Poet,
professor
and
filmmaker,
Buddhadeb
Dasgupta
was
amongst
the
most
important
cinematic
voices
of
contemporary
India,
his
films
combining
lyricism
and
a
certain
whimsy
with
his
social
concerns
and
his
training
as
an
academic.
Dasgupta,
who
died
on
Thursday
at
the
age
of
77,
started
his
filmmaking
journey
at
a
time
Satyajit
Ray
and
Mrinal
Sen,
the
two
greats
of
not
just
Bengali
but
Indian
cinema,
were
at
the
peak
of
their
creativity.
But
his
voice
was
his
own
and
he
soon
moved
out
of
their
giant
shadows
to
make
his
own
celluloid
imprint.
The
man
behind
films
such
as
Grihajuddha
and
Bagh
Bahadur
left
his
job
an
economics
professor
to
pursue
his
calling
in
films,
notwithstanding
opposition
from
his
doctor
father.
Though
he
never
trained
as
a
filmmaker,
he
had
the
imagination
and
lyricism
of
a
poet
and
the
talent
to
translate
it
into
cinema,
a
quality
that
reflected
strongly
in
his
over
four-decade-long
career
with
his
movies
exploring
the
complex
layers
of
humanity
and
the
individual's
relationship
with
society.
On
Thursday,
one
of
Indian
parallel
cinema's
leading
voices
fell
silent.
Dasgupta,
who
had
been
battling
kidney
ailments
for
a
while,
died
in
his
sleep
at
his
home
in
Kolkata's
Kalikapur
area
and
was
found
by
his
wife
Sohini
at
6
am.
He
had
made
his
debut
with
Dooratwa
(Distance)
in
1978.
The
film
explores
the
story
of
a
liberal
political
science
professor
who
suffers
a
crisis
in
his
political
beliefs
while
also
navigating
a
broken
marriage.
Economically
made,
the
movie
cleverly
fuses
the
personal
story
with
the
Naxal
movement
in
Kolkata
of
the
'70s.
It
fetched
him
national
and
international
awards,
cementing
his
arrival
as
a
filmmaker
of
substance
in
the
Bengali
cinema
scene.
Dasgupta's
second
feature
Neem
Annapurna
(Bitter
Morsel)
revolves
around
a
down
on
its
luck
rural
family
that
shifts
to
Kolkata
in
search
of
a
better
future
but
constantly
faces
adversities.
The
director's
most
loved
films
are
Grihajuddha
and
Bagh
Bahadur.
Grihajuddha
revolves
around
the
conflict
between
a
factory
owner
and
worker's
union,
and
how
this
impacts
the
moral
choice
of
people
related
to
the
incident.
Bagh
Bahadur,
with
its
brilliant
central
performance
by
Pawan
Malhotra,
centres
on
Ghunuram,
who
dresses
up
as
a
tiger
every
year
to
participate
in
a
folk
dance
in
his
village.
Things
take
a
turn
for
worse,
when
a
circus
troupe
comes
visiting
the
village.
The
circus
also
has
a
newly
captured
leopard
with
them.
Dasgupta,
who
said
he
gravitated
towards
filmmaking
for
the
sheer
love
for
cinema,
started
nurturing
the
dream
during
his
days
in
college
but
realised
it
only
years
later
after
a
stint
as
a
professor
of
economics
at
Burdwan
University
and
Calcutta
University.
"When
I
told
my
father
that
I
wanted
to
go
to
the
Pune
film
institute,
he
vehemently
opposed
it.
That
was
painful
for
me
but
I
was
also
in
love
with
economics.
I
taught
economics
but
there
came
a
time
when
I
decided
that
I
can't
continue
because
I
had
to
make
films," Dasgupta
had
recalled
in
an
interview
with
Rajya
Sabha's
TV
programme
Guftagoo.
Born
on
11
February
1944
in
the
Anara
hamlet
in
Purulia
district
in
pre-independent
India,
Buddhadeb
Dasgupta
could
not
forget
the
red
earth
soil
of
the
Junglemahal
area
of
Bengal
which
became
the
setting
of
many
of
his
films
later
on.
The
poet-filmmaker,
whose
father
Tarakanta
Dasgupta
was
a
railway
doctor,
left
for
Kolkata
when
he
was
just
12
but
Purulia
and
Birbhum
districts
served
as
the
backdrop
of
many
of
his
films.
The
Calcutta
Film
Society
introduced
him
to
the
films
of
Charlie
Chaplin,
Akira
Kurosawa,
Ingmar
Bergman
and
other
masters,
giving
his
dream
of
becoming
a
filmmaker
new
wings.
Buddhadeb
Dasgupta's
films,
considered
modern
classics,
include
Neem
Annapurna,
Grihajuddha,
Bagh
Bahadur,
Tahader
Katha,
Character,
Lal
Darja,
Uttara,
Swapner
Din,
Kaalpurush
and
Janala.
He
also
made
two
Hindi
films
-
Andhi
Gali
and
Anwar
Ka
Ajab
Kissa.
Buddhadeb
Dasgupta,
who
won
12
National
Film
Awards
for
his
movies
(twice
in
best
direction
category
for
Uttara
and
Swapner
Din)
was
liberal
in
his
views
and
had
criticised
the
arrests
of
several
rights
activists
in
recent
times
in
the
country.
"Buddha
da
was
making
films,
writing
articles
and
was
mentally
agile
despite
failing
health.
He
had
directed
Tope
and
Urojahaz
even
when
he
was
not
well.
It
is
a
great
loss
for
me
personally,
it
is
a
great
loss
for
all
of
us," said
filmmaker
friend
Goutam
Ghosh.
Director
Aparna
Sen
said
Dasgupta's
films
were
infused
with
surrealism
as
being
a
poet-filmmaker,
he
developed
a
new
idiom
of
filmmaking.
"I
am
sad
that
I
won't
be
able
to
walk
to
the
crematorium
to
bid
farewell
to
Buddhadeb
da
as
I
did
in
the
case
of
Mrinal
da
two
years
back.
During
this
covid
time
and
lockdown,
it
is
sad
we
cannot
give
the
due
recognition
to
a
director
of
his
calibre,"
Sen
said.
Actor
Prosenjit
Chatterjee,
who
had
acted
in
Dasgupta's
Swapner
Din,
said,
"I
am
privileged
to
have
worked
in
two
of
his
films.
Accompanying
him
to
different
film
festivals,
I
could
sense
his
position
in
international
cinema
as
the
flag
bearer
of
parallel
cinema.."
"He
was
wonderful
as
a
human
being,
as
a
person.
Buddha
da
you
will
live
among
us
through
your
works,"
he
said.
A
recipient
of
Venice
film
festival's
Silver
Lion
for
Uttara,
Locarno
critics
award
for
Uttara,
Locarno
Special
Jury
award
for
Neem
Annapurna,
Dasgupta
had
also
penned
several
volumes
of
poetry,
including
Roboter
Gaan,
Chhata
Kahini
and
Gobhir
Arale.
Actor
Chandan
Roy
Sanyal
said
as
someone
who
grew
up
watching
Dasgupta's
films,
he
never
thought
that
he
would
get
to
work
with
the
filmmaker.
"...and
fortunately
or
unfortunately
I
would
get
to
star
in
his
last
work
(Urojahaj).
He
wanted
to
make
another
one
with
me.
When
I
did
Urojahaj,
I
was
with
him
for
a
month
and
a
half.
He
directed
the
film
in
a
wheelchair.
His
kidneys
were
failing
and
he
was
on
dialysis.
Yet,
he
made
it
to
the
shoot
every
day
and
completed
the
film."