#IFFIWood, 27 November 2024

A panel discussion on "Tapan Sinha-Centenary Session-The Spectrum and the Soul" was held this morning at the 55^th IFFI at Kala Academy in Panjim Goa as part of the centenary celebration of the life and work of the renowned filmmaker Tapan Sinha.

Veteran actor Smt. Sharmila Tagore underlined the human characteristics that Shri Sinha possessed. “He was a man of few words and a very good listener,” she said. She further elaborated, “There are people who don't have anything to say and that’s why they are quite. But Tapan Babu had many things to say, though he didn’t need to. Rabindranath Tagore's profound influence on Tapan Sinha's writings was also discussed in detail by Smt. Tagore.

Drawing references from his titles like ‘Jatugriha’, ‘Kshudhita Pashan’, ‘ Atanka’ and ‘Ek Doctor Ki Maut’,    Prof. N. Manu Chakravarthy, described the unparalleled dedication Tapan Sinha has shown to encapsulate and convey the social reality. Prof. Chakravarthy also mentioned that Shri Sinha used to describe himself as a committed humanist and all his films circled around that very ideology.

While reflecting on a question on why Shri Sinha’s work did not get evaluated to the extent of his contemporaries like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak or, Mrinal Sen, Prof. Chakravarthy bluntly shared his thought, “It’s absolute failure of critics not to evaluate Tapan Sinha’s work properly during his lifetime.” He concluded, “The profound intellectual dimensions that films like ‘Sagina Mahato’ and ‘Atanka’ captured, is simply timeless.”

The other panellist Shri Arjun Chakraborty, Shri Sinha’s actor in his five titles, fondly recollected the story of “Nirjan Saikate”. After going through the script, Shri Chakraborty in utter disbelief asked Shri Sinha that how will he pitch such a story to a producer? Shri Sinha’s simple yet remarkable reply was, “I don’t need to go to producers, they come to me.”

The one-hour session which was extended by almost half an hour to accommodate all the gracious reflections from Smt. Sharmila Tagore, musicals from Shri Arjun Chakraborty and critical dissections and evaluations from Prof. Manu Chakravarthy, was moderated by Smt. Ratnottoma Sengupta.

Shri Shekhar Kapur, Festival Director of the 55^th IFFI felicitated and presented the dignitaries with Special Stamp released to mark the Centenary Celebration of the four legends and memento in the beginning.

To read more initiatives on the centenary celebration:

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2070826

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PIB IFFI CAST AND CREW | Rajith/Nikita/Debayan/Darshana | IFFI 55 - 105