Daman Odia Movie – A Boon For The Ollywood To Revive!

If we talk about regional movies, then as we know, the South Indian film industry has been roaring over the past few years, whether it’s from Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, or Kannada.

In 2022, after Pushpa, KGF Chapter-2, RRR, a regional movie from the Kannada film industry named Kantara, got popular all over India and did humongous business in the BOX Office. And these days, Daman Odia movie another regional story following in the same footsteps of Kantara by creating many records from the date of its release. 

We are talking about the Daman movie, an Odia biographical, social drama film based on the real-life accounts of Dr Omkar Hota. The doctor saved hundreds of lives in Malkangiri on his real-life mission between 2015 and 2018. Directed by Debi Prasad Lenka and Vishal Maurya, where the Ollywood superstar Babushaan Mohanty has played the lead role.

Meaning Of Daman

In Hindi and Odia, the meaning of the word Daman refers to vanishing something. Here, the word is used in the same sense with the objective of eradicating malaria. The word DAMAN stands for Durugama Anchala re Malaria Nikrakarana, which means Malaria Eradication in Inaccessible Areas in English. This is one of the schemes by the Odisha Govt. implemented in more than eight thousand villages of malaria-affected eight districts of the southern part of Odisha.

Story of Daman Movie

There are some guidelines by Govt. of Odisha that any student who completed their medical education from the government colleges has to spend their initial five years in tribal or rural areas. If they don’t follow this instruction, they have to pay five crore to the state government. 

In 2015, a boy named Siddhart completed his MBBS from a govt. Medical college in Bhubaneswar. According to government guidelines the first five years of his service, he has to work in a remote area of the state. Siddhart posted in a small village in the Malkangiri district. Now, he has to go there without his wishes. The condition of that area is so bad that Siddhart is facing many difficulties in adjusting. Also, he tried to escape from the village by resigning.  

However, one day a villager brought his daughter for treatment, thinking it was a DUMA (Ghost), and after a test, it found the girl was infected with malaria. After that some associates who worked with Siddhart informed him that there are a total 151 villages in that area, but not a single person came to the hospital for their treatment. Every time they have been choosing exorcism over the hospital for the treatment of their disease, even malaria. Because of this, lots of deaths happen in this area.

After hearing that, Siddhart got a reason to stay there. From there, the film portrays a doctor’s relentless fight against superstitions and struggles to make tribal people aware of facts about malaria. The inspiring journey of doctor Siddhart with a fabulous cinematic view one should be must watch in the theatre.

Why People Loved Daman

The film has proved the potential of the Odia film industry. The industry was near a stage of dying where its regional audiences lost their interest because of its poor content or the repeating copy-paste works. As a result, most of the theatre owners also were not ready to give their screen space to any Odia movies.

Daman has come as a boon to Ollywood and without much promotion, the film is making as well as creating many records. This is the highest-rated Odia movie till date. The movie got an excellent IMDb rating of 9.4 out of 10 with 11149 votes until 3rd December 2022. 

Initially, the film was released only in Odisha on 4th November with only 43 screens. Later because of the unique content and positive word of mouth, it was also released in some metropolitan cities, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad and Pune.

In Odisha, every show of this film is going housefull still after a month of its release. Outside of the state also, it is doing very well business despite releasing in a few screens with the Odia language only. In Odisha, the movie is doing well because the story is from their own soil describing certain social issues. 

For the first time, an Odia movie has created this kind of anticipation in mainstream media. Different critics and well-known movie reviewers gave their positive views regarding the movie on social media, which attracted non-Odia audiences also.

The film has some key points like, It is a movie which is inspired by true events. Excellent execution in every department of direction, acting, cinematography, heart-touching music and many more despite having a small budget of just 94 lakhs.

One more interesting fact about this film is that except for Babushan Mohanty and Dipanwit, no other characters belong to the film fraternity. They all are local people of that area, but each one of them did a splendid performance in the movie.

Daman Hindi Dubbed Version

Due to the strong word of mouth, the demand for its Hindi dubbed version has also increased. So the makers planned to release the dubbed version in Hindi on more than 500 screens all over the country by tying up with the production house, Panorama Studios. According to the maker’s team, the Hindi version has already been dubbed. The Daman Hindi trailer will release in the second week of January and the film will be released on 3rd February of 2023.

In the Hindi version, the renowned voice artist Sanket Mhatre gave his voice to the lead actor Babushaan and the Panchayat web series fame actor Chandan Roy gave the voice to Dipanwit, who played the role of a pharmacist.

The music of Gaurav Anand and the songs of the movie Daman make it more connected with the story. So In the Hindi version, the maker has collected some great voices of Bollywood like Javed Ali, Abhay Jodhpurkar, Divya Kumar, etc., have gave their voice for respective songs.

Awards And Recognitions

• Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik declared the film tax-free in the state. He said that the film will encourage the health department employees and other government employees posted in remote areas to excel in selfless service.

• In the news, the special screenings for the Government Officers at District and Sub-District levels are being held by the Odisha Govt. The collectors of the respective districts have been requested to arrange special screenings in their nearby cinemas.

• Daman is the second movie to get tax-free in the state after the movie Sansar which was released in 1974 under the direction of Sarada Prasanna Nayak.

Daman Odia Movie Details

Directed by – Debi Prasad Lenka & Vishal Mourya

Written by – Debi Prasad Lenka & Vishal Mourya

Produced by – Deependra Samal

Starring – Babushan Mohanty & Dipanwit Dashmohapatra

Cinematography- Pratap Rout

Edited by – Debi Prasad Lenka

Music by – Gaurav Anand

Lyrics – (Odia) J.P Wordsmith & Bapu Goswami, (Hindi) Dibyajeet Sahoo

Production companies – JP Motion Pictures, Amara Muzik Odia, Mentis Films

Distributed by – (Odia) JP Motion Pictures, (Hindi) Panorama Studios

Release date – 4th November 2022 (Odia), 3rd February 2023 (Hindi)

Running time – 121 minutes

Country – India

Language – Odia & Hindi

Budget –   ₹ 94 Lakhs

An Appeal To Odia Film Fraternity 

Making cinema is an art, and the art should reflect the culture and values we have rooted from generation to generation. If we focus, there are a lot of stories we will find in our surroundings. And today’s audience only wants what they make relatable to their life. The generation runs with 5G internet, So you can’t make them fool all the time by remaking others’ stories in the name of craft.

Remember those old times when movies like Kaveri, Sesa Srabana, Nua Bou, Balidaan, Jajabara, Gapa Hele Bi Sata etc., each one was like a film institution in itself. Even in the later stage, If we talk about a movie named Laxmana Rekha, which was also a remake movie from Hindi, but the direction, acting, dialogues, and music of that film are still connected. So If you want to make a film, then please do it with honesty which will connect with people.

In Odisha, it is difficult to make a big-budget movie with less number of cinema halls and lack of other resources. But if the director and his team are skillful, they could create good movies with minimum resources, and one of the live examples is the movie, Daman. 

There is no doubt because of the movie Daman, today, non-Odia states people got to know about the existence of the Ollywood industry. Now, after a long period, as an Odia, it gives a sense of pride regarding our film industry when we see stories like Gangs of Puri, Pratikshya, The Mind Game, and Indradhanu.

OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Sony Liv, etc., are available today. It has allowed us to reach out to a bigger platform to tell our story to a broader audience, only we need to produce some good stories. Also, it could be possible if we encourage our dynamic, skilled people, then only the Odia film industry will revive once again.

Dear Readers, if you like the article, then please share your thoughts. Also, If I have missed something to mention here and need to update this list, please let me know below in the comment section. Stay blessed and keep smiling! – Odisha Darsan