{"id":1202,"date":"2014-10-15T11:20:39","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T05:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=1202"},"modified":"2024-10-02T08:33:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T03:03:27","slug":"interview-tapan-sinha-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/interview-tapan-sinha-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019d Never Allow My Mind To Gather The Moss Of Stagnation: An Interview With Tapan Sinha (Part-II)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Interview of film director Tapan Sinha by Robi Basu
\nTranslated into English by Suchandra Roy Chowdhury
\n(Part – II)<\/h6>\n

(The Tapan Sinha interview text and all pictures of film stills and memorabilia used in this article are courtesy art presenter and independent curator Sounak Chacraverti. In 2008, Sounak had curated Sensorium\u2019s debut exhibition \u2013 a unique and first-of-its-kind exhibition on photographs, films stills and memorabilia on the film maestro ‘The World of Tapan Sinha’, in Kolkata\u2019s Indian Council for Cultural Relations ICCR.)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Continued from Never Have I Made the Same Kind of Film: An Interview With Tapan Sinha (Part-I)<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Tapan

Tapan Sinha & Debika Mukkherjee at the outdoor location of Raja\u00a0(1975) Pic: COPYRIGHT PROTECTED<\/p><\/div>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: When did you start directing films?<\/p>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: In the year 1952. After returning from Europe, the desire to direct films was foremost in my mind. I borrowed some money from my mother. I also had some friends who were ready to help me.<\/p>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: Wasn\u2019t Ankush <\/em><\/strong>your first film?<\/p>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: Yes. The story is about an elephant. I had loved reading Narayan Gangopadhyay\u2019s \u201cItihas<\/em>\u201d, and wanted to make a film out of it. But when I went to buy the rights of the story from Narayan babu<\/em> at his house in Potoldanga, I was faced with a rather uneasy situation.<\/p>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: Why?<\/p>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: Before starting our conversation, Narayan babu<\/em> fixed me an unblinking stare; then muttered, almost inaudibly, \u201cwonderful\u201d. I couldn\u2019t understand why he made the remark, and was assailed with unease. Finally, overcoming the uneasiness, I stated my intent. He immediately gave his consent, waiving aside all discussion regarding payments.<\/p>\n

He was unwilling to take any money at that point of time, and asked me to begin my work. I tried to make him understand that this was absolutely unheard of, and finally was able to persuade him to accept a cheque of five hundred rupees.<\/p>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: And then?<\/p>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: And then I began the work. Abhi Bhattacharya, Manju Dey, Anubha Gupta, Kali Banerjee were the actors who worked in the film. Since it was my directional debut it had its fair share of flaws. The expenditure also spiraled up due to my inexperience\u2026overall nearly eighty five thousand rupees were spent. This was inclusive of the money invested by Rana and Dutta.\u00a0 The film was released in Uttara, Purabi and Ujjala. Did you see the film?<\/p>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: No. I had intended to see it, but it was suddenly withdrawn from the cinema halls. Can you tell me the reason behind this sudden withdrawal?<\/p>\n

\"Tapan

Tapan Sinha
Pic: COPYRIGHT PROTECTED<\/p><\/div>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: That\u2019s the pity of it all. Within ten days of its release, it was taken off the screen by the owners of the cinema houses\u2026Deepchand Kankaria and Murali babu.<\/p>\n

Yet Ankush<\/em><\/strong> had earned good reviews in the newspapers. Pankaj Dutta had eulogized the film in periodicals such as Desh <\/em>and Anandabazar.<\/em> The audience was also drawn to the film after reading these reviews. But the hall owners were simply insensible to our pleas. They withdrew the film with the excuse that it was not selling well enough. The misfortune was entirely ours\u2026<\/p>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: Didn\u2019t the situation devastate you?<\/p>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: Utterly. Mentally I was absolutely shattered. I couldn\u2019t concentrate on my work. Calcutta Movietone invited me to join their sound department yet again. I declined. An offer came from a studio in Coimbatore\u2026they were offering me a salary of one thousand rupees. In 1954 one thousand rupees meant quite a lot of money. I declined that offer too.<\/p>\n

I began to avoid the studios, and kept well away from their reach. At that time I used to stay in Vivekananda Road. Regularly, I would somehow reach Esplanade, browse through the foreign magazines on the footpaths of Chowringhee, and then return home after wandering about aimlessly in the streets. To make matters worse, the distributor filed a case against us. The situation was steadily becoming intolerable.<\/p>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: How much time did you take to emerge from such a distressing phase?<\/p>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: Some six or more months\u2026then I started making films again. Many years ago I had come across a story by Sailajananda, entitled Krishna<\/em>. It was the tale of a miserly man. I adapted this story for my film and named it Upahar <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(The Gift). Uttam Kumar, Manju Dey, Nirmal Kumar, Sabitri Chatterjee acted in this film.\u00a0The distributor was Ashit Chowdhury from the Chayabani Studios. The film was able to earn a reasonable amount of money.<\/p>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: After this you tried your hand at comedy, didn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: That\u2019s right. While working on the sound for Borjatri <\/em><\/strong>I had developed a taste for comedy. I derived immense satisfaction while directing Tonsil<\/em><\/strong>, an adaptation of a story by Bibhutibhusan Mukhopadhyay.<\/p>\n

Madhabi [of Ray\u2019s Mahanagar<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Charulata<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0fame] worked for me in this film, but at that time she used to go by the name Madhuri. This must have been her first film. I completed the film within a budget of seventy five thousand rupees. It went on to become a hit. Now, at last, I had ground beneath my feet.<\/p>\n

Read ‘Cinematic Adaptations Of Rabindranath’ which discussed various adaptations of Tagore’s works on screen<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: Was Kabuliwala<\/em><\/strong> (The Vendor from Kabul) your next film?<\/p>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: Yes. I remember that day clearly. On that particular day in 1955, Bulganin and Kruschev had come to Calcutta. The entire city was simmering with excitement; in Vivekananda Road itself a crowd of some millions of men had gathered, waiting with boundless anticipation to catch a glimpse of the two leaders. It was at such a memorable moment that Ashit babu<\/em> offered me the opportunity to work on Kabuliwala <\/em><\/strong>[The Vendor from Kabul; This film was later made in Hindi by Bimal Roy, with Balraj Sahni in the lead role.]. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Was I hearing right?<\/p>\n

During those days Rabindranath wasn\u2019t a name that garnered enthusiastic approval from people related to the film industry. It was believed that his stories simply could not earn money\u2026and as such, he was relegated to the intellectual bastion. And here was a producer who was offering me a chance to work on a story by Rabindranath. Before he could misinterpret my silence and change his mind, I gave him my consent. Ashit babu<\/em> went on to add that the process of filming would be very difficult as his funds were rather limited. He promised to pay me three hundred rupees every month during the shooting of the film.<\/p>\n

Tapan Sinha<\/strong>: Only three hundred rupees?<\/p>\n

Robi Basu<\/strong>: Three hundred rupees were more than enough for me. I would have worked in the film even if I didn\u2019t get paid for it. Rabindranath, whom I regarded to be central to my existence, whose faithful disciple I\u2019ll ever remain, and who stands as glorious as the north star of my life \u2013 I was getting an opportunity to make a film out of a story of his and this in itself was a great achievement.<\/p>\n

Khoro baayu boy bege, charidik chhaye meghe<\/strong><\/em> (Kabuliwala<\/strong><\/em>, 1956)<\/p>\n