Dada Saheb Phalke Award for Tapan Sinha
Tapan Sinha, the man who has given some beautifully-crafted films like Kabuliwalla, Khudito Pashan, Sagina Mahato and Ek Doctor Ki Maut, is the Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner for the year 2006.
A committee comprising Shyam Benegal , Gautam Ghosh, A Nageshwar Rao, Sharmila Tagore and Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia recommended Sinha’s name for the top cinematic honour of the country to the Government. The award comes at a time when Sinha has been bedridden for quite some time due to old-age ailments.
The government announced that Sinha will receive a cash price of Rs ten lakh (one million), a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) and a shawl. The award will be given away at the function, likely to be latter this month, in which the National Awards for 2006 (announced earlier) will be given to the winners.
Another highly-deserving stalwart from Bengal, Saumitra Chatterjee, was also in the running for the honour this time round.
Sinha, whose works have won 19 National Film Awards and been honoured at international film festivals in Berlin, Venice, London, Moscow, San Francisco and Locarno, began his career as a sound engineer in Kolkata’s New Theatre in 1946.
In 1950, he got the opportunity to work at the Pinewood Studios in the UK where he spent two years. On his return home, he turned his attention to direction, making films in Bengali, Hindi and Oriya. He made three films based on Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s works: Kabuliwalla, Khudito Pashan and Atithi. His first film was Ankush (1954), which he followed up with a diverse creative output that includes Upahar (1955), Tonsil (1956), Louhakapat (1957), Kalomati (1957), Hansuli Banker Upakatha (1962), Sagina Mahato (1970), Banchharamer Bagan (1980), Adalat O Ekti Meye (1982), Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991) and Shatabdir Kanya (2001).
“Tapan Sinha’s cinematic works are amazingly down-to-earth depiction of the struggles of the common man. His reputation as an uncompromising filmmaker, a celluloid iconoclast, puts him in a class of his own,” the government announcement said.
Just weeks ago, he was conferred with a “One Time Award for Life Time Achievement to Commemorate the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence”, along with Lata Mangeshkar, Dilip Kumar and B Saroja Devi.
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Nice post Utpal. I’ve not seen all his films but Ek Doctor Ki Maut is one of my all time favourite films with a brilliant performance by Pankaj Kapoor.