{{BLP sources|date=May 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Use Indian English|date=September 2013}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Devdas Chhotray<br />First Vice-Chancellor of Ravenshaw University | image = Devdas Chhotray.JPG | image_size = 250px | order = Chairman<br />Biju Patnaik Film and Television Institute, Cuttack | office2 = Vice-Chancellor<br />Ravenshaw University<br />Cuttack | term_start2 = 15 November 2006 | term_end2 = <!-- waiting --> | birth_date = 25 November 1946 | birth_place = Cuttack | profession = Indian Administrative Service officer, writer | spouse = | children = | alma_mater = Ravenshaw College, <br />Utkal University<br />Cornell University, | signature = Signature of Devdas Chhotray.png }}
'''Devdas Chhotray''' is an Indian Odia author,<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.dailypioneer.com/2014/state-editions/for-poet-there-is-no-age-says-chhotray.html| title = For poet, there is no age, says Chhotray}}</ref> administrator<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=301053055&privcapId=113400158&previousCapId=113400158&previousTitle=Universal%20Commodity%20Exchange%20Limited| title = Stocks – Bloomberg| publisher = Bloomberg News| date = 27 October 2023}}</ref> and academic. He was the first vice-chancellor of Ravenshaw University, Cuttack, Odisha.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ravenshawuniversity.ac.in/FormerVc.php | title=Ravenshaw University | access-date=3 October 2016 | archive-date=5 February 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205192934/http://www.ravenshawuniversity.ac.in/FormerVc.php | url-status=dead }}</ref> His work consists of poetry, short stories, lyrics, musicals and screenplays. Chhotray's father Gopal Chhotray, a recipient of Padma, Central Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, was an architect of modern Odia theatre.<ref>https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2004/04/01/stories/2004040100380300.htm {{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic | fix-attempted=yes}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.telegraphindia.com/odisha/the-magic-lantern-my-reminiscences-of-films/cid/1508237| title = The magic lantern: My reminiscences of films |work=The Telegraph|location= India}}</ref>
== Early life, education and career ==
Chhotray was educated at Ravenshaw College (now Ravenshaw University) and Cornell University. After joining the Indian Administrative Service in 1971, he worked in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and New Delhi. In 2006 Chhotray became the first vice-chancellor of Ravenshaw University, obtained UGC approval for the school in six months.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1737|title=Ravenshaw University in two years under the leadership of VC Devdas Chhotray|date=17 November 2008|website=Odisha HRD|access-date=14 May 2014}}</ref>
Chhotray was director of the Orissa Film Development Corporation from 1983 to 1989 and 1996–98, chairman of the publications committee for the fifth International Children's Film Festival in 1987 and was vice-president of the governing council of the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune from 1999 to 2001.
=== Lyrics credit ===
* Boura Hatabaksa * Pahili Raja * Nandini I Love U * Laxmi Pratima * Puja Pain Phulatie * Tu Eka Aama Saha Bharasa * To Akhi Mo Aina * Paradesi Babu * Kapala Likhana * Suna Chadhei * Chaka Aakhi Sabu Dekhuchi * Chaka Bhaunri * Sapana Banika * Sahari Bagha * Jaga Hatare Pagha * Hira Nila
== Books and writings==
He has written a collection of stories, ''Lal Machha'' (''Red Fish''), the lyrics for more than 75 films in Oriya and television musicals. Chhotray is known for his collaboration with Akshaya Mohanty, a pioneer in modern Oriya music from the 1960s until his death in 2002, as Mohanty's principal songwriter.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://odishasuntimes.com/akshaya-mohanty-chronicles-1-devdas-chhotray/| title = Akshaya Mohanty Chronicles #1: Devdas Chhotray {{!}} Sambad English| date = 12 October 2015}}{{dead link|date=August 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/books/2016/oct/22/odisha-literary-fest-1530722.html| title = Odisha Literary fest- The New Indian Express| date = 4 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/cuttack/Kabir-Sumans-songs-to-get-an-Odia-makeover/articleshow/54844395.cms| title = Odia: Kabir Suman's songs to get an Odia makeover | website = The Times of India| date = 14 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.asianage.com/life/more-features/131218/konark-dance-festival-transporting-to-wonderland-of-classical-dances.html| title = Konark Dance Festival: Transporting to wonderland of classical dances| date = 13 December 2018}}</ref>
He has written screenplays for feature films in Oriya. One, ''Indradhanura Chhai'' (''Shadows of the Rainbow'') was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3393/year/1995.html|title=Indradhanura Chhai|website=Festival de Cannes|access-date=14 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216121504/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3393/year/1995.html|archive-date=16 December 2013}}</ref>
In addition to Chhotray's anthologies of poems and stories in Oriya, notably ''Nila Saraswati'' (''Blue Muse'') and ''Hati Saja Kara'' (''Order the Elephants''), English translations of his poems have appeared in ''Longing'' (published by Pimlico Books in London). An anthology of his poems in Hindi, ''Ret Ki Sidhi'' (''A Staircase of Sand'') has been published in Delhi.
== Awards ==
Chhotray's four decades of poetry and lyrics have been translated into Indian and foreign languages, and he has been published in Bengali (in the Sunil Gangopadhyaya-edited ''Krittibas''. He has received the Prajatantra Bisuv Milan and Utkal Samaj Centenary (Gangadhar Meher Samman) Awards and the 2008 Rajdhani Book Fair Award 2008 for poetry.
* Odisha Excellence Award 2018<ref>https://eodishasamachar.com/en/governor-confers-odisha-excellence-award-2018-in-20-categories/ {{Dead link|date=February 2022 | fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.dailypioneer.com/2018/state-editions/guv-confers-odisha-excellence-award.html| title = Guv confers Odisha Excellence Award}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{cite web|url=http://www.oocities.org/varnamala/devdas.html|title=The Long-Haired Girl|website=Varnamala: Contemporary Oriya Poetry|access-date=14 May 2014}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chhotray, Devdas}} Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Writers from Odisha