Buddhadeb Dasgupta


Buddhadeb Dasgupta was an Indian filmmaker and poet best known for his Bengali-language films like Bagh Bahadur, Tahader Katha, Charachar and Uttara. Five of his films have won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film, Bagh Bahadur, Charachar, Lal Darja, Mondo Meyer Upakhyan and Kaalpurush, while Dooratwa and Tahader Katha have won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali. As a director, he has won National Film Award for Best Direction twice, for Uttara and Swapner Din. Over the years he has published several works of poetry including Govir Araley, Coffin Kimba Suitcase, Himjog, Chhaata Kahini, Roboter Gaan, Sreshtha Kabita, and Bhomboler Ascharya Kahini O Ananya Kabita.

Early life and education

Buddhadeb Dasgupta was born in a Vaidya family in 1944 in Anara near Puruliya in Southern West Bengal, and was the third of nine siblings. His father Tarkanta Dasgupta was a doctor with the Indian Railways, thus he spent the early part of childhood traveling. At the age of twelve, he was sent to Calcutta to study, earlier at Shibpur SSPS Vidyalaya and later at Dinabandhu School, Howrah. Post-independence his father was transferred first to Kharagpur in West Midnapore district and Manendragarh.
He studied economics at the Scottish Church College and the University of Calcutta.

Career

Buddhadeb started his career as a lecturer of economics, at the Shyamsundar College of the University of Burdwan followed by City College, Calcutta. In 1976, when disenchanted by the gap he perceived between the economic theory he taught and the socio-political reality, he took to film making. Meanwhile, his membership with the Calcutta Film Society, where he started going in his senior high school along with his uncle, exposed him to the works of directors like Charlie Chaplin, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini, and Michelangelo Antonioni. This, in turn, inspired him to take film making as a mode of expression. He started his film career with a 10-minute documentary in 1968, The Continent of Love; eventually he made his first full-length feature film, Dooratwa in 1978.
His lyricism has been extended to cinema as well. During the early stages of his film career, Dasgupta made films inspired by Satyajit Ray's realistic films and later moved on to other forms of Andrei Tarkovsky. Some of his most acclaimed films are Bagh Bahadur, Tahader Katha, Charachar and Uttara.

Filmography

Feature films

Documentary and TV work

Awards

Family

His youngest daughter, Alokananda Dasgupta, a trained classical pianist, composed the background score for his 2013 film, Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa.

Death

He died at the age of 77 on 10 June 2021.

Media

Film

A documentary titled Maestro: A Portrait — A Film on Buddhadeb Dasgupta was released in 2013 by filmmaker Supriya Suri. The documentary examines Dasgupta's life and works.