Oriya filmmaker Basant Nayak passes away

Bhubaneswar, June 27 (IANS) Veteran Oriya filmmaker, director and distributor Basanta Nayak died at a hospital here Monday after prolonged illness. He was 74.

He is survived by his wife, three sons and a daughter. His last rites are likely to be performed at temple town Puri later in the day.

Nayak was a multi-faced talent who started off as a textiles engineer in Mumbai but later returned to his home district Cuttack and switched to film distribution and filmmaking in early 1970s.

His first directorial venture, 'Naga Phasa', released in 1977. 'This black and white movie was a super hit,' Murali Nayak, editor of monthly Oriya film magazine 'Cinema Sansar', told IANS.

'He has distributed more then a thousand movies, mostly Hindi. He has produced 19 Oriya films and most of them were super-hit,' Nayak said.

Some of his popular movies are 'Danda Balunga', 'Eai Ta Dunia', 'Ae Jugara Krushna Sudama', 'Jahaku Rakhibe Ananta', 'I Love You' and 'Don'.

'His demise is a great loss to the Oriya film industry,' film producer Sabyasachi Mohapatra said.

Nayak had his production house 'Brajaraj movies' at Cuttack, about 25 km from here. Two of his sons are also working in the film industry.