Saddened to learn of the death of popular actor and playwright Atal Bihari Panda: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik
Bhubaneswar, 5th June: Award-winning actor Atal Bihari Panda who essayed the character of Sala Budha in Sabyasachi Mohapatra’s trilogy ‘Sala Budha’, ‘Adim Vichar’ and ‘Sala Budhar Badla’, dies of post-Covid complications.
With the demise of noted actor Shri Atal Bihari Panda, Odia cinema has lost a great personality. His works in both Odia and Sambalpuri are par excellence.
I am saddened to learn of the death of popular actor and playwright Atal Bihari Panda. Perfect acting in films like ‘Sala buddha’, ‘Primitive Judgment’ will forever make him memorable. His demise is an irreparable loss to the Oriya art world. He also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and wished them well wrote Odisha cm Naveen Patnaik on his twitter post.
deeply anguished by the passing away of Veteran Sambalpuri Actor and ‘Sala Buddha’ fame Shri Atal Bihari Panda. A big loss for Western Odisha. He will be remembered for his contribution to Sambalpuri Cinema & Plays. My deep condolences to the bereaved family wrote member of parliament Sujit Kumar on his twitter post.
Atal Bihari Panda (ଅଟଳ ବିହାରୀ ପଣ୍ଡା) was an Indian actor, playwright and lyricist . He is known for his works in Sambalpuri Cinema. He was regarded as one of the finest actors in Odisha and is the recipient of numerous awards, including two back-to-back Odisha State Film Awards for best actor.
His debut in films, came at an age of 83 year is quite amazing for an actor. Before his debut as an actor in films, he had already written 60 plays. He has also written lyrics in many sambalpuri songs.
He made his debut in film ‘Sala Budha’ in lead role and the film was directed by Sabyasachi Mohapatra in 2013. He won the Best actor award for the film Sala Budha at Odisha State Film awards. In 2014, he again got the chance to work with the director Sabyasachi Mohapatra in the film “Aadim Vichar”, which was a Sequel to “Sala Budha”.
He appeared again in the lead role in the third installment of Sala Budha film series titled “Sala Budhar Badla” released on 17 January 2020.