Kalinga Studio (Bhubaneswar)

 studio - to be replaced  Add category

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Spread over 25 acres, Kalinga Studio came into being in 1982. Many filmmakers heaved a sigh of relief as they thought they would not have to run to Kolkata, Chennai or Mumbai anymore to either for shooting or in-studio work such as editing.

"Initially, the studio did well. Producers even from Bangladesh and West Bengal came here to shoot. But like any other government organization, the studio lost its sheen and public confidence. By 2007, poor infrastructure forced producers to stop coming to Kalinga Studio. Soon, nearly 40 employees were retrenched," says an insider.

"The studio still receives 15 to 20 inquiries annually, but none of them materialize because of the sorry state of affairs," says P K Mishra, OFDC deputy general manager. "The studio also suffered heavily during the 1999 super cyclone," he adds.

Asked about the studio's equipment worth Rs 1 crore, which helped work like editing, Mishra says, "The equipment is now obsolete, and has lost its value. Latest gadgets are available outside at a lower cost. Under the circumstances, we plan to let out the studio exclusively for shooting. Investment on equipment would serve no purpose in the time of rapid technological advancement," he says.

Critics, however, took a dig at OFDC for sleeping on the studio's renovation and revival for such a long time. "The studio, set up in collaboration with Prasad Labs, Chennai, suffered due to government apathy. Sometimes it decides to rope in a private party and sometimes it plans to run it on a PPP model, causing consistent losses," one of them argues.

Sources said its cumulative losses by 2011-12 reached Rs 329.69 lakh.