Film lovers visit an exhibition during the 30th Kolkata International Film Festival in Kolkata, West Bengal Photo Credit: PTI
Through film screenings, an exhibition and a felicitation programme, the 30th edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is paying tribute to leading film stalwarts like Tapan Sinha, Marlon Brando, Mohammed Rafi and others to commemorate their birth centenaries. .
Four films made by the master filmmaker have been screened as part of the centenary tribute to Mr Sinha between 5 and 6 December.
These films included such masterpieces as Kabuliwala (1957), Nirjanan Saikte (1963), Galpo Holeo Satti (1966), and harmonium (1976).
Mr. Sinha’s fifth film, Bancharameer Gardens The festival also featured a special tribute to lead actor Manoj Mitra, who passed away earlier this year.
Mr. Sinha is a respected Indian film director born in 1924. He was known for his six-decade-long career in cinema, during which he made several award-winning films in languages ​​such as Bengali, Hindi and Oriya.
A contemporary of other master filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak, Mr. Sinha has won National Film Awards for many of his films. He also won the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2006 and was awarded the Padma Shri in 1992.
Beyond national boundaries, Mr. Sinha has won awards at prestigious international film festivals such as the Berlin International Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, London Film Festival and Locarno Film Festival.
His 1966 film, Galpo Holeo SattiIt was the opening film of the 30th KIFF and was screened at Dhon Dhanya Auditorium, Kolkata on 4 December during the opening ceremony.
Exhibition on the life of Tapan Sinha
Apart from the film screening, film lovers can also enjoy a detailed exhibition on the life and work of Mr. Sinha in the lobby of Nandan, the main KIFF venue, till December 11.
Actor-turned-Trinamool-Congress MP Shatabdi Roy inaugurated the exhibition. Notably, Ms. Roy debuted in films Atanka1986 film directed by Sri Sinha.
The exhibition on the director includes a number of textual and pictorial slides of the director’s life and career in cinema, including special slides on his working relationships with stars such as Shabana Azmi, Arundhati Devi, Manoj Mitra and Soumitra Chattopadhyay.
It also includes posters of his films, vinyls of film soundtracks and some of Mr. Sinha’s personal belongings, including a daily report sheet from one of his film shoots. There is also a screen on which clips from his films are continuously being displayed, and videos of other famous directors like Gautam Ghosh talking about Mr. Sinha’s directorial legacy.
Live Centenary Tribute Session
Additionally, the 30th KIFF is also set to host a live centenary tribute session and felicitation program for the actors and technicians who were a part of Mr. Sinha’s films. It will be held on 11th December 2024 at 3 pm at Rabindra Sadan.
Along with Tapan Sinha, centenary tribute film screenings and exhibitions have also been dedicated to prominent film personalities like Marlon Brando, Marcello Mastroianni, Sergei Parajanov, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Arundhati Devi, Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood and others.
Other centenary tribute exhibitions have been organized on the first floor of the Gaganendra Exhibition Hall in the Nandan Complex.
published – December 11, 2024 11:16 am IST
