HOMAGE TO THE ETERNAL CREATORS

Incredible India Info 2 January 2021

Photo by : Incredible India Info

- Santanu Ganguly

The year 2020 came under the shadow of unheard of, unwanted, dangerous Covid 19 or corona virus originated at Wuhan in China but then spread to the whole world and created a darkest chapter in history with the grave pandemic, which killed millions of people throughout the globe.

In the year 2020, we have lost several precious lives, including some very important names from the film, art and culture world.

Padma Shri Nemai Ghosh, one of the renowned still photographer from Kolkata, who was associated with Satyajit Ray for many projects from Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne to Ray’s last film Agantuk. And later on his several photographic projects on several noted actor and actress from Kolkata, were severely applauded by the critics and art lovers. He passes away on 25^th March 2020. I have interviewed him IN 2013 when he came to Delhi to release his book Satyajit Ray and Beyond published by Delhi Art Gallery (DAG).

Raj Kapoor’s discovery, popular actress of 1950 – 60s, Nimmi left the world on 25^th March 2020. Hindi cinema’s golden era actress Nimmi has acted in Sazaa (1951), India's first techno-colour film Aan (1952), Uran Khatola (1955), Bhai-Bhai (1956), Kundan (1955), Mere Mehboob (1963), Pooja Ke Phool (1964), Akashdeep (1965), and Basant Bahar (1956).

My Mentor Aruna Vasudev introduced me with the Noted painter Padma Vibhushan Satish Gujral, brother of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. Aruna and Late Uma Vasudev, both the sisters were very close to the Gujral family. Satish Gujral made a portrait of Uma ji, a life size painting, which was one of the attraction of her drawing room, along with various other art work by the great artist, at her place. During the 5 Cinefan Asian Film Festival in 2003, along with Satish ji, two other great artists Maqbool Fida Hussain and Jatin Das made special art work of the festival for Aruna di, which was printed on coffee mugs as souvenir. He passes away on 26^th March 2020. The sweet memory here from the album of the 6 Osian's-Cinefan Asian Film Festival in 2004 at the Imperial, Delhi during the Opening Night dinner. Myself with Satish Gujral, his wife Kiran Gujral and noted Odishi dancer Sharon Lowen.

Noted Hindi theatre personality from Kolkata, Sangeet Natak Akademy Award winner Usha Ganguly, basically belong to Uttar Pradesh, but she made Kolkata her home, has also left us in 2020. Her incredible production team Rangakarmi produced many remarkable play like Rudali, Mrityubhoj, Holi, Court Marshal, Shobhayatra etc. She was quite fit and fine, and w met in November 2019 during the Kolkata International Film Festival, but on 23 April 2020, her death news shocked the theatre loving people of the country.

29^th of April 2020 gave us huge shock, as India lost one of the great actor Irfan Khan and as we were recovering from the sadness the very next day on 30^th April another veteran and very polular actor Rishi Kapoor has passed away. Both of them have fought with the incurable deadly decease cancer.

I met Irfan Khan through Manya Patil Seth the Producer of Dubai Return directed by Aditto Bhattacharjee during the Osian's-Cinefan Asian Film Festival. Irfan Khan was talking about his wife Sutapa Sikdar. Then the most funniest thing happened. He told me that after reaching Delhi, from the airport he will have a personal meeting and directly come to the Siri Fort Auditorium for the film screening. But when he reach the entrance, the guards at the gate make him wait, since he was not having the festival entry badge. So he called me while blissfully waiting there, meanwhile all the audiences passing the gate was requesting the guards to allow him to go inside since he is a very popular and respected actor. On that the guards said, “yes we know he is a big actor, and that is why we make him stand here. Because all the other stars are going inside in cars, we can't even see them properly. At least he is standing here with us we are feeling good.” By the time I have reached to receive him with apologetic approach, saw, he seems quite enjoying the situation.

While he was shooting in Kolkata for Piku, I came to know from a friend Jury Member of the 60th National Film Awards, he got the Best Actor for Pan Singh Tomar directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia. I called him in the middle of the night and first person to inform him. This photo is at the Park Hotel in Delhi after he received his National Award.

At the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2010, in her Retrospective, Mira Nair mentioned Irfan Khan as one of the unmatchable talent we have in India. She has also mentioned that in her film Salam Bombay, Irfan Khan acted in a small role.

Irfan Khan will be always remembered for his bold stand against religious fundamentalism. Irfan was also doing lots of foreign films projects. His untimely death is a heavy loss to the Indian film industry.

Rishi Kapoor was famous for his chocolaty boy image among the fans, belongs to the famous Kapoor family of the Hindi film industry. Who has started his career with his father, veteran actor, filmmaker Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker. He has acted in several blockbusters like – Bobby, Amar Akbar Anthony, Karz, Chandni, Nagina, and many more.

Veteran filmmaker Basu Chatterjee’s death is no doubt the End of an era. When we have introduced a new section on Films derived from Literature in the Osian's-Cinrfan Film Festival, Basu Babu, wrote to Aruna Vasudev (my Guru, Mentor, God Mother) that all of his films are based on literature. That was the beginning of the association.

Once we have presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Mrinal Sen. Aruna di, requested one of the eminent filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta to present the honour to Mrinal Babu, without knowing that they don't maintain good relationship. So during the ceremony we discovered that Buddhadeb Dasgupta is not present anywhere at the Siri Fort Auditorium, in fact he has not left the hotel. He could have informed Aruna di at the very beginning, but he didn't. Aruna di was very particular that a person like Mrinal Sen, we should have someone almost the same stature, to honour him. I whispered, why can't we ask Basu Babu? Without second thought Aruna di, ordered me, quickly go and whisper to his ears, that would he please do the honour? And the thorough gentlemen Basu Babu agreed without any hesitation. Such a relief.

Then in 2010 we invited him to be the Jury Chairperson for the PRAVASI FILM FESTIVAL.

This photo is from the 40th IFFI - International Film Festival of India at Goa in 2009.

Last year we did a RETROSPECTIVE: BASU CHATTERJEE in the 25KIFF Kolkata International Film Festival. And for us National Film Archives of India NFAI first time ever made a DVD from the 35 mm print of Sara Akash. Unfortunately due to his poor health conditions he was unable to attend the festival. 0n 4^th June 2020 he has passed away. Basu Chatterjee's demise is an immense lose to the Indian film industry.

On 14^th June 2020, India almost came to stand still after the news of young heartthrob, very talented Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely, unnatural death. He was started his career with television serials. His acting and dancing skills with the blend of innocent look made him superstar. In film he has started his career with Kai po che. Then M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story became the turning point of his career. Where he not only earned applauds from the audiences but also the helicopter shots, which he has successfully copied as per Mahender Singh Dhoni was certainly a highly commendable job. His films Kedarnath and Chhichhore were also well appreciated. His last film Dil Bechara was released posthumously. The repercussion of his death dig out many uneasy question for the Hindi film fraternity, particularly the issues of groupism, nepotism and the most dangerous nexus of drugs or narcotic substances. His death at the age of thirty four, was indeed a huge loss of the film industry.

On 28^th July 2020, Kumkum, another actress from the Golden Era of the Hindi film industry left us. How can even one imagine the song sequences of Guru Dutt’s film Aar Paar - “Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar Laaga Teere Nazar”, or “Ae Dil hai mushkil hai jina yaha” from film CID or Kishore Kumar’s masterpiece “Mere Mehboob qayamat hogi aaj ruswa teri galion me muhabbat hogi”?Kumkum has acted with Kishore Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Dharmendra, amongst others. She has acted in more than 115 films in Hindi and Bhojpuri. We can see her remarkable performances in Naya Daur, Mother India, Baarish, Pyasa, Mirza Ghalib, Mr. & Mrs. 55, House no. 44, Mr. X in Bombay and many more.

Nishikant Kamath, one of the very talented young filmmaker, actor, who made the remarkable film Dombilveli Fast and for that he won the National Award for Best Marathi Film, also other remarkable works are Drishyam, Madaari etc. He has also acted in many films, but I particularly very much liked his performance in the film 404 Error not found. His untimely death, on 17^th August came as a huge shock to the film industry .

Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj left the world for his heavenly abode on 17^th August 2020. Author Sunita Buddhiraja in her book Rasraj: Pandit Jasraj published by Vani Prakashan (Price- Rs. 2,400), mentioned that Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj belongs to the Mewati Gharana of Indian Classical music. He was such an impeccable vocalist and there is no one like him who is so oracle in Hindustani Classical. But he had no easy path to what he has achieved till today. As fabulous is the journey of Pandit Jasraj, the same is with the story of his journey. The 534 pages long book about the life of Pandit Jasraj covers the stories which are before the birth of Pandit Jasraj, about his family, father and mother and his siblings till the present time. The book is full of tales about the childhood of Pandit Jasraj and also his little steps towards being a world fame vocalist from Hindustani Classical. The splendid book about the life of Pandit Jasraj, showing the world true mettle of his journey in the field of Hindustani Classical Music. The book is the first and only authorised biographical work on Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj.

Veteran singer Padma Bhushsan S P Balasubrahmanyam passes away on 25^th September 2020. He won several National Awards and Filmfare awards for playback singing in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films and also several state awards from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Hindi film Ek duje ke liye and later on Maine Pyar kiya. He was the voice for Salman Khan.

Bhanu Athaiya, the first Indian to win an Academy Award or popularly known as Oscar, for Costume Designing for Sir Richard Attenborough’s masterpiece Gandhi. She has started her career with the film CID, In a career spanning over 100 films, she worked with Indian filmmakers such as Guru Dutt, Yash Chopra, B.R. Chopra, Raj Kapoor, Vijay Anand, Raj Khosla, and Ashutosah Gowarikar and international directors such Conrad Rooks and Richard Attenborough. Bhanu Athaiya has also won National Awards for Best Costume Design for film Lekin and Lagaan. Also received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. She has passes away on 15 October 2020.

Before the year ending, veteran actor, poet, writer, theatre director the versatile persona Soumitra Chatterjee died after a prolonged illness on 15^th November 2020 in Kolkata. He was Satyajit Ray’s Hero. His passing away is again a huge blow to the Bengal’s culture sector.

The veteran actor came to the limelight after Satyajit Ray’s masterpiece Apur Sansar from the Apu trilogy. He has acted in Ray’s many films. He went on to work in several films with Ray, including Abhijan (The Expedition, 1962), Charulata (The Lonely Wife, 1964), Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1969), Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973), Sonar Kella (The Fortress, 1974) and Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God, 1978) as Feluda, Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980), Ghare Baire (The Home and The World, 1984), Shakha Proshakha (1990) and Ganashatru (Enemy of the People, 1989).

He also worked with other noted directors of Bengali cinema, such as Mrinal Sen in Akash Kusum (Up in the Clouds, 1965); Tapan Sinha in Kshudhita Pashan (Hungry Stones, 1960), Jhinder Bandi (1961); Asit Sen in Swaralipi (1961), Ajoy Kar in Parineeta (1969), and Tarun Mazumdar in Ganadevata (1978). He acted in more than 210 films in his career. He also received critical acclaim for his directorial debut Stree Ki Patra (1986) which was based on the Bengali short story Streer Patra by Rabindranath Tagore.

Chatterjee was the recipient of multiple honours and awards. Chatterjee was the first Indian film personality who was conferred with France's highest award for artists, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1999). He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan (2004) and France's highest civilian award Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur (2017). He received two National Film Awards as an actor and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his work in theatre. In 2012, he received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema given by the government of India for lifetime achievement. In 2013, IBN Live named him as one of "The men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema"