WHAT's ON spoke to Sounak Chacraverti, who is paying a tribute to late Bengali director Tapan Sinha, by putting together an exhibition of his photographs
WHAT's ON spoke to Sounak Chacraverti, who is paying a tribute to late Bengali director Tapan Sinha, by putting together an exhibition of his photographs Still from Tapan Sinha's film Didi with Deepti Naval and Vivek Talwar
It was immense love and fascination for veteran director Tapan Sinha that drove Sounak Chacraverti to put together the photography exhibition titled, The World of Tapan Sinha. Conceived and curated by Chacraverti, the exhibition is part of a festival of Bangladeshi films currently on at FTII. It will be inaugurated by actor Amol Palekar as per the wishes of Sinha, who passed away this year in January.
How did you decide to focus on Tapan Sinha?
Chacraverti: It happened due to a chance meeting with Sukumar Roy, who was Sinha's official photographer for almost 40 years. He opened up a box of photographs and as I was looking at them, I thought of making a coffee table book. But as Roy was not keeping well at that time and a book seemed like a long-term affair, I thought of putting up an exhibition. When I told him, Roy's eyes actually lit up knowing that the young generation had taken an interest in the topic.
What is the objective behind the exhibition?
Chacraverti: The main aim is to archive and keep a track of the director, especially since he has a body of films, which have gained importance and are memorable enough to be preserved.u00a0 It should be done with all other directors, like Raj Kapoor, Mrinal Sen and Ramesh Sippy. As for Tapan Sinha, I have grown up watching his films and there's a special place for him in my mind.
What is the coffee table book about?
Chacraverti: The book on Tapan Sinha has a mix of writers like Lord Meghnad Desai, Girish Karnad and Gulzar to name a few. It's become a serious scholarly academic exercise, where academicians will be judging his work. It will be launched later this year, in December.u00a0
What can we expect to see at this exhibition?
Chacraverti: We will be showcasing 48 photographs, including production and film stills, posters as well as film memorabilia concerning his films.
According to you, what is so special about Tapan Sinha?u00a0
Chacraverti: The speciality of Sinha's films is that out of the 40 films he's worked on, every film is different.
That shows that he is not repetitive at all. For example, his first film Ankush (1954) is a story about an elephant and sadly ran only for nine days. His second film Upahaar, is a story of a middle class family, when the father dies and his daughter discovers he had a box of silver coins. His fourth film, Kabuliwallah (1956) was when he finally arrived.
At: FTII, Law College Road.
On: From February 20 to February 22, from 10 am till 6.30 pm .
Call: 09830749891.
Entry: Free
Sinha's memorable films
Jatugriha (1964)starring Uttam Kumar, Arundhati Devi
Sagina Mahato (1970)
starring Dlip Kmar, Saira Banu
Ekhoni (1971) starring Aparna Sen
Adalat O Ekti Meye (1982)
starring Tanuja
Aadmi aur Aurat(1984) starring Amol Palekar, Mahua Roy Chowdury
Didi (1984) starring Vivek Talwar, Deepti Naval
ek Doctor ki Maut (1991) starring Pankaj Kapoor and Shabana Azmi
Charu, Daughters of thisu00a0 Century (2001) starring Nandita Das
Abhagi, Daughters of this Century (2001) starring Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek Singh
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