National Award-winning director Utpalendu Chakraborty passes away at 76
Times of India | 21 August 2024
KOLKATA: National Awardwinning director Utpalendu Chakraborty — known for feature films like “Moyna Tadanta” (1982), “Chokh” (1983), “Debshishu” (1985), “Debshishu” (1985), “Chandaneer” (1989), the unreleased “Prasab”, and documentaries on Debabrata Biswas and the music of Satyajit Ray — passed away at his Regent Park residence in Kolkata on Tuesday.He was 76. Chakraborty had been unwell for quite some time and had undergone surgery this year.
Born in Pabna in 1948, Chakraborty completed his graduation from Calcutta University and later specialised in modern history. He was involved in student politics during his college days. For a short time, he taught in schools for Adivasi children in the border regions of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. However, due to health issues, he had to return to Kolkata and started teaching in a higher secondary school.
According to director Sekhar Das, Chakraborty belonged to the generation of newwave directors in the 1980s, after the golden era of Bengali cinema under the craftsmanship of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak. “He was an eminent short story writer and used the pen name of Swarna Mitra. His cinema theme was powerful and sharp, and offered a concrete and political narrative,” Das said.
Chakraborty composed the music and wrote scripts for all his films. His debut documentary, “Mukti Chai” (1976), was made during the Emergency period, reflecting his interest in socio-political issues.
Chakraborty’s path-breaking movie “Chokh” — starring Om Puri, Anil Chatterjee, Shyamanand Jalan and Shreela Mazumdar — explored the oppression and exploitation of jute mill workers in Kolkata in 1975. At the 30th National Awards, the film beat Mrinal Sen’s “Kharij” to win the Best Feature Film for “its courage in exposing an aspect of contemporary reality which has great social relevance and for doing so with passion and integrity”.
Chakraborty had also received the award for ‘best direction’ that year for “his merciless expose of several aspects of social injustice with admirable command over his medium”.. In 1985, he directed a Hindi feature film titled ‘Debshishu’ with Om Puri and Smita Patil in the lead. Chakraborty’s 1984 documentary, “Music of Satyajit Ray”, was featured in the ‘Indian Panorama’ section at the International Film Festival of India.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee posted on X, “Sad at the demise of eminent Film Director Utpalendu Chakrabarty. His films were critically acclaimed and received distinguished awards. His demise will create void in our film industry. My condolences to his family and friends.”