Silently fiery – Tapan Sinha’s cinema

It is hard to tell if Sinha’s otherwise simple characters transforming into inspiring ones was a well-informed cinematic style that he adopted right at the start of his career. However, after being recognised as an auteur, he was intentional in his directorial approach depicting catharsis, which can also be called subversion. A quick list of films built on this understanding would include Jatugriha (The House of Wax, 1964), Galpo Holeo Satti (Though it’s a Story But its True, 1966), Hatey Bazarey (The Market Place, 1967) Sagina Mahato and Sagina (1970, 1974 respectively), Aadmi Aur Aurat (Man and Woman, 1982), Ek Doctor Ki Maut (Death of a Doctor, 1990).

Tagore’s short story is a universal tale of fatherly affection, described through the unusual bond between Rahmat, a middle-aged Afghan dry fruit seller, and Mini, a five-year-old Bengali Hindu girl child. In the story, Tagore established the idea of the universal parivar (family) and antimyo (relative), a notion that transcends religion and ethnicity. Sinha diligently adhered to that essence of universalism. Later, he went on to produce Kabuliwala in Hindi, starring the legendary Balraj Sahani, who was cast as Rehmat.

As the story unfolds, Sinha uses conversational language in his dialogues to reveal the burdened widowhood of the characters and their zest for life that’s subdued but intact. A sublime, honest scene emerges when the four women go on a walk to the beach, an unusual thing for widows of the period, who were expected to cut themselves off from worldly desires. The four Bengali actors, including Sharmila Tagore, were awarded the Silver Peacock at the 3rd IFFI – International Film Festival of India (1965) for their brilliant performances.

It wouldn’t be off the mark to suggest that Sinha’s cinematic style was tender and brooding and spurting with life all at once. This started with The Desolate Beach and continued well into the 1990s. In the years following The Desolate Beach, he would expand his scale of filmmaking with the big budget The Market Place, that had an ensemble cast led by stars Ashok Kumar and Vyjayanthimala. It was the adaptation of a story of the same name by Bengali author Balaichand Mukhopadhyay, whose nom de plume was Bonophool (Wild Flower). Relevantly, Bonophool, the author, was born and raised in Purnia district of pre-Independence India and was a professional doctor. Hatey Bazarey, published in 1961, was thus autobiographical in parts. Though Sinha expanded the sensitive story adding additional plot points, he stayed true to the premise of class and racial contradictions between Adivasis and the local feudal gentry in the story. The Market Place became one of the major commercial successes of Bengali cinema in the 1960s. The film pivoted around a Bengali brahmin civil surgeon (Anandi Mukherjee played by Ashok Kumar), a liberal medic based somewhere in South Bihar, who is willing to go to any length to provide free healthcare to the local community. His frugal family structure includes his ailing wife, his driver, a Muslim, and his cook, a Hindu. In retrospect, Mukherjee’s character seems to have saviour complex but when situated in the timeline of a newly independent nation trying hard to advance scientific mass education, it falls in place. What remains ahead of its time is Sinha’s commitment to effortless pluralism, which is hard to replicate today.

Though his films were always ahead of their time, scholarly interest in Sinha’s works is brewing. The cinema he made cannot be bracketed as parallel or mainstream. It would not be an exaggeration to view Sinha’s cinema as a nonchalant showstopper holding its own even in a culture of the consumption of continuous and often mindless content.

Perhaps that’s why Tapan Sinha continues to be young even in his centenary year.

Nilosree Biswas is an author and a filmmaker.

It is hard to tell if Sinha’s otherwise simple characters transforming into inspiring ones was a well-informed cinematic style that he adopted right at the start of his career. However, after being recognised as an auteur, he was intentional in his directorial approach depicting catharsis, which can also be called subversion. A quick list of films built on this understanding would include Jatugriha (The House of Wax, 1964), Galpo Holeo Satti (Though it’s a Story But its True, 1966), Hatey Bazarey (The Market Place, 1967) Sagina Mahato and Sagina (1970, 1974 respectively), Aadmi Aur Aurat (Man and Woman, 1982), Ek Doctor Ki Maut (Death of a Doctor, 1990).

Tagore’s short story is a universal tale of fatherly affection, described through the unusual bond between Rahmat, a middle-aged Afghan dry fruit seller, and Mini, a five-year-old Bengali Hindu girl child. In the story, Tagore established the idea of the universal parivar (family) and antimyo (relative), a notion that transcends religion and ethnicity. Sinha diligently adhered to that essence of universalism. Later, he went on to produce Kabuliwala in Hindi, starring the legendary Balraj Sahani, who was cast as Rehmat.

As the story unfolds, Sinha uses conversational language in his dialogues to reveal the burdened widowhood of the characters and their zest for life that’s subdued but intact. A sublime, honest scene emerges when the four women go on a walk to the beach, an unusual thing for widows of the period, who were expected to cut themselves off from worldly desires. The four Bengali actors, including Sharmila Tagore, were awarded the Silver Peacock at the 3rd IFFI – International Film Festival of India (1965) for their brilliant performances.

It wouldn’t be off the mark to suggest that Sinha’s cinematic style was tender and brooding and spurting with life all at once. This started with The Desolate Beach and continued well into the 1990s. In the years following The Desolate Beach, he would expand his scale of filmmaking with the big budget The Market Place, that had an ensemble cast led by stars Ashok Kumar and Vyjayanthimala. It was the adaptation of a story of the same name by Bengali author Balaichand Mukhopadhyay, whose nom de plume was Bonophool (Wild Flower). Relevantly, Bonophool, the author, was born and raised in Purnia district of pre-Independence India and was a professional doctor. Hatey Bazarey, published in 1961, was thus autobiographical in parts. Though Sinha expanded the sensitive story adding additional plot points, he stayed true to the premise of class and racial contradictions between Adivasis and the local feudal gentry in the story. The Market Place became one of the major commercial successes of Bengali cinema in the 1960s. The film pivoted around a Bengali brahmin civil surgeon (Anandi Mukherjee played by Ashok Kumar), a liberal medic based somewhere in South Bihar, who is willing to go to any length to provide free healthcare to the local community. His frugal family structure includes his ailing wife, his driver, a Muslim, and his cook, a Hindu. In retrospect, Mukherjee’s character seems to have saviour complex but when situated in the timeline of a newly independent nation trying hard to advance scientific mass education, it falls in place. What remains ahead of its time is Sinha’s commitment to effortless pluralism, which is hard to replicate today.

Though his films were always ahead of their time, scholarly interest in Sinha’s works is brewing. The cinema he made cannot be bracketed as parallel or mainstream. It would not be an exaggeration to view Sinha’s cinema as a nonchalant showstopper holding its own even in a culture of the consumption of continuous and often mindless content.

Perhaps that’s why Tapan Sinha continues to be young even in his centenary year.

Nilosree Biswas is an author and a filmmaker.