Hara Pattnaik was an Odia film actor, director and screenplay
writer. In a career spanning three decades, Hara Pattnaik acted in more
than 80 movies, directed 20 films and acted in some TV serials. He was
instrumental in introducing other actors including Anubhav Mohanty,
Sabyasachi Mishra and Babushaan. He died on 13 January 2015 in a battle
with cancer.
Born on 12, October 1958 in Katak, Hara Pattnaik started his film career
in 1977 as an assistant director to Sisir Mishra for the film Suna
Sansara (1978). He appeared first as an actor in 1985 in the film Sahari
Bagha.
He entered the industry when Dukhiram Swain
was reigning king of villains in Odia Movie Industry. But Hara
Pattnaik, changed the template of the baddie in Odia Film Industry with
his urbane, sophisticated demeanor and dialogue delivery. As an ace reel
villain, whom people loved to hate, Pattnaik could be menacing on the
screen without hamming and communicated more with his mannerisms. He
looked really menacing with his burning eyes - full of lust, greening
teeth, heavy tone and punchy dialogues written especially for him. While
Dukhiram Swain
represented old world villains like evil zamindars, land lords and
stubborn father; Hara Pattanaik explored the new age evil like son of
the land lord or zamindar who always one step ahead of his father,
rapist & merciless killer.
After establishing himself as lead villain in Odia Movies he he ventured
into the role of director in 1990 through the film Daiba Daudi. The
movie was remake of Hindi hit Aradhana. While Aradhana has no villain,
but in Daiba Daudi he introduced himself as the main antagonist. Daiba
Daudi is a classic case of how remake should be made. With melodious
music by great Akshaya Mohanty the movie was a big hit. And thus Hara
Pattnaik's journey as director started. In most of his movies he
directed, he himself credited with "Story, Screenplay & Direction by Hara Pattnaik"
with is famous signature in Odia. I can vividly remember, after the
success of Daiba Daudi, Hara Pattnaik was obsessed with 'Six letter
movie titles' which he considered lucky charm for him. His next movie
was 'Kapala Likhan', a six letter movie title, which became a hit. His
obsession with six letter movie title continued with next release
'Bhagya Hate Dori' which was a moderate success.
As a director, he gave several upcoming actors their first break in
cinema. Among those who made it big in Odia Movie Industry after getting
a break under him are megastars Anubhav Mohanty (I Love You (2004)), Babushan (Romeo: The Lover Boy (2009)) and Sabyasachi Mishra (Pagala Premi (2007)). His last directed movie was Om Sai Ram (2012).
Hara Pattnaik acted in few TV serials also. I can vaguely remember a TV
serial was being telecasted on DD Odia in late eighties in which Dukhiram Swain
was playing an evil land lord and Hara Pattnaik was playing his son,
but surprisingly a positive character. In fact Hara Pattnaik was hero of
that serial. He was riding a Yezdi Motor cycle. I can't remember exact
name of that serial, but it was something like Dharmavatar or
Dharmadhikari. In those days DD Odia was being telecasted for only 2
hours in every evening.
The 55-year-old ace reel villain had undergone treatment at Christian
Medical College (CMC), Vellore with an advanced stage of blood cancer
detected in April 2008. After successfully battling blood cancer, Hara
Patnaik, returned moviedom with a bang. Om Sai Ram, was his first film
since his recovery in 2012 to hit the theaters. But his battle with
Cancer was far from over. Patnaik’s condition had deteriorated for the
last one and a half years during which he spent most of his time in the
hospital. The veteran actor, whose blood group was the rare B Negative,
needed frequent doses of blood platelets to survive. On 13 January 2015,
he lost the battle & passed away in a private hospital of
Bhubaneswar. He was 56.
He is survived by his wife Jharana Patnaik and two daughters. His
extended family includes leading film personalities like his
sister-in-law actress Sadhana Parija (Runu) and her husband director
Himanshu Parija (Chandi).
During his career, he got several state-level awards and accreditation
from media and Odia cine public at large. The 10th Fitfat Bio-scope
Award was bestowed upon him in 2013.
Hara Pattnaik
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Oleh
Biswa Ranjan
