Gopa discusses an event honoring Indian filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta, featuring a masterclass, music, and film screening, exclusively for Different Truths.
Internationally acclaimed ace director Buddhadeb Dasgupta, whose demise a little more than two years ago left a void in Indian Cinema. To remember the life and work of this auteur director an event was commemorated by his wife Sohini Dasgupta, on behalf of Buddhadeb Dasgupta Memorial Trust and also in association with Forum for Film Studies and Allied Arts. This event of master class, music and movie were organized at Nandan III auditorium on 6th July evening this year.
Buddhadeb Dasgupta Charitable Trust is an endeavor by a collective people of diverse backgrounds but similar intent to work, intends to grow and flourish a culture of art practice and art enthusiasm. The trust, which has been successfully running for the past three years, has also started working on pivots like alternative education, art education for marginalized communities and therapy for mental health.
Sohini Dasgupta with her dedicated team brought back unforgettable memories of the man she knew. She said, “I founded the Trust after we lost Buddhadeb Dasgupta in June 2021. Personally, I thought this is the best way to remember him and pay him an homage catering to his philosophy as an artiste. We used to often talk about how art practice and art enthusiasm can make a difference, how powerful and meaningful it can be. Also, as a cinephile and a film maker, I have always believed that creating good art is as important as creating the culture of understanding good art, for instance, we need better audience for a better film, we need a diverse, unabashed platform that would facilitate practice and nourishment of art as an interdisciplinary tool towards betterment of communities. Hence, the Trust was formed.”
The programme was inaugurated in the august presence of globally renowned Film maker and Actor Goutam Ghose and Indian actress and Dancer Jaya Seal Ghosh, artiste per excellence.
Goutam Ghose, spoke about how film language is being controlled by technology and parameters set by specific OTT platforms. He appreciated the Trust’s objective to reach cinema to diverse places – villages, slums, schools, etc.—saying that it is a very difficult yet an important endeavor. He talked about his early days, his friendship with Buddhadeb Dasgupta. Their beginning of journey almost at the same time, the passion they shared, the discussions they used to have, the fights and debates they had. He also mentioned about Late Biplab Roy Chowdhury, filmmaker and editor, who was also a part of this gang.
Jaya Seal Ghosh, reminisced about shooting days of Uttara. She fondly remembers Dasgupta not just as a master film maker but also as somebody very close to her heart. She said she would propose KIFF for a full retrospective on Buddhadeb Dasgupta, as a homage by the city he belonged to.
While Asim Bose, a master cinematographer and a professor of practice gave a discourse on the magic of moving images and shared his experiences while working with Buddhadeb Dasgupta at close quarters. Abhijit Basu who designed the film score, shared his experience discussing on the impact of folk music on Dasgupta’s cinema, especially ‘Uttara’ for which the late director had won the Golden Lion for Best Director at the Venice International Film Festival.
The event ended after the screening of the movie ‘Tope’ (The Bait), which was featured at the Toronto International Film Festival, Bussan International Film Festival, and BFI London. Here in this movie, Buddhadeb Dasgupta has woven a world of characters that lives in their own world of magic realism in between time and space of their own. This secret second world became the nest that would nurture the embryos of his future works of art, be it poetry or cinema, where he created an inimitable signature style that rested as much on the visual poetry of his films as on the socially relevant themes he highlighted. Here he created a world full of bait where common man is the victim, which he would like to describe as a “shake of reality, dreams, and magic”.
This event that was attended by a host of artists and dignitaries from the Film Industry, appreciated the event and the endeavour taken by the Buddhadeb Dasgupta Memorial Trust wishing the team a successful future ahead.
Photos sourced by the author
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