Indus Valley Times

Arpita acted in six big budget Odia movies; she was chosen over reigning Ollywood queens

By A Iswar Rao

Malkangiri/ Bhubaneswar, July 30: As the Enforcement Directorate steps up its investigation into the West Bengal teachers’ recruitment scam, there are growing murmurs in Odisha’s political circles and power corridors if the agency would dig deeper into the irregularities and expand its probe to Odisha as Arpita Mukherjee, the close aide of arrested Trinamul Congress (TMC) leader Partha Chatterjee, was very much active in this state in the prime time of her film career.

Between 2008 and 2014, Arpita Mukherjee reigned as the leading lady in the Odia film industry. She acted in as many as six big budget movies as the protagonist. Arpita’s Odia films include ‘Bande Utkala Janani’ (2008) which was directed by Suvendu Swain, and Ashok Pati’s ‘Prem Rogi’ (2009).

Both the films were box office hits.

Mukherjee also acted in ‘Tora Mora Jodi Sundar’ (2010), “Kemiti a Bandhana’ (2011), co-starred by Bollywood actor Chandrachur Singh, and ‘Mu Kana Ete Kharap’ (2012) opposite Anubhav Mohanty. Her last Odia movie was ‘Raju Awara’ in 2012. Suvendu Swain and Ashok Pati are frontline directors in Ollywood.

Anubhav Mohanty, who is now Biju Janata Dal Lok Sabha member from Kendrapara, is considered Ollwyood superstar and ruled the Odia film industry between 2000 and 2014 before entering into active politics.

Arpita Mukherjee’s entry into Ollywood happened when hundreds of chit fund firms across the country were active in cheating small depositors. Some of the chit fund firms, especially those operating from West Bengal and Odisha, had alleged patronisation by some of the TMC and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders.

The TMC led by Mamata Banerjee has been ruling West Bengal since 2011. The BJD headed by Naveen Patnaik has been in power in Odisha since 2000. Several TMC leaders like Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Tapas Paul, Pranab Chatterjee and Madan Mitra were held by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the multi-crore chit fund scam.

In Odisha, senior BJD leaders like Ramachandra Hansda, Pravat Ranjan Biswal and Prabhat Tripathy were also arrested by the CBI for their alleged patronisation to chit fund firms that looted nearly Rs 10,000 crore from around 20 lakh small depositors. Investigation had then revealed that some of the chit fund firms of Odisha and West Bengal had heavily invested in the media and film industry.

Arpita’s entry into Ollywood in 2008 directly as leading lady in all the movies had then surprised many film critics. Producers and directors chose her over the then Ollywood queens Anu Choudhury, Barsha Priayadarshini Sahoo and Archita Sahoo. A few Odia heroines had then criticised the producers and directors for “importing” non-Odia heroines on the pretext of adding “extra-glamour quotient” to the movie.

Apart from Ollwood, Arpita had small roles in Bengali films such as ‘Bhoot in Roseville,’ ‘Jeena the endless love,’ ‘Bidehir Khonje Rabindranath, ‘Mama Bhagne’ and ‘Partner.’