What Makes Devdas the Chhotray?

Explore the poetic, musical, and administrative legacy of Devdas Chhotray — Odisha’s cultural icon who bridged literature, music, and modern thought

Bhaskar Parichha

In the ever-evolving landscape of Odia letters, few figures have traversed the boundaries of literature, music, and cultural life with as much ease and elegance as Devdas Chhotray. For more than five decades, he has remained one of the most luminous presences in Odisha’s intellectual firmament — a poet of lyric grace, a short story writer of subtle irony, a lyricist who reshaped the soundscape of modern Odia music, and an administrator who left an indelible mark on the institutions he led. His name evokes an entire era of creative optimism, when the boundaries between popular and literary culture dissolved into the rhythm of a shared imagination.

Born in Cuttack, a city that has long been a crucible of Odia art and thought, Devdas Chhotray was destined to breathe the air of creativity. His father, Gopal Chhotray, remains a towering figure in the history of modern Odia theatre — a playwright who redefined the stage and received the Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi, and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards for his contributions.

From him, Devdas inherited not only a legacy of words but also a deep understanding of the dramatic, the rhythmic, and the humane. Yet, from the very beginning, he charted a distinct course — urbane, introspective, and effortlessly modern, while remaining deeply anchored in the cadences of his mother tongue.

Chhotray’s writing is marked by a rare balance between thought and emotion. His poetry, contained in collections such as Nila Saraswati (Blue Muse) and Hati Saja Kara (Order the Elephants), reveals a voice that is simultaneously meditative and playful. His lines are not overwhelmed by grand themes; instead, they draw strength from the everyday — from the textures of memory, the charm of chance encounters, and the subtle drama of human relationships. The Odia idiom, under his pen, turns lyrical and unforced, capable of carrying irony and affection in the same breath. He is a poet of warmth rather than angst, a chronicler of light rather than shadow.

His short stories, compiled in volumes such as Lal Machha (Red Fish) and Matinee Show (2023), carry the same qualities of restraint and resonance. They are stories of ordinary people caught in the quiet whirlwinds of life, told with a tone that is observational rather than judgmental. The worlds he creates are not distant or dramatic; they are recognizably ours, lit by the small revelations that transform the mundane into the memorable.

His novella Dirghaswasa extends this temperament into a longer form, revealing his capacity to sustain emotional complexity with precision and tenderness. In English translation, his work — particularly in the volume Longing (Pimlico Books, London) — has reached readers far beyond Odisha, affirming the universality of his themes: love, longing, loss, and renewal.

But Chhotray’s genius cannot be confined to the printed page. In the 1960s and beyond, he became a defining voice of Odia popular music, giving words to melodies that still echo in collective memory. His collaboration with the legendary Akshaya Mohanty, the composer-singer who revolutionized Odia music, remains one of the most fruitful creative partnerships in the state’s cultural history. Together, they produced songs that blended poetry and melody with effortless charm. Numbers like “Emiti Eka Chehera,” “Sapanara Ara Pari Gaan,” “Machha Hela Kata,” and “Teeniti Jhia” transcended generations, articulating the new sensibility of an Odisha in transition — a society caught between village and city, tradition and modernity, the folk and the cinematic.

These songs are more than cultural artefacts; they are emotional touchstones that capture an entire mood of post-Independence Odisha. In Chhotray’s lyrics, romance meets irony, the rustic meets the urbane, and the eternal Odia melancholy finds a new rhythm in modern idiom. His songs are poetic but never esoteric, modern but never alienating. They represent the democratization of poetry — a rare instance where the lyricist becomes as revered as the singer.

Alongside his creative work, Devdas Chhotray built a parallel career as an able administrator and visionary. His years in public service and academia are marked by innovation and integrity. As Director of the Odisha Film Development Corporation (1983–1989, 1996–1998), he nurtured the state’s film industry during a period of transition, encouraging independent voices and fostering artistic cinema. Later, as Vice-President of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) from 1999 to 2001, he helped strengthen India’s cinematic education framework, bringing to it a sense of artistic balance that mirrored his own literary ethos.

Perhaps his most enduring institutional contribution came when he was appointed the founding Vice-Chancellor of Ravenshaw University in Cuttack (2006–2010). Ravenshaw, a historic college that had educated generations of Odias, was elevated to university status under his leadership, which was also his alma mater.

Chhotray guided this transformation with a deep sense of heritage and modernity — preserving the institution’s intellectual dignity while opening its doors to new ideas, new disciplines, and new ambitions. Those years witnessed Ravenshaw’s rebirth as a dynamic academic space, and Chhotray’s blend of poetry and pragmatism defined its tone.

In recognition of his enduring literary achievement, Chhotray was conferred the 46th Sarala Puraskar by the IMFA Charitable Trust (IMPaCT) in 2025 for his short story collection Matinee Show. The award — comprising a citation, a plaque, and ₹7 lakh in prize money — celebrated not just a book, but a lifelong devotion to storytelling in all its forms. The honor reaffirmed what his readers and listeners have long known: that Devdas Chhotray is one of the rare figures whose work continues to bridge the aesthetic and the accessible.

There is a certain irony in his name — Devdas, a name that evokes the tragic hero of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s immortal novel. But if the Bengali Devdas stood for heartbreak and surrender, the Odia Devdas symbolizes resilience and grace. His art rejects despair. Instead, it embraces humor, empathy, and a quiet faith in human goodness. He writes not of ruin but of renewal — of the beauty that survives in the cracks of the everyday. His is a vision rooted in the Odia temperament: deeply emotional, gently ironic, and endlessly hopeful.

As Odisha continues to evolve — its cities expanding, its youth redefining culture in digital spaces — Chhotray’s presence feels both timeless and timely. His songs find new listeners online; his stories, translated and reprinted, speak to younger readers searching for meaning amid flux. He remains a bridge between eras: between the lyrical innocence of an older Odisha and the restless curiosity of a new one.

To read Devdas Chhotray today is to encounter a voice that believes in the power of art to console without illusion, to delight without pretension. His words remind us that culture, at its best, is not about preservation alone but about participation — about entering life with open eyes, tender irony, and a song on one’s lips.

In his poetry and his music, in his administration and his laughter, Devdas Chhotray continues to remind Odisha of what it means to be both modern and humane — to live, as he writes and sings, with grace in the heart and music in the soul.

(The author is a senior journalist and columnist. Views expressed are personal.)