Veteran filmmaker Tarun Majumdar, known for his sensitive portrayal of middle-class life, passed away on Monday. He was 91.
Majumdar was on ventilation at SSKM Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for kidney and other ailments.
He had been critical for some time and his condition deteriorated further this morning, according to hospital officials. He breathed his last at 11.17am. He had donated his body to SSKM Hospital.
Majumar’s notable films include Dadar Kirti, Shriman Prithviraj, Balika Badhu, Kancher Swarga, Palatak, Ganadevata and Bhalobasha Bhalobasha.
A four-time National Award winner and a Padma Shri awardee, Majumdar, an alumnus of Scottish Church College in Kolkata, was born in Bogra (now in Bangladesh) in 1931. His father, Birendranath Majumdar, was a freedom fighter.
A battery of ministers and politicians and members of the film fraternity visited the hospital throughout the day. Around 2.40pm, Majumdar’s body was taken to his office near NT1 Studio in Tollygunge, from where he was brought back to SSKM.
Majumdar had wished that fanfare be avoided when he passed away. In keeping with that, he made his final journey draped in white, with the flag of the CPM laid across his body and Rabindranath’s Geetanjali placed on his chest.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed “deep grief” over the death of Majumdar. “His passing away is an irreparable loss to the world of cinema,” she said.
“He was the last of the great filmmakers who instilled a sense of pride in us…,” filmmaker Anik Datta said.