Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tapan Sinha and Dadasaheb Phalke award.

Tapan Sinha and Dadasaheb Phalke award.

Tapan Sinha is going to be awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke award for his lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. He rightly deserves the award, critics believe that he had got it too late in his life.

He had experimented with various subjects in his long career. In Kabuliwala, he used Tagore’s classic literature to show the love of Chabi Biswas for his own daughter who stayed in Kabul. He showed the attachment towards a Bengali girl in Kolkata named Mini who replicated his own daughter. In Lauhakopat, he showed the experiences of a jailor in respect of the life of many prisoners. Many prisoners were not born criminals, the circumstances had led to commission of the respective offence. Nirmal Kumar, Chabi Biswas, Kali Banerjee were sublime in the film.

In Jhinder Bandi, Tapan Sinha dealt with the historical story of Prisoner of Zenda. Uttam Kumar, the original prince of Jhind had been kidnapped by his brother Tarun Kumar and Soumitra Chatterji. The twin brother of the prince which was also played by Uttam Kumar had to come all the way from Kolkata and save his brother. The story-telling in the film was of superlative class. Again in Jotugriha, Tapan Sinha experimented with social life of a couple played by Uttam Kumar and Arundhuti Debi who did not have any child. It led to separation of the couple who loved each other inspite of the vacuum in their life.

In Nirjan Saikate, he showed the experience of Anil Chatterji with three widows who had come for visiting the holy place of Puri. Anil Chatterji convinced Sharmila Tagore that life is short and the sculptures at Konark, show that human beings should use the precious life to do something creative instead of reflecting on the gains and losses in life. Sharmila followed the footsteps of Anil Chatterji to the unknown place where he marched at the end of the film.

In the Bengali and hindi version of Sagina, Tapan Sinha experimented with Dilip Kumar as a trade union leader who was utilized by Anil Chatterji and others for their own purpose and was proved as a villain at the end of the film. Tapan Sinha’s works cannot be highlighted in a small article and his films like Arohi, Khudito Pashan, Antardhan, etc., had become work of arts by passage of time. His works should be studied by new filmmakers to understand storytelling, powerful script, powerful casting and meaningful theme music.

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