Tapan Sinha: master of all genres

My first film Autograph was heavily inspired by Satyajit Ray’s Nayak. However, in the film, I paid a small tribute to another Bengali filmmaker whose work has inspired me through my life.

When the protagonist of my film, Arun Chatterjee (played by Prosenjit) takes out his ID card, it shows that he studied at the fictional Tapan Sinha Film and Television Institute. By now you must have guessed that the director who has had a profound influence on the way I make my films is Tapan Sinha. It was a small tribute, but Mr Sinha’s son met me later and mentioned the scene. I was ecstatic that the tribute hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Sinha is underrated as a filmmaker by the Bengali intelligentsia. I don’t really know why. Perhaps because his films were commercially successful. In Bengal if your films appeal to the masses then you are inexplicably removed from the pantheon of master film makers. I have no hesitation in calling Tapan Sinha a true master filmmaker.

Tapan Sinha made films on a variety of subjects and film critics had difficulty in categorising his films. This lack of pigeon-holing actually puts him in a very niche bracket. His films appealed to masses and classes alike. That is a quality I have tried to infuse in my films as well. What astonishes me about Sinha is the sheer spectrum of subjects he has covered through his films.

From Jhinder Bondi which is based on a historical novel by Sharadindu Chottopadhay to Aaponjon based on the dissatisfaction of the urban youth, and is one of the finest films I have seen made. Sinha managed to traverse such wildly disparate subjects with an ease and finesse that only a true master director can hope to achieve.

Like him I too believe in telling different stories. It’s very difficult to impose a pattern on Tapan Sinha’s body of work. I hope that is the case for my films as well. One thing about Tapan Sinha that amazes me is his ability to express complex ideas through a simple narrative. They way he communicated and articulated his ideas should be an example to all film students.

Golpo Holeo Shotti is one of the finest Bengali film that I have seen in terms of structure. The film has a the feel of magic-realism and yet it’s very rooted in the social milieu of Bengal at the time.

Sinha’s use of music and background score is something that has had the biggest influence on me. In his films, music often replaces dialogues in certain scenes. It is a quality I have tried to imbibe and execute in my own films. He has this uncanny ability to take the narrative forward through the use of music and sound. It’s a thumb-rule I try to follow when I plan out my own scenes.

I have grown up watching Tapan Sinha’s films. Through my childhood, my adolescent, my college days and even when I started working, no film discussion would be complete without some reference to his films. And now that I am a filmmaker myself, I never stop short of marvelling the balancing act of sound and picture, of entertainment and art that Sinha managed to seamlessly infuse in his films.

Srijit Mukherjeeis the director of the critically acclaimed Bengali film Autograph. Here, he talks of the influence of filmmaker Tapan Sinha on his work.