Kolkata: The demise of Buddhadeb Dasgupta marks the end of an era for actor Paoli Dam.
On Thursday, she went over to the director’s South Kolkata residence to pay her tribute to the master film-maker with whom she had worked in ‘Tope’.
His cinema stood out because of his signature style of using visual poetry, his penchant for magic realism and an indomitable urge to explore socially relevant themes to create a world populated with marginalized characters and their audacious dreams.
Talking about his films, Paoli agreed that he excelled in giving a voice to the marginalized in a world that oscillated between being real, unreal and sometimes surreal.
Paoli, who had played a tightrope walker in ‘Tope’, pointed out that Dasgupta’s cinematic world, often set in the arid landscape of Purulia, was populated by marginalized characters.
“His perspective of life, which reflected in his cinematic language and his techniques as a filmmaker, was so unique.
I still remember his trolley settings and movements.
His long wide takes, which usually should make an actor insecure about his/ her presence, somehow encouraged me.
I loved his cinematic thought process and brilliance,” she said.
Memories of her shooting experience with him crowd her mind.
Paoli had earlier worked with him when he had adapted two stories by Mahasweta Devi titled ‘Dhauli’ and ‘Choli Ke Peeche’.
“Back then, I was too young to fathom the depth of his style of film-making.
It was only when I did ‘Tope’ that I could truly get a grip of his vision of film-making.
While Buddho-da worked with newcomers, he expected professionalism every time he was working with established artists.
He had a fascination for shooting at the magic hour,” she said.
Among her favourite Dasgupta films, she mentions ‘Charachar’ and ‘Mondo Meyer Upakhyan’.
“I had seen these films long back when I wasn’t even doing movies.
They had created that strong sense of being in sync with the narrative and the characters.
The impact has stayed on till date,” she shared.
While talking about Dasgupta, conversation soon meandered towards director Bappaditya Bandopadhyay who had passed away in 2015.
“Buddha-da was fond of him and was very upset when he passed away.
Bappa was his assistant and many of his films belonged to the same school.
Following in his footsteps, Bappa would also like to shoot in Purulia.
Both knew how to make an arid landscape look so pleasing to the eyes.
With Buddha-da’s demise, it is an end of that gharana.”