Master filmmaker Tapan Sinha dead

Tapan Sinha,84,legendary filmmaker from Bengal,passed away on Thursday morning at a city hospital after prolonged illness. He was suffering from bronchopneumonia,electrolyte imbalance and several other age-related problems...

Tapan Sinha,84,legendary filmmaker from Bengal,passed away on Thursday morning at a city hospital after prolonged illness. He was suffering from bronchopneumonia,electrolyte imbalance and several other age-related problems. He is survived by his son Anindya Sinha. Sinhas death marks the end of an era in Bengali film- making.

The iconic filmmakers demise saw the entire Tollywood film fraternity descend on his New Alipore residence to pay their last respects. Celebrities made a beeline in front of his house to get a last glimpse of their favourite filmmaker. Work was suspended for the entire day.

Its not easy to describe Tapan Sinha as a filmmaker. Yet if there is one thing that separated Sinha from other contemporary greats,it was his ability to say the most complex things in the simplest possible manner. Take his breakthrough film,Kabuliwallah,for instance. This seemingly simple tale of an Afghan trader in India,adapted from Rabindranath Tagores novel by the same name,talked about nationality and modernism,but it did so with simple humanism that struck a chord with the audience instantly.

On Thursday morning,the scene outside Sinhas house reinstated the oldest irony of this world. The last ride, as filmmaker Mrinal Sen said,turns out to be the most overwhelming one and the most ironical too.

Born in 1924 in Kolkata,Sinha began his career as a sound engineer in Kolkatas New Theatre in 1946. In 1950,he got the opportunity to work at Pinewood Studios in the UK where he spent two years. On returning to India,he turned his attention to direction and made several films in Bengali,Hindi and Oriya.

Though works of Hollywood greats like John Ford inspired him a lot,if there was one steady influence on his works,it was Tagore.

In a career spanning over three decades,he made three films based on Tagores works.

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Sinha straddled Hindi and Bengali films with equal ease,and left the industry with gems in the form of childrens films like Sabuj Dwiper Raja (1979),Safed Hathi (1978),Anokhi Moti (2000).

Breaking rules was his second nature. Take,for example,Apon Jon (1968). In the 60s,while the flavour of Bengali cinema was delicate romance,Sinhas film explored the underbelly of the world of local toughies and strong arm tactics. In fact,unrest was one of the recurrent issues in his films like in Sagina Mahato (1970). Sinha was one of the first Tollywood filmmakers who roped in Bollywood actors for his films. From Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu to Vaijanthimala,all had acted in his films.

His last work,Daughters of the Century (2001),brought together an ensemble cast of leading ladies from Jaya Bachchan to Nandita Das to Deboshree Roy to depict the privations of women down time.