“Being the nephew of Nirad Mohapatra, the legendary Odia film maker, I always had this affinity towards photography since I was a kid, and I had a small point and shoot camera with which I used to click pictures of all things. After I completed my 12th, my father asked me if I wanted a DSLR. I didn’t know what that was, but I said yes because it felt like it was something fancy. Knowing nothing about it, I slowly learnt everything by experimenting with it.
At that time, there were a lot of photography pages on Facebook, and I didn’t feel I would do anything different by following that trend. With my cousin, I started a small home production by the name ‘Incendiary Films’. We started with short films, and then stepped into documentary film making, based on real life events that were impactful on the society.
My major breakthrough was when I made a documentary on the famous sand artist, Sudarsan Pattnaik. The film got a lot of awards and grew very popular. I also portrayed Late Dr. Prakash Rao’s story, and when that video got viral, a lot of people gave him donations, and he received Padma Shree after that as well. I realized that my strong point was finding genuinely fascinating stories of common people rather than those of renowned personalities.
Stepping into the professional side, I started with a small ad production house. Later, when I moved to Mumbai, I worked for 'The Better India', where I met over 160 people who had done extraordinary work, and I filmed their stories.
Now I am a freelancer, and often take up projects with 'The Wedding Filmer'. I recently did a small video on the Mumbai Dabbawalas for Milaap, following which they could raise over Rs 1 crore. Last year, during lockdown I did a short food series called ‘Bou Kohuthile’, based on Odia cuisine. That was highly appreciated.
Besides everything, the fact that I get to come across so many common people who have so many wonderful stories to tell is a different experience altogether. There are so many raw and unscripted stories waiting to be told, stories that instill your inner passion.” – Raj Sampad.
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