect, especially by foreign researchers)? What was the impact of regional music of different parts of Odisha on Odia cine song? Tarjama? Analysis? Does the book even get into what, in musicological terms, would be called an analysis of a genre or even specific songs?Īn analysis of a musical genre (Odia cine song in this case) would typically do one or more of the following: find and/or examine trends raise questions and possibly answer them. The only jarring note in the entire book is its subtitle: Ardha Shatabdira Odia Cine Geetira Tarjama or Analysis of the Odia cine songs of the (last) half century. So, you get to know how Pranab Patnaik resorted to Saigal Saab’s style in bedana sagara tire or how the song baridare tu jana was rerecorded in the voice of Sikander Alam, as some thought the accent of Tarun Banerjee didn’t sound Odia enough or how Rafi Saab generously sang two songs for the fees of one, “cheating” his own secretary. He achieves this by keeping all the anecdotal information to separate sidebars, mostly presented in the voice of the individuals associated with particular songs and movies. The author resorts to a clever presentation format to ensure that while enough interesting anecdotes are served to the reader, the main narrative does not become too large and too distracting.
You do not miss a movie, especially of the early days. And you get all this, even as there is no break in the linearity of description-the book’s narration is completely chronological. You get to know-if you are not already aware-which songs achieved what kind of popularity. You get to know what kind of experimentation was attempted by which the composer in what movie. You get to know when each of important personalities associated with Odia film songs-singers, composers and lyricists-made their debut. In less than 100 pages, which also include so many rare pictures, it tells us the complete story of Odia film song till 1990, in just the right detail. It is not monumental only because it is the first attempt in the area.
It is monumental, not in the sense that it is voluminous or gigantic-in fact, it is less than 100 pages, just about 6 x 6” in size. Jhuramana Jharageeti, written by noted film journalist and writer Surya Deo, is that monumental work which attempts to chronicle this great journey. The first book on the journey of Odia cine song informs, educates and entertains
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