Bijaya Jena
Encyclopedia
Bijaya Jena (born 16 August in Cuttack
, Orissa
) is an India
n actor
, film director
and producer
.
(aristocrats) background and her father, the late B.C.Jena was a Civil Engineer
by profession and after his retirement learned homeopathy
and became a practising homoeopath. He also became the President of the Nigamanand Ashram, Cuttack.
In her early teens, Jena expressed her intention to join a course in Film Acting which was the only course she could opt for at that time as other technical courses needed graduate students. In spite of stiff opposition, she was firm in her decision.Her father had to seek advice from a child psychiatrist whether to allow her to pursue her to study film acting. Once the counsellor gave the nod then only she enrolled in the Film Institute of India for a Diploma Course in Film Acting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bijaya_Jena001.jpg
film industry and soon won the State Award for Best Actress for her performance in Jaga Balia.
She went on to work in a number of Hindi and Oriya feature films, television serials and plays, of which Hakim Babu (Oriya Film) received the National award for the Best Oriya Film.
She has also acted in Ismail Merchant's British Film, The Deceivers
, directed by Nicholas Meyer.
Jena has always been attracted to spiritualism and the mystical. She participated in a Science and Religion Conference - the International Transpersonal Association Conference whose focus was on the amalgamation between science and spiritualism. Here, she interacted with well known personalities in the field of science and religion. She also did a course in EST
by Warner Erhard.
Jena had entered the Indian Film Industry in the 1980s, when Industry was going through a transition and the New Wave Cinema or Serious Cinema (or Art Cinema) which had flourished through the 50s and 60s (under the aegis of Satyajit Ray
and Mrinal Sen
and Shyam Benegal
) was floundering and dying in the 80s. So, she decided to make her own films.
In 1992, Jena made her directorial debut with the Oriya feature film, Tara which went on to receive National Award and she was nominated for Best Actress in India and France for it.
Jena was on the Governing Council of the Film & TV Institute of India from 1992–95 and on the National Feature Film Awards Jury in 1993.
In 1997, she scripted, directed and produced her second film, Abhaas (English: Prologue). Both the films participated in festivals abroad and received critical acclaim.
In 2007, She was on the International Jury of Fajr International Film Festival
,Teheran.
In 2011, she was on the Jury in First Kish International Film Festival,Iran.
Tara was based on a short story by Bimal Dutt (also the main script-writer of the film), a highly respected and prolific writer of the country. It was her directorial debut and she played the title role in the film.
Tara was completed in a "less than shoe-string" budget of approximately US $ 20,000, borrowed from family and National and State Government Agencies.
The film has received the National Award for the Best Oriya Film 1992 and the President of the jury, a renowned film maker, Adoor Gopalakrishnan
, in his speech, singled out Jena's name as one of the promising future directors of the country and Jena also received critical acclaim for her performance in the title character.
The film Tara has competed in the Festival International du Cinema Au Feminin, Marseilles 1992 and participated in the Cairo International Film Festival 1992.
language), which she scripted, directed and produced and played an important role in it.
The film was made in 1996 with a modest budget of US $60,000.
Abhaas had the honour of having the Hungarian maestro, István Gaál
as the Script Advisor.
The film participated in the
It was also invited to the Montreal World Film Festival in Cinema of the World Category, 1997 and the International Film Festival in Sochi, Russia (the film could not participate in both Montreal and Sochi due to technical reasons).
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abhaas_Movie_Clip.jpg
Danapani (English: The Survivor) is her script based on an award winning Oriya novella. It was approved by the National Film Development Corporation but is stuck in the pre-production stage due to lack of funds.
Goan Sonata is another script based on a tale of unrequited love between a British writer and a Goan woman during the difficult times of liberation movement. The language of the film is English.The project is under pre-production with Oscar winning actors,an ensemble cast of internationally well known actors and excellent technical crew members from Europe.Currently negotiating with an American company to coproduce the film.
Cuttack
Cuttack is the former capital of the state of Orissa, India. It is the headquarters of Cuttack district and is located about 20 km to the north east of Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa. The name of the city is an anglicised form of Kataka that literally means The Fort, a reference to the...
, Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
) is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
.
Early years
Jena is the youngest of 3 children, born into a family of academicians and aristocrats. Her mother came from a feudal ZamindarZamindar
A Zamindar or zemindar , was an aristocrat, typically hereditary, who held enormous tracts of land and ruled over and taxed the bhikaaris who lived on batavaslam. Over time, they took princely and royal titles such as Maharaja , Raja , Nawab , and Mirza , Chowdhury , among others...
(aristocrats) background and her father, the late B.C.Jena was a Civil Engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
by profession and after his retirement learned homeopathy
Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine in which practitioners claim to treat patients using highly diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient...
and became a practising homoeopath. He also became the President of the Nigamanand Ashram, Cuttack.
In her early teens, Jena expressed her intention to join a course in Film Acting which was the only course she could opt for at that time as other technical courses needed graduate students. In spite of stiff opposition, she was firm in her decision.Her father had to seek advice from a child psychiatrist whether to allow her to pursue her to study film acting. Once the counsellor gave the nod then only she enrolled in the Film Institute of India for a Diploma Course in Film Acting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bijaya_Jena001.jpg
Acting career
Jena became an actress in the OriyaOriya language
Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...
film industry and soon won the State Award for Best Actress for her performance in Jaga Balia.
She went on to work in a number of Hindi and Oriya feature films, television serials and plays, of which Hakim Babu (Oriya Film) received the National award for the Best Oriya Film.
She has also acted in Ismail Merchant's British Film, The Deceivers
The Deceivers
The Deceivers is a 1952 novel by John Masters on the Thuggee movement in India during British imperial rule. It was adapted in 1988 as the Merchant Ivory Productions film starring Shashi Kapoor, Pierce Brosnan, Bijaya Jena, Saeed Jaffrey and Dalip Tahil....
, directed by Nicholas Meyer.
Jena has always been attracted to spiritualism and the mystical. She participated in a Science and Religion Conference - the International Transpersonal Association Conference whose focus was on the amalgamation between science and spiritualism. Here, she interacted with well known personalities in the field of science and religion. She also did a course in EST
Erhard Seminars Training
Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"...
by Warner Erhard.
Jena had entered the Indian Film Industry in the 1980s, when Industry was going through a transition and the New Wave Cinema or Serious Cinema (or Art Cinema) which had flourished through the 50s and 60s (under the aegis of Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
and Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen is a Bengali Indian filmmaker. He was born on 14 May 1923, in the town of Faridpur, now in Bangladesh in a Hindu family. After finishing his high school there, he left home to come to Calcutta as a student and studied physics at the well-known Scottish Church College and at the...
and Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...
) was floundering and dying in the 80s. So, she decided to make her own films.
In 1992, Jena made her directorial debut with the Oriya feature film, Tara which went on to receive National Award and she was nominated for Best Actress in India and France for it.
Jena was on the Governing Council of the Film & TV Institute of India from 1992–95 and on the National Feature Film Awards Jury in 1993.
In 1997, she scripted, directed and produced her second film, Abhaas (English: Prologue). Both the films participated in festivals abroad and received critical acclaim.
In 2007, She was on the International Jury of Fajr International Film Festival
Fajr International Film Festival
The Fajr Film Festival or Fajr International Film Festival is Iran's annual film festival, held every February in Tehran.The festival, started in 1982, is under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture in Iran...
,Teheran.
In 2011, she was on the Jury in First Kish International Film Festival,Iran.
Tara
Jena co-scripted, directed and produced Tara, her first feature film in the Oriya language in 1992.Tara was based on a short story by Bimal Dutt (also the main script-writer of the film), a highly respected and prolific writer of the country. It was her directorial debut and she played the title role in the film.
Tara was completed in a "less than shoe-string" budget of approximately US $ 20,000, borrowed from family and National and State Government Agencies.
The film has received the National Award for the Best Oriya Film 1992 and the President of the jury, a renowned film maker, Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Moutatthu "Adoor" Gopalakrishnan Unnithan is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer. Adoor Gopalakrishnan had a major role in revolutionizing Malayalam cinema and is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of India.. Adoor's first film Swayamvaram pioneered the new wave cinema...
, in his speech, singled out Jena's name as one of the promising future directors of the country and Jena also received critical acclaim for her performance in the title character.
The film Tara has competed in the Festival International du Cinema Au Feminin, Marseilles 1992 and participated in the Cairo International Film Festival 1992.
Abhaas
Abhaas is Bijaya's second feature film (in the HindiHindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
language), which she scripted, directed and produced and played an important role in it.
The film was made in 1996 with a modest budget of US $60,000.
Abhaas had the honour of having the Hungarian maestro, István Gaál
István Gaál
István Gaál was a Hungarian film director, editor and screenwriter. He directed 27 films between 1956 and 1996. With Falcons he won the Jury Prize at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival.-External links:...
as the Script Advisor.
The film participated in the
- Festival International du Film de la Rochelle, France, 1997,
- Penang Film Festival, Malaysia (Competition Section), 1997.
- Cairo International Film Festival (Competition Section), 1997.
It was also invited to the Montreal World Film Festival in Cinema of the World Category, 1997 and the International Film Festival in Sochi, Russia (the film could not participate in both Montreal and Sochi due to technical reasons).
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abhaas_Movie_Clip.jpg
Forthcoming projects
In 1997, Jena gave birth to a girl, Lopamudra, and took a break from film-making to raise her child. In this period, she developed a few scripts.Danapani (English: The Survivor) is her script based on an award winning Oriya novella. It was approved by the National Film Development Corporation but is stuck in the pre-production stage due to lack of funds.
Goan Sonata is another script based on a tale of unrequited love between a British writer and a Goan woman during the difficult times of liberation movement. The language of the film is English.The project is under pre-production with Oscar winning actors,an ensemble cast of internationally well known actors and excellent technical crew members from Europe.Currently negotiating with an American company to coproduce the film.
Acting credits
- Abhaas (Prologue) (1997) (Hindi film)
- Tara (1992) (Oriya Film)
- The DeceiversThe DeceiversThe Deceivers is a 1952 novel by John Masters on the Thuggee movement in India during British imperial rule. It was adapted in 1988 as the Merchant Ivory Productions film starring Shashi Kapoor, Pierce Brosnan, Bijaya Jena, Saeed Jaffrey and Dalip Tahil....
(1988) (English Film) - Jantar Mantar (1988) (TV Episodes)
- Param Veer Chakra (1988) (TV Episode)
- Vikram Vetaal (1987) (TV Episode)
- Uparaant (1987) (Hindi Film)
- Heera Neela (1985) (Oriya Film)
- Hakim Babu (1984) (Oriya Film)
- Holi (1984) (Hindi film)
- Jaga Balia (1983) (Oriya Film)
- Amma (1983) (Hindi film)
- Ashar Akash (1983) (Oriya Film)
- Razia Sultan (1982) (Hindi film)
- Naxalites (1981) (Hindi film)