Buddhadeb Dasgupta (1944-2021): Looking back on a personal memory

“I can’t believe that you haven’t seen any films by Tarkovsky”, once upon a time in Calcutta, Buddhadeb Dasgupta had gently chided me. It meant a lot then. It still does now. So here goes a trip down the memory lane.

In the late 80s till the early 90s, I used to do a lot of freelance writing gigs for English newspapers. Sometime in 1993, Asstt. Editor Raj Kamal Jha of The Statesman asked me to write an article for the Sunday Supplement on Buddhadeb Dasgupta. He was rocking the Bengali parallel cinema movement with original insights and lyricism.

Jha’s brief was simple: Anchor the article on Tahader Katha (Their Story) that won a clutch of National Film Awards, while keeping a sharp focus on the director’s inspirations and career trajectory. Buddhadeb was perceived as a serious man and an introvert. He usually kept to himself and was feverishly devoted to his craft. Perhaps, the editorial team felt that he would be more forthcoming and hence open up to a greenhorn like me.

Tall order, but I gladly accepted the assignment.

For one, Buddhadeb was someone closely known to my father. In the mid-1970’s, he frequented EICMS (Eastern India Centre for Mass Communication Studies) an organisation which my father founded. In those days, he was known more as an avant-garde poet, professor and a documentary filmmaker to boot, trying his luck to find a producer who could enable him to fulfil his dream of making a full-length feature.

I had seen him from close quarters on one occasion at my college classmate Amitendu Palit’s house in MeghaMallar, off Gariahat Road. “Take a close look at that bald-headed gent with a cigarette in his hand, sitting beside my father and engrossed in a deep conversation. He is none other than Buddhadeb Dasgupta. He is someone who has already directed two back-to-back films based on my father’s stories,” Amitendu had casually pointed the minor celebrity out to me. (Aside: That house was frequented by eyecatchers from the world of culture. Amitendu Palit's father was the famous Bengali novelist and short story writer Dibyendu Palit).

Those two films Amritendu mentioned were landmarks -- Grihajuddha (1982/ Civil War) and Aadhi Gali (1984/ Dead End). Thanks to minor film festivals and Doordarshan, I had already watched them multiple times. They prominently featured in our addas as we were utterly charmed by Buddhadeb’s sense of aesthetics and his command over his craft. Especially Grihajuddha -- my favourite Bengali film of the 1980s -- a compelling story told in a post-modern fluid style, every frame standing out with brilliance and quietly-conveyed metaphors. And a heart-stopping ensemble cast.

In those days Buddhadeb used to stay with his family in a flat at Selimpore, a locality opposite Jodhpur Park. I took his interview in two sittings. I first explained my purpose, shared the brief with him and then handed him my list of questions.

I thought the interview will be a free-flowing one. He was initially measured with his responses as if he was testing my depth but after a while, he became more relaxed and forthcoming.

And then, he threw a bomb of a question at me. He asked me whether I have seen films of his favourite director and muse, the legendary Andrei Tarkovsky. I replied in the negative. He was aghast. Soon curtains were drawn as the day dissolved.

After the meeting ended, I walked out in desperation. Went on to raid Raja Videos and rummaged through the personal collections of a few well-wishers in search of a Tarkovsky VHS. When I first encountered The Sacrifice, I think I wasn’t prepared for it -- even found it a tad slow.

In our next session, I put up a false sense of bravado and shared my views with Buddhadeb. He indulged my candidness and laughed at my stupidity. And then came the best part. In the next 45 mins of so, he patiently explained the power of the art of Tarkovsky. How he had felt a profound transformation, spiritually, artistically, and intellectually. How every moment, every shot, every line touched him. His homage to the painterly quality of the scenes from The Sacrifice as he fondly spoke about how his cinematographer Venu had ingeniously lit up the vast expanse of a derelict rural landscape with a peculiar silent twilight in Tahader Katha! And much more! Another of his major influences was Bunuel.

I was too arrogant to show him the final draft before handing it over to the editorial team. My story was finally published in The Sunday Statesman. Buddhadeb liked what he read. Later, he became busier by the clock, often travelling abroad to various festivals for stretches. Somehow, I lost touch with him after that!

Post 2002, Buddhadeb’s films became more intense yet obtuse at the same time. With deeply personal moving images, dreamscapes fused with the elliptical arc of storytelling that often bordered on the surreal. It won him a lot of awards all over the world even though some of them barely got a full-fledged theatrical release for Indian audiences to watch, discuss and debate his work.

His passing away is a tragedy. We should pay him a tribute by asking the film bodies to make his celluloid creations accessible to all. I hope that by sharing my views, I will be able to inspire the current crop of film lovers to assess and admire how he created a beautiful mix of abstraction and mysticism and there aren’t many filmmakers who have left us with a unique panorama as he did.

My top five films of Buddhadeb Dasgupta that merit a watch:

• Dooratwa ( The Distance) 1978
• Griha Yuddha ( The Civil War) 1982
• Phera ( The Return) 1988
• Bagh Bahadur ( The Tiger Man) 1989
• Tahader Katha ( Their Story) 1992

About the Author

Tathagata Chatterjee is an advertising professional based out of NCR. He likes to read, write, watch films and listen to music in his spare time. He can be reached at @TathagataChatt2 on Twitter.