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Death Veteran filmmaker Tapan Sinha, who was famous for his films based on Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagor’s novels, died on Thursday, January 15, in Kolkata. He was 84 years old and has been survived by a son and a daughter. He was ill from a long time and had been admitted at the Calcutta Medicla Research Institute in south Kolkata. He was suffering from pneumonia and septicaemia and had been kept on life support system. He had been admitted on December 6 with acute breathing problems. His wife Arundhuti Devi who was also an actress had died in 1990. During his long career in the film industry he has made many award winning films. He was basically based in the Tamil film industry but he also had made films in Hindi and Oriya. He is admired by not only the fans but also by the critics. Critic Shoma A. Chatterji said, ‘He was an unassuming gentleman who had a strong ear for music and great command over adaptation of famous literary works’.

Works During his long film career he had made 41 films, which had won many national and international awards for him. He had won 19 National Film Awards in various categories except winning laurels in international film festivals like those in Berlin, Venice, London, Moscow, San Francisco and Locarno. He had been awarded with India’s highest award for cinema- the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He had been awarded with the lifetime achievement award also. He was famous for his ‘out-of-line’ films. In his films he always tried to touch the real life problems with a great sensitivity. He can be matched by only a Mrinal Sen or a Satyajit Ray. ‘Kabuliwala’, ‘Safed Hathi’ were some of his best films which also depicted his-child at heart personality. ‘Kabuliwala’ is based on Tagore’s novel that depicts the story of a sensitive relationship between an Afghan dry fruit seller and a small girl. It has won the Music Award at the Berlin Film Festival. He directed the ‘Safed Hathi’ with a great sensitivity. His first film Ankush was also dealt with a great sensitivity as it had an elephant as the central character. It was based Narayan Ganguly’ story ‘Sainik. ‘Ek Doctor Ki Maut’, Nirjan Saikate, Haate Bazare and Admi aur Aurat, were some of his other award winning films. ‘Ek Doctor Ki Maut’ depicts the story of a young doctor’s scholastic pursuits and invention and how the talent is responded by the society. This film had won him numerous national and international awards that include National Award for Second Best Film, Best Director, 1991’s Special Jury Award for Best Actor, 1991’s BFJA Awards for Best Film and Best Director, 37th Film Fare Award for Best Screenplay in 1991, Red Cross Film Festival, Sofia (Bulgaria), 1991. Made in 1957, ‘Kalamati’ was another remarkable film that depicted the real life problems faced by those people who live in coalmine areas.

Life Born in Kolkata on October, 1924, Sinha studied at the Presidency College Calcutta and got a degree in Physics. He was very much fascinated to see the cinematic version of Charles Dicken’s novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ and it inspired him to join the films. He started his career as a Sound Recordist and then shifted to Direction. In 1950s he went to London to sharpen his film making skills. He worked with British Director Charles Cryton’s unit as Sound Engineer for the film called ‘The Hunted’. He worked there for two years and returned with the purpose of filmmaking. His first film was released in 1957. And after that he produced some remarkable work that was very much near to the reality.

He also had made some documentaries and Biographical films. He also had made a biographical film on famous Indian scientist Jagdish Bose.