Devdas Chhotray

Devdas Chhotray First Vice-Chancellor of Ravenshaw University
Chairman Of Governing Body Biju Patnaik Film and Television Institute, Cuttack
Vice-Chancellor Ravenshaw University Cuttack
Incumbent
Assumed office 15th November 2006
Personal details
Born	1955 Cuttack
Residence	Bhubaneswar Orissa, India
Alma mater	Former Ravenshaw College, Utkal University Cornell University, USA
Profession	Indian Administrative Service officer, Writer

Devdas Chhotray is an acclaimed writer in Oriya language. His body of work consists of poetry, stories, lyrics, musicals and screenplays, each of which has the imprint of his individuality.

His father, Gopal Chhotray, a Padma Award winner, and recipient of Central Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi awards, was the chief architect of modern Oriya theatre.

Devdas Chhotray is widely known for his four decades of poetry and lyrics, and has been translated into several Indian and foreign languages. He is one of the few outsiders, whose work was published in Bengali translation in Sunil Gangopadhyaya edited “Krittibas”. He has received the prestigious Prajatantra Bisuv Milan Award, Utkal Samaj Centenary Award (Gangadhar Meher Samman), and Rajdhani Book Fair Award 2008 for poetry. Besides, he has been nominated to receive the prestigious Bhanuji Rao Memorial Award for excellence in Oriya poetry on March 15, 2009.

His collection of stories, 'Lal Machha'(Red Fish) has received wide critical acclaim. He has composed lyrics for more than 75 films in Oriya, and earned State award as the Best Lyricist on more than five occasions. All top singers of Mumbai and Kolkata including Sandhya Mukherjee, Nirmala Mishra, Usha Uthup, Udit Narayan, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Sunidhi Chauhan have rendered his lyrics. A majority of his non-film commercial songs have been recorded by HMV (presently Saregama). He has composed musicals for the television also.

Devdas Chhotray has written screenplays for feature films in Oriya. One of his films, Indradhanura Chhai (Shadows of the Rainbow) was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995, and received award as the Best Film in International Film Festival at Sochi on the Black Sea in Russia same year. His other film “Biswaprakash” (The Young Rebel) was adjudged as the Best Regional Film in National Film Festival, 2000, and was showcased in Indian Panorama.

He has worked as the Director of Orissa Film Development Corporation (1983-89 & 1996-98), Chairman of the Publication Committee in Fifth International Children’s Film Festival (1987), and later as Vice President of the Governing Council of Film and Television Institute of India at Pune (1999–2001). Currently, he is the Chairman of Celluloid Chapter, Jamshedpur, one of the most active film societies of eastern India, and edits their journal ‘Cinefile’.

Devdas Chhotray inherits the heritage of theatre. He has acted in radio and stage plays, and was a regular artist of the All India Radio (AIR), Cuttack. He was associated with the productions of Kala Sangam (Satish Anand’s) at Patna. He is presently a member of the Board of Trustees of Orissa Theatre Trust, Bhubaneswar.

Devdas Chhotray has a very distinct experience of cultural institution building. While working as the Deputy Commissioner, Santhal Parganas, he established the Santhal Nritya Kala Kendra at Dumka (1980) for promotion of Santhal dance and music under the Ministry of Culture. Later, as Administrator of Suberanarekha Project at Jamshedpur, he had set up a Tribal Museum and Cultural Centre (1993) consisting of a hill top amphitheatre at Chandil for cultural rehabilitation of the submergence area.

He has several publications to his credit. Apart from the anthologies of poems and stories in Oriya, translations of his poems in English have appeared in a collection called 'Longing' published by Pimlico Books, London. A separate anthology of his poems in Hindi called “Ret Ki Sidhi” has been published recently in Delhi. Devdas Chhotray knows Oriya, Bengali, Hindi, Assamese and English languages. He has done considerable creative writing in English such as writing poetry and review articles on books and cinema. He has occasionally translated poems from Bengali, Hindi and Assamese.

He was educated in the erstwhile Ravenshaw College, Cuttack (now Ravenshaw University) and Cornell University, USA. After joining the IAS in 1971, initially allotted to UT and later to Bihar Cadre, Devdas Chhotray had worked in the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, as well as in Government of India, New Delhi. He was the District Officer in Dhanbad and Santhal Parganas in the erstwhile Bihar. He has worked in the Departments of Personnel, Finance, Revenue, Industries, Health and Home in the State Governments, and in the Ministries of Industries, Coal, Department of Justice and Department of Home Affairs.

In 2006 Devdas Chhotray took voluntary retirement from Government service, while working as a Secretary to the Government of India to become the first Vice-Chancellor of the Ravenshaw University. He is also the Chairman of the Governing Body of the Biju Patnaik Film and Television Institute at Cuttack.

References

• http://www.naxatranews.com/news_view.php?news_id=1147
• http://kalingatimes.com/orissa_news/news1/20071115-i-have-a-dream.htm
• http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1737
• http://varnamala.org/devdas.html

Persondata
Name	Chhotray, Devdas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1955
Place of birth	Cuttack
Date of death
Place of death