How it happened
Though I started my career as a director with “Raat Bhor” in 1951, I never consider it to be my first break as a director. The film starred Uttam Kumar . It was not at all a memorable film of mine by any standards. Today after completing six decades in filmmaking, I have forgotten “Raat Bhor” and do not want to preserve any memories of the film.
My real break as a director was with “Neel Akasher Neeche” in the mid -'50s. It was a social statement about Bengal in the post-independence era and starred Bikash Roy, Manju De and Kali Banerjee. The soul of the film was the background score of music director Hemanta Mukherjee, who rendered the theme song majestically giving a divine dimension to it. The film was highly praised by then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
How it felt
My first few shots in the film were centred around Bikash Roy and Manju De with them delivering some dialogues which reflected their social concern. Bikash Roy, who was already a reputed actor after “42” and “Bhuli Nai”, had an uneasy way of walking. I had to work on him, putting in a lot of effort to improve his walking style. A disciplined and efficient actor, Bikash Roy did follow my instructions with dedication and delivered what I required of him. Manju De had a dignified screen presence and her performance seeped with emotions. My real challenge was to make Kali Banerjee look convincing as an immigrant Chinese in West Bengal, and his studied performance was the highlight of the film. The way he softly delivered the words, “Sister, Sister” showing his affection for Manju De still remains one of his truly memorable performances. Kali Banerjee was an unpredictable actor who rose to the occasion brilliantly when guided by an efficient director.
How life changed
“Baishe Sraban” based on the death anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore was my third film and by then I was able to carve for myself a position in Bengali cinema as a director. Along the same time Satyajit Ray created waves with his “Apu” trilogy and I personally admire his “Aparijita” as his best creation. Tapan Sinha was also improving as a director film by film around that period and I literally cried after watching his “Khanaker Atithi” in the late '60s, an unforgettable cinematic creation. I admired the works of Rajen Tarafdar, Ajay Kar and Asit Sen, who contributed substantially for the development of Bengali cinema.
After “Akash Kusum” I had a war of letters with Satyajit Ray, who described it as a crow film. But there were no hard feelings between us as we always shared a mutual set of unspoken ethics and had a silent regard for each other.
“Bhuvan Shome” gave me my true creative satisfaction as a director as I could at last experiment with cinematic language in the format I long desired to. I was influenced by Russian maestros Eisenstein and Pudovkin and later Vitorio D'Sica also left his undeniable mark on all of us directors with his neo realism. I am not a hardcore Hollywood film buff but have definitely admired the works of John Ford, David Lean and Billy Wilder.
