Toshali Sands

The changing face of Oriya jatra
Bhubaneswar: The sudden rise in popularity of jatra has affected both office collections in rural Orissa. Some groups complained that modern day jatra was more cinema based than the traditional Odissi dance and mythological based ones of yore. Jatra began in the state in the 1930s. Although a few amateur groups like Rangamancha set up in 1907, Basanti Rangamela in 1910, French Dramatic Club in 1912 and few others are still active but have tested little success in recent times. However it was Annapurna Rangamancha set up by Kavi Chandra Kalicharn Pattanaik in 1930 that became a trendsetter in the history of Oriya Theater.

The increasing demand for jatra has given birth to more than 60 groups in the state, of which Jagatsinghpur district has more and 40. Bhubaneswari Nayak, owner of a Jatra group said, “it is an unreliable business, sometimes the returns are high, but at times we have to sell our property to repay debts.”

Keeping up with the times, jatra has been sea change. With revolving stages colourful lighting and better make-up jatra continues to lure the audience. Today they are a blend of film. Theatre and opera. Competition is tough, as it is always big banners and huge number of stage artists that attract more viewers while the small groups are left searching for audience and good actors.