A two-day festival was held at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) on June 9 and 10 to pay tribute to filmmaker and poet Buddhadev Dasgupta.
The festival, organised by the Buddhadeb Dasgupta Memorial Trust Initiative in collaboration with the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and the Forum for Film Studies and Allied Arts, not only presented films directed by Dasgupta but also attempted to highlight his brilliance as a poet through (poetry) sessions, memorial lectures and talks.
Himanshu Shekhar Khatua Director SRFTI garlands a photograph of Buddhadeb Dasgupta
The festival began with the screening of two short films directed by Buddhadev Dasgupta titled Krishnakali and Banshi, followed by an interview with poet Sanjukta Banerjee.
Led by an intent of the organisers to present good cinema along with an educational outlook, Goutam Ghose’s award-winning documentary Meeting a Milestone on shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan was next on the list.
Dignitaries on stage during the inauguration ceremony
The inaugural ceremony saw a performance by New Media Performance, recitation of poems penned by Buddhadev Dasgupta which were presented by Srikanta Acharya, as well as recitation of poems written by Debarati Mitra which were read out by Bratati Bandyopadhyay.
The first day’s session ended with the screening of Dasgupta’s much-acclaimed film Bagh Bahadur.
(Left) Srikanto Acharya recites a poem and (right) Bratati Bandyopadhyay reciting a poetry on stage
The second day of the festival saw the screening of two films, Anamika Haksar’s debut film “Ghode ko jalebi khilane le ja riya hoon,” a film that chronicled stories of blue-collared workers in New Delhi and Dasgupta's 30-minute documentary “The Melody Continues,” which is based on the life and works of musician Naushad Ali.
There was also an interesting session titled “Women poets of our times” which featured poets like Sharmila Ray and Iryana Vikyrchak from Ukraine. The day’s highlights also featured performances by Anup Mukhopadhyay and by artists from New Media Performance. The last film that was screened at the event was G Aravindan’s “Kummatty”.
Combining poetry with visuals
Speaking to My Kolkata on behalf of the Buddhadev Dasgupta Memorial Trust, Dasgupta’s wife Sohini — herself a director and a poet — outlined the purpose behind the staging of this festival. She said, “Buddhadev Dasgupta as we all know was an internationally acclaimed director and a poet and his importance was palpable in either of these two facets of his existence. Though he was more famous as an internationally acclaimed director, he was equally noted as a poet.”
Asked what message Dasgupta would have wanted to give out to budding directors, she said, “I started my career working with Dasgupta as an observer when I was very young and have over the years played out many roles with him as a co-worker, co-director and a partner in life. Throughout everything, he always encouraged me to never compromise in my films, never to manipulate the images and that I believe is the message that I would love to convey to the future directors and illustrators on his behalf.”
Sohini Dasgupta on stage
Himansu Sekhar Khatua, director SRFTI; Vipin Vijay, dean SRFTI; Samik Bandyopadhyay, vice-president, Forum for Film Studies and Allied Arts; and Robin Banerjee, secretary, Forum for Film Studies and Allied Arts were present during the inaugural ceremony
“This festival is a tribute to his dreams which he translated into reality and through which he enchanted audiences for decades. He was exceptional in capturing ordinary lives and transforming them into tales of human longing and introspection,” said Himansu Sekhar Khatua, director of SRFTI.
Vipin Vijay, dean of SRFTI, recalled the days of his first association with Dasgupta when he had been a student under the maestro. He also spoke of Dasgupta’s brilliance in adorning his characters with multi-verse qualities.
(Left) Himanshu Shekhar Khatua, director, SRFTI on stage and (right) Shaumik-Bandhopadhay, vice-president, Forum for Film Studies and Allied Arts speaking on Buddhadeb Dasgupta
Bandyopadhyay narrated his first interactions with Dasgupta with unmissable evidence of his scholastic brilliance. Bandyopadhyay spoke of how he had questioned Dasgupta about “a noticed submissive acquiescence of the middle class in the general dehumanisation brought about by rampant consumerism, the erosion of radicalism, and the dominance of the mechanism of the media in his later poems”.
Dasgupta, Bandyopadhyay said, had responded by saying that the “motivation was just the same all through, remaining embryonically earlier, as he had not yet found his idiom, and his vision was still immature, unaware of the socio-historical forces in operation”.
A glimpse of the audience
Robin Banerjee, secretary, Forum for Film Studies and Allied Arts, paid rich tributes to Dasgupta’s contributions and his service to the SRFTI. Delivering the vote of thanks on the occasion, he thanked the dignitaries on the stage and various other artists and well-wishers who had made the event possible.
The Buddhadev Dasgupta Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinema was presented to Anup Mukhopadhyay while Buddhadev Dasgupta Lifetime Achievement for Poetry was awarded to Debarati Mitra.