The filmmaker was put on ventilator support after his health deteriorated on Sunday.
The filmmaker was put on ventilator support after his health deteriorated on Sunday.
Veteran filmmaker Tarun Majumdar passed away in Kolkata on Monday. He was 91 years old and was undergoing treatment at the Government SSKM Hospital since June 14. The filmmaker was put on ventilator support after his health deteriorated on Sunday and breathed his last at 11.17 am on Monday.
Majumdar was the last of the great film directors of India. West Bengal who carved a niche of his own beyond the trinity of cinema stalwarts like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Rithvik Ghatak.
Known for his sensitive portrayal of middle-class life and the human condition, the filmmaker is a four-time National Award winner and Padma Shri awardee. Majumdar was born on 8 January 1931 in Bogra (now Bangladesh). His father Birendranath Majumdar was a freedom fighter.
Majumdar directed his first film Chava Pava (1959), starring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen, when he was only 27 years old. He then joined the directorial team Yatrik, which also included Sachin Mukherjee and Dilip Mukherjee. In 1962, the team came out with Kanchar heavenWhich won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali.
Some of the popular movies of Majumdar are as follows: girl child (1967), kuhelik (1971), Mr. Prithviraj (1973), fuleshwari (1974), Dadar Kirti (1980), Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985), and Apana Amar Apana (1990). He remade two of his hit films in Hindi- girl child (1976) and passersby (1969, adapted from his 1963 film.) turn back) are among his critically acclaimed films Invitation (1971), bordering the world (1975) and gandevata (1978).
Majumdar will also be remembered for his aesthetic portrayal of songs in his films, especially the use of Rabindra Sangeet, The director is also known for giving opportunities to the then new faces in the Bengali film industry such as Moushumi Chatterjee, Mahua Roychowdhury, Ayan Banerjee and Tapas Paul.
Majumdar married actor Sandhya Roy, who starred in several of his films, however, the couple later parted ways. His last film, a document-feature titled OfficerWas released in 2018. The film told about the struggle of people working in the unorganized sector.
Filmmaker Goutam Ghosh recalled his decades-long association with Majumdar, calling him a parent who gave a lot of films for the educated middle class to cherish. Ghosh said that Majumdar used to be very careful in his work and would not start shooting until all the props for the scene were in place.
Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata BanerjeeCondoled the demise of the filmmaker and said that Majumdar was a versatile filmmaker who shone as a great example for filmmakers who aspire to make social films.
Meanwhile, Majumdar’s family members have said that they did not want his body to be taken to Kolkata’s cultural complex Randindra Sadan or Nandan and they do not want his body to be garlanded. Instead, his body will be donated to a government medical college for resale.