Bye Bye Bollywood, Says Ace Cameraman

Bye Bye Bollywood, Says Ace Cameraman

Away from the glitz and glamour of Bollywood, veteran cinematographer Srinibash Mohapatra now prefers the relative “silence and peace” of Bhubaneswar, leading a retired life with his better-half Aparajeeta Mohapatra.

Equally revered in Ollywood for his cinematic skills, the octogenarian bid adieu to ‘lights-camera-action’ in 2006. Since then, he has rarely ventured out of his house ‘Creative Home’ at Barmunda.

Mohapatra has, however, made rare exceptions to attend public eventslike when he was invited to felicitate Ollywood stars like Anubhav Mohanty at an award ceremony in 2010. Later in 2012, he took a flight to Mumbai to receive an honorary life membership certificate from the Western India Cinematographers’ Association for his outstanding cinematic achievements. He also donned the mantle of a jury-member for the state culture department for Odisha TV awards (for both serials and telefilms) in 2016.For the rest of the time, he is cocooned with his cherished memories. Be it having rubbed shoulders with Bollywood bigwigs like Govind Nihalini and late Manmohan Desai or capturing the likes of Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha and Sridevi in his lenses.

Recounting the highlights of an illustrious career, the master cameraman says the memories fill him with nostalgic thrills and an adventurous feel.

“My most creative time that still gives me immense pleasure was during the shooting of Odia blockbuster ‘Bhakta Salebeg’ in 1981. For that film, I recreated Puri’s Bada Danda at nearby Balakati. I got a cutout of the Jagannath temple and placed it on the extreme end of the makeshift Bada Danda,” says Mohapatra, who bagged an award for the film from the Orissa Film Journalists’ Association in 1981.Mohapatra is also credited with introducing cinemascope in Ollywood.“If I exercised my creativity for ‘Bhakta Salebeg’, I shot veteran Prashant Nanda’s Odia film in cinemascope. It was the first such venture in Ollywood. This film fetched me another award from the Orissa Film Journalists’ Association in 1982,”he adds with a wide grin.

After passing out of Jayachamraj Technical Institute in Mysore in 1961, Mohapatra made his tinsel town debut the following year with his work for Hindi film ‘April Fool’. But the journey was certainly no bed of roses. “The odds and ordeals that I had to face and overcome since I got my toehold in the film industry would make a huge volume. I knew there would be challenges galore, but I still took the plunge to have my tryst with Bollywood,” he says, putting the clock back.

It was his professional tenacity and passion that always egged him on to try out new things, sometimes dangerous as well. One such occasion was during the shooting of the climax for late Manmohan Desai’s ‘Dharam Veer’ (1977). In the scene, actors Pran, Dharmendra and Jeetendra were pitted against their reel rivals for a fight to the death. To shoot it, the cameraman tied himself atop the mast of a huge boat.“Those moments were tense and tough, yet I breezed through them successfully,” he says nonchalantly.Mohapatra had faced many such incidents in his long career, but the zeal of a go-getter kept him taking up one challenge after another. “A man, who takes up the gauntlet with his faith in God and in himself, can dash down all hurdles in the way to mount the podium and sing the paean ultimately,”he avers.

His past cinematic calendar makes for a bulky catalogue of dates and data that throw light on numerous feats in both Bollywood and Ollywood.

During the shooting of ‘Samay Ki Dhara’ (1997), lead actor Shatrughan Sinha requested him to helm the camera for his new venture. Mohapatra agreed, but with a rider: He would sign the dotted line only if Shatrughan Sinha liked his work in ‘Samay Ki Dhara. As per the condition, Bollywood’s ‘Bihari Babu’ was impressed by his work and took him on board for shooting ‘Sherni’ (1999), which also starred Sridevi.The cinematographer was nominated for the prestigious Filmfare Awards for both ‘Samay Ki Dhara’ and ‘Sherni’.The excellence of his cinematography was explicit in Hindi blockbusters like ‘Teesri Manzil’ (1966), ‘Sharmilee’ (1971), ‘Shagird’ (1967), ‘Bhai Ho Toh Aisa’ (1972) and ‘Blackmail’ (1973) among others. Similarly, five Odia films and three Marathi flicks also bear the stamp of his deft camerawork. He has similarly shone on the small screen by panning Hindi tele-serials like ‘Ek Kahani’, ‘Surbhi’, ‘Naukri’ and ‘Ristey’ in the 90s as well as the Odia soap ‘Pathar Padile Sahi’.

The master cameraman is also credited with building a bridge between Bollywood and Ollywood. Earlier, the Odia film industry sought technical support from Tollywood in neighbouring West Bengal.But when the shooting of Odia film ‘Jajabar’ (1975) took off, Mohapatra engineered Ollywood’s change of route to Bollywood.

“I brought all the shooting materials from Bombay (now Mumbai) for ‘Jajabar’ and also got the film processed and edited with the help of film technicians there. I also played a major role in hiring duplicates and the fight master from Bollywood for the film,” says Mohapatra, who bagged a trophy from the Orissa Motion Picture Technicians’ & Workers’ Association in 2005 for his contributions to state cinema.“This apart, I got the screenplay of Odia film ‘ Bhakta Salebag’ written by Prayagraj of Bollywood. He was the screenplay writer for veteran filmmaker Manmohan Desai. I also roped in the inimitable Gulzar to write the lyrics for a qawwali in ‘Bhakta Salbeg’,” he adds.

Besides feature films and TV serials, Mohapatra has also dabbled in making documentary films. His documentary ‘Kendu Leaf’ still bears testimony to his successful stint in this genre. Made on behalf of the Film Division of India, the documentary was screened across the country to rousing accolades by movie buffs.

Despite all his success, Mohapatra also had his share of setbacks that still sadden him. In the 1990s, he forayed into making pro-conservation documentaries on wildlife—white tiger, blackbuck estuarine crocodile and king cobra—in 16 mm. But his efforts came a cropper with several TV channels backing out from telecasting them, despite promising to do so earlier. This meant he had to forego his ambitious projects midway, notwithstanding the physical and financial investments in making them.“I had taken a loan of Rs 8.5 lakh from a bank to carry on with these projects. The big shots of some TV channels watched a few episodes and appreciated them. Peculiarly, they refused to telecast them. So, all my efforts in making the documentaries were wasted. Plus, I had to pay a whopping amount of Rs 16 lakh along with interest to clear my loan,” he rues, but declines to disclose the names of the TV channels.

Mohapatra is now at peace with himself after ringing down the curtain on a long illustrious career. “I am now 81. I am no more physically able and agile enough to take up the strenuous task of a cameraman, who has to be constantly on the movewhile working,”he signs off.