The Statesman - 8th July 2022.

The Tarun Majumdar school inspired many film makers.

July seems the most ruthless month to Bengali film industry.

42 years ago a date in July overnight unsettled Bengali movie world with sudden demise of Uttam Kumar. Later in 2003, July claimed Samit Bhanja and now it puts off the last flame of Bengali film world Tarun Majumdar.

The end came at ripe age of 91 and he was little inactive in last few years of his life. Still his passing creates such a stiff mountain apparently insurmountable before the next generation of film makers in Bengal.

In his 59 years of career with more than 30 movies under his belt Tarun Majumdar crafted the art of making Bengali cinema talk like a human but most importantly he satisfied the fundamental condition of movie making by blending of science, arts and commerce in balanced ratio in every single reel of his every single movie.

The spark of Tarun’s talent was palpable in his second movie “ Kacher Swarga “ ( The world of illusion ) which he directed by teaming up with Dilip Mukherjee and Sachin Mukherjee in the Jatrik. The extra ordinary story of a failed medical student who served as a doctor under fake certificate was a blow of fresh air in a time when Bengali commercial cinema was riding the romantic wave of Uttam – Suchitra. It was also the time when Ray was already done with his legendary film Aparajita ( The Unvanquished ) and Bengali intellectuals were clearly defining a so called narrative of meaningful cinema. In such a challenging atmosphere Tarun Majumdar emerged as a new victor of commercial cinema.

He started making film under his own credit from 1963 and soon made his name a brand brightly distinctive from other icons of Bengali cinema whom popular history often shows as only titans.

Over three decades Tarun Majumdar’s unforgettable films like Palatak , Nimantran, Kuheli, Sriman Prwithraj, Amargeeti, Alor Pipasha, Thagini and Dadar Kirti scripted new history in Bengali popular cinema without sacrificing any merit of core Bengali values in any form. He picked every single story from typical Bengali set up , made characters that look simple yet extra ordinary in their perspective and decorated every single movie with excellent application of songs both Rabindrasangeet and contemporary.

He used Hemanta Mukherjee to RD Burman in his various films adding a peerless value in it’s artistic and commercial marketability. No wonder that some of his weak movies also did impressive business only for it’s songs. Apaan Amar Apan ( 1990 ) tuned by RD Burman and Bhalobasha Bhalobasha ( 1985 ) tuned by Hemanta Mukherjee rocked the box office only because of their songs.

Rabindrasangeet used in Tarun Majumdar’s movie can be a subject of study in every film school.

Right away from “ Dinguli more sonar khachai “ in Kacher Swarga to “ Charon o Dhoritey Diyo Go “ in Dadar Kirti ( 1980 ) Majumdar touched the correct pulse of Bengali heart to melt the tune. It was his 1971 thriller movie “ Kulehi “ in which both Lata Mangeskar and Asha Bhonsle rendered two Rabindrasangeet. It happened only once in history of Bengali cinema.

Rabindrasangeet was used so widely in his films that once The Gramophone Company came out with a double cassette album that had a title “ Rabindrasangeet in Tarun Majumdar’s Film”.

The power of Tarun Majumder’s story telling imagination and script writing can be best described in Dadar Kirti a film still considered one of the finest and biggest commercial hit in Bengali.

Written by a teenager Sharadindu Bandopadhay in 1915 this short novel was published in 1976. Set in a small town of Bihar where few Bengali families cohabit with their own culture this average novel was brilliantly converted into a mind blowing romantic comedy in which Tapas Pal made his debut. One who read the novel and also had watched the movie can understand how Tarun Majumdar’s script lifted up the story to a different level on screen.

Tarun Majumdar’s power of script writing was also seen beyond cinema when in late 1970s he wrote script for a comic strip named “ Sadashiver Kahini “ for Bengali magazine Anandamela .

This was also a story of Sharadindu and illustration was done by Anup Roy. The strip was once extremely popular among readers.

Having offers many a time to move Bombay to make Hindi films Majumder preferred to stay back in Bengal. However he made two Hindi movie both are remake version of his Bengali one. Rahgeer and Balika Badhu did moderate business but got high praises. Balika Badhu was tuned by RD Burman and it gave Amit Kumar his maiden Film Fare award for the song “ Bade Ache Lagte Hain “. V Shantaram produced two of Tarun’s movie. One was Palatak ( The runaway ) and other was “ Path O Prasad “ ( The road and the palace ).

Tarun Majumdar school of film inspired entire India specially film makers like Gulzar, Basu Chatterjee, Sai Parajape, Shyam Benegal and many more to do experiment of mass entertainment under a clean and meaningful script far more different from any formula based Hindi blockbusters of 1960s and 1970s. It will not be a verbosity in saying that in that school of cinema Tarun babu was a pioneer.

“Much before of Bombay it was Tarunda in Bengal who introduced the cult of middle road cinema” – says film historian and former president of BFJA Chandi Mukherjee. “Knowing him since 1982 I have realized one thing that Tarunda used to know how to entertain people both urban mass and in rural market. His understanding of commercial success of a movie was just outstanding” – Chandi Mukherjee concludes.

Was his magic touch somehow falling short in last few movies ?

Except Alo ( 2003 ) none of his film made in last 10 years of his career was block blusters. Apan Amar Apan did good business mainly for music. Bhalobashar Onek Naam made in 2005 was pushed by printing photos of Uttam Kumar and Hemanta Mukherjee in poster because their grandchildren were in the movies.

Tarun Majumda”r is one of the finest film maker who knew how to make commercially successful movies without discounting good taste and cultural roots” thinks Debasis Mukhopadhyay the historian and Satyajit Ray scholar. However, he continues Tarun Majumdar also failed to get success whenever he tried to come out of his typical style. It is very unfortunate that his excellent films like Ganadevta ( 1979 ) and Amargeeti ( 1984 ) which were different from his known style and story could not do that big business in box office”.

To understand Tarun Majumdar Debasis tells the story that he directly got from the late director.

In 1955 when Ray’s Pather Panchali was released young Tarun and his friends of Scottish Church College were so mesmerized that they organized a small silent rally from Deshbandhu park with few posters in hand that read “ Pather Panchali Dekhun “ ( Watch Pather Panchali ). “Tarun babu told me that soon common people joined in the walk without any vocal provocation and at one point of time they only carried the posters in hands – Such was his grooming as a film maker.”

A decade ago in a television show while being suggested by noted writer Narayan Sanyal that as a writer and film maker both of them have an onus to protect the sanity of common people’s cultural taste , Tarun Majumdar calmly replied that after writing a story a writer like him can destroy it if he feels that does not go good with the society but a film maker like himself cannot do the same because cinema is the most expensive form of art and it is in most the cases not made in director’s money – Cinema’s social responsibility is mingled with both art and commerce.

Tarun Majumder took Bengali cinema to that high height of glory which is much different from the school of Ray – Mrinal Sen – Ritwik Ghatak but by no mean it is of a lesser important. Rather with gargantuan commercial success of most of his cinema he made the industry survived.

In a nutshell this can be said that Bengali cinema became a talkie from that very moment when a young Tarun Majumder for the first time behind the camera said “ cut”.

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