Sakkad Sangatha Melya, OSMITAY Jiko’nvyam! (Let’s All Get Together and Make OSMITAY Win ( Victory/Success)!) A Debut Konkani Movie by Mandd Sobhann, directed by Vilas Rathnakar Kshatriya; produced by Louis J Pinto featuring Ashwin D’Costa and Ms Wencita Dias and Dennis Monteiro in the lead roles, to hit the silver screen (Bharath Cinemas), at Bharath Mall, Bejai, Mangaluru on 15 September 2023..
Mangaluru: Speaking during a press meet held at Kanara Club, Kadri, Mangaluru Eric Ozario-the Gurkar of Mandd Sobhann and writer of the movie said, ” The highly anticipated Konkani film, ‘Osmitay’, is set to grace the silver screens on 15 September 2023, marking a significant milestone for the Guinness record-holding cultural organization, Mandd Sobhann. Mandd Sobhann has made remarkable contributions to Konkani art, literature, and culture across various domains, and our debut production, ‘Osmitay’, promises to be a cinematic treat for audiences”.
“Set against the backdrop of the Konkani people’s quest for identity, this captivating story unfolds the narrative of migration from Goa and showcases the visual splendour of Konkani’s rich folk heritage, al splendour into a tender love story written by me (Eric Ozario) and the screenplay and dialogues by Joel Pereira comes to life through the brilliant direction of the young and talented filmmaker, Vilas Ratnakar Kshatriya. The scenic beauty of the coast, hills and Goa is exquisitely captured by cinematographer Balaraja Gowda, with skilful editing by Mavin Joel Pinto,” added Eric.
He further said, “The film’s soulful melodies are composed by the talented quartet of Alwyn Fernandes, Cajetan Dias, Joel Pereira, and myself, featuring the renowned singer Nihal Tauro and an array of talented vocalists. The cast includes stellar performances by Denis Monteiro, Ashwin D’Costa, Ms Wencita Dias, Prince Jacob, Sayish Panandikar, Gaurish Vernekar, Stany Alvares, Nellu Permannur, Sunil Siddi, Lulu Fortes, Naveen Lobo, and other renowned artists from Goa and Mangaluru. Notably, around 500 other talented actors make their debut appearances in front of the camera”.
‘Osmitay’ will grace the screens starting September 15th at Bharath Cinemas Mangaluru with two screens, along with screenings at Cine Galaxy Surathkal, Bharat Cinemas Padubidri, Bharat Cinemas Manipal, Bharat Cinemas Puttur, Bharat Talkies Belthangady, and Planet Karkala, each with one screen dedicated to the film. Additionally, Kalpana Talkies Udupi and Padmanjali Talkies Honnavar will contribute four screens each to ensure that audiences get the opportunity to experience this cinematic masterpiece. Following the initial release, arrangements will be made for exhibition in various locations, including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Goa, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Israel, Germany, Australia, Ireland, USA and several countries around the world.
On 10 September 2023, there will be three simultaneous premiere screenings at 4:00 PM at Bejai Bharat Cinemas in Mangaluru, Puttur, and Bharat Cinemas in Manipal, exclusively for the well-wishers, and donors, among others The inauguration in Mangaluru will be graced by Goa MLA couple, Michael Lobo and Delilah Lobo, among other VIPs. The movie trailer was released on 13 August 2023 at Bharath Cinemas.
Mandd Sobhann has undertaken the ambitious production of ‘Osmitay’ with the invaluable support of the community and donors, driven by their mission to contribute to the cinematic movement. President Louis J. Pinto led this remarkable endeavour. The film promises not only to be a visual treat but also a testament to the rich cultural heritage of Konkani art and storytelling.
L-R: DENNIS MONTEIRO, Ms WENCITA DIAS and ASHWIN D’COSTA
Gurkar and story writer of Osmitay movie Eric Ozario, Producer Louis J Pinto, co-director and screenplay writer Joel Pereira, actor Dennis Monteiro, Ashwin D’Costa, actress Ms Wencita Dias, Stany Alvares, Nellu Permanur were present in the press conference. Following the press, Yours Truly of Team Mangalorean had an interaction with Ms Wencita Dias, Ashwin D’Costa and Dennis Monteiro.
ACTRESS Ms WENCITA DIAS:
Daughter of Walter Dias, employed in Saudi Arabia and Mrs Jyothi Dias, a housewife, residing in Nagori, belonging to Angelore parish, Wencita has a sister named Jeswita Dias and enjoys the company of her grandma Daisy D’Souza and Grandpa John D’Souza, who pet her a lot. While 20-year-old Wencita is pursuing her third-year degree at St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, her Sister Jeswita having completed her higher studies in Canada, is working there.
Sitting: John D’Souza (Grandpa) and Mrs Daisy D’Souza (Grandma) Standing: Jeswita (Siter), Walter Dias (dad), Jyoth Dias (Mom) and Wencita
Her achievements to her credit, include the Konkan Baal competition at the diocese level at 4 years old winning a gold medal; Winning the title MISSY MANGALORE in the year 2013; being National level poem reciter; In a beauty pageant competition held in July 2019, she won the Main title as MISS TEEN KARNATAKA 2019 and was selected for the International level to represent India in the teen category; In the International beauty pageant competition held at Bangkok, Thailand she won the main Title as MISS TEEN WORLD SUPERMODEL GLOBAL She has even acted in Seven Album songs. Currently, she is playing a lead role as a heroine in the Tulu movie- ” Gabbar Singh” and Kannada movie- Detective Deeksha working with Priyanka Upendra; Last Wave- a Pan India movie; and has also played a side character role in six other movies.
Narrating her part in Osmitay, she said, “I had an incredible experience working in a Konkani film Osmitay with a wonderful team. This movie is scripted very well and is not like a normal Konkani film, it will take people to a different scenario. I am blessed to work with such great people and great films. I am thankful to Mandd Sobhann for believing in me and making me the heroine of this film. This movie will surely remain in people’s minds forever. Though I have acted in Tulu and Kannada movies..they are yet to be released and are under post-production”.
“I am blessed that my first post-production going to be released is Konkani which is in my mother tongue, because my family and I give importance to our mother tongue, therefore I am overwhelmed that my debut movie which is going to be released is a Konkani movie. Osmitay is a must-watch movie, especially for Konkani-speaking people. It’s based on our Identity, Cultures, traditions, our generation from where we come from, who we are and many other things. It is a beautiful love story which is portrayed and entertaining. I am very sure people will like our film and also support us…it’s a big budget movie which is happening for the first time in Konkani”.
ACTOR ASHWIN D’COSTA:
Residing in Kulshekar, Mangaluru, and belonging to Holy Cross Cordel Parish, Ashwin is the son of Antony Peter D’Costa (Retired AC technician) and Mrs Precilla D’Costa (Housewife), and has a sister Ms Ashvitha D’Costa (Working as an accountant in Dubai). Ashwin is a Senior Software Engineer by profession a singer, Actor and Dancer by passion. Born and brought up in Mangaluru, he completed a BCA –Bachelor in Computer Application – MSc in Software Technology at St Aloysius College, Mangaluru; Presently working as an Assistant Manager at KPMG India Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru.
Apart from his software field, he also holds an interest in dancing, acting, playing guitar, and ukulele, composing songs, swimming, travelling, cooking, baking, gardening, photography etc. Overall Achievements added to his credit are- Is known for his unique way of performing and attracting the crowd; His melodious voice and Soulful rendition directly connect to people’s hearts, this unique quality of his makes him stand out from the other artists; Served as a professional Dancer at “Naach Sobhan” for 6+ Years. Also Performed with Bollywood fame like Usha Utthup, Anuradha Podwal, Remo Fernandes and sandalwooAnuradhalike Guru Kiran; Worked as a background dancer in a Kannada movie named “Yellelo Neene Nannallu Neene”
Won “Mr Photogenic title 2011” at the Cultural World Convention which was held at Kalangaan, Shakthinagar, Mangaluru and was crowned by ex-chief minister Mr H D Kumaraswamy; Has sung for over 80+ albums in various languages including Pop and Devotional albums and more than 500 songs including Short films, Radio and TV Jingles. ; Has done playback for 2 Konkani Movies named “Ek Aslyar Ek Nam” and “Nirmillem Nirmonem”; Well versed with performing Bollywood, Hindi, Pop, Kannada, English, Tulu and other tracks with various genres ranging from Ballads to Rock, Reggae to Disco, Baila and so on.
Won the first Runners in the Konkani singing TV reality show organised by Maand Sobhaan, Mangaluru named SOAD season 4; Performed for Musical Nites of Konkani Music Fame like Wilfy Rebimbus, Claud D’Souza, Maxim Pereira, Melwyn Peris, Lancy Henry Moras, Stany Mendonca, Eric Ozario, Anil Pais, Lawrence D’Souza, Llyod Rego, Roshan Angelore, Lawrence Baptist and others; Performed in other Indian states like Maharashtra, Goa and Kerala and in and around Mangaluru.
Performed in front of the former President of India, Srimathi Prathibha Devi Singh Patel and former Chief Minister of Goa, Digambar Kamath; So far has been a part of more than 400 stage shows; Served as a judge in one of the Konkani’s prestigious singing TV reality shows named SOAD season 5; Holds an intermediate level certification in Carnatic music from Kelvin Jayakanth studios, Malaysia; Acted in a unique Konkani Musical Movie named “Mog Mulyar” comprising of 16 songs interlinked with dialogues, which was produced by Wilfy Rebimbus Creations; Appeared in a multilingual short movie in a supporting role, directed by Sundeep Malani, produced by Rajesh Chaudhary, this movie is currently under post-production, in which he has sung 2 songs;
Performed on an International platform which was held at Tel-Aviv, Israel in October 2015.; Performed on an International platform for Tulu Koota Kuwait (TKK) Rasamanjari in Kuwait in April 2016; Performed for Wilson Oliver Musical Nite which was held in Qatar in January 2020; Performed for Wilfy Nite which was held at Tel-Aviv, Israel in Aug 2023. Below are the links to a few of my Musical Works and Performance. Narrating about his lead role in Osmitay, Ashwin said, “I always had a dream of appearing on the silver screen as a lead actor but given I was working in Bengaluru as a software engineer, my schedule didn’t permit me to audition for any such roles, though I had a few opportunities in the past to act in Konkani movies I had to say no to them with a heavy heart as I couldn’t commit my time out of my busy work schedule. But I think I was manifesting it badly in the back of my mind…COVID-19 happened and I got an opportunity to work from my hometown, Mangaluru. That’s when I could try my hands at a lot of things including composing songs and discovering other hobbies”.
“To add to all this I got an opportunity to audition for Osmitay as well, which initially I was sceptical of as I knew it would demand a lot of my time off work. But I thought I would give it a shot. Fortunately, I got through the auditions and that’s when the real tension came in, I spoke to my family and a couple of my friends to discuss the same and they helped me decide to go ahead, as this was one of the biggest opportunities which had come to me and I didn’t want to let it go so easily and regret later… But I think I made the right decision by accepting this offer, it has been a roller coaster journey since then but I think it all fell into place for me which I’m still not able to digest.I could manage my work schedule with minimal leave taken off work, I remember working round the clock during the shooting days”.
“I was with my laptop working by sitting in my car and almost all the sets of the movie. The team was very supportive in terms of guiding and moulding me from a non-actor to an actor. I was given 15+ days of workshops which I used to attend after my office hours till late in the night. The initial days of the shoots were a little hectic for me since it took some time to get accustomed to the new environment that was in, but later on I got used to it and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of shooting, This new experience gave me a lot of learning from acting to what happens in post-production step by step. I have given my best, now it’s up to the audience to support us by watching this one-of-a-kind movie in the theatres…I am sure this movie won’t disappoint you all, instead would leave you all spellbound. I would also take this opportunity to thank Mandd Sobhann for giving me this opportunity of a lifetime. Wishing the entire team a huge success”.
LEAD ACTOR DENNIS MONTEIRO:
Dennis Monteiro, age 67, a tailor by profession, has owned Amigo Tailors, in Kadri for the last 40 years, and is married to Mrs Lita, a housewife who also assists Dennis in tailoring work, has a daughter, Ms Amora, who having completed her Master in Corporate Psychology at St Aloysius PG College, Mangaluru, is presently pursuing her higher studies in Canada. Having completed his B Com in 1979 at St Aloysius College, Dennis also did a Fashion Design Course in Mumbai. Later he started his tailoring shop in Mangaluru.
Dennis has acted and worked in theatres/dramas for decades, and also had a minor role in the Konkani movie “Nashibacho Khel”. He has taken part in 75 plus dramas, and also directed a bunch of plays, receiving high praises/applauds from his fans, for his spectacular performances. Narrating his role in Osmitay, Dennis said, ” It was unexpected that I was given a chance to act in a movie, where my part is narrating the story. I have tried my BEST to give the BEST, and it was a pleasure to work in this movie, to promote Konkani Language/Konkani Movement, thereby giving Konkani a BOOST. Working with a great team in this movie, I am blessed to make my debut lead appearance in a superb movie, which will surely win the hearts of Konkani movie lovers. I humbly request all the Konkani lovers to patronize Osmitay, and make it a Success”.
