Nationality Indian Died November 19, 2012, Pune Name Rahul Dasgupta | Notable works Genesis, Freedom Citizenship Indian | |
Born Rahul Dasgupta
14 January 1943
Kolkatta, West Bengal, British India (now India) ( 1943-01-14 ) Occupation Film maker, writer, advertising, teacher Language Bengali, Hindi, English Education P.G. diploma in film direction (FTII), 1974 | ||
Rahul Dasgupta or Rahul Da (14 January 1943 – 19 November 2012) was an independent Indian film director. He was a graduate in film direction from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, India. Besides all this, he also made documentaries and advertisements. His last days were spent at the FTII with film students while writing and sharing his experiences.
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Biography
Dasgupta was born on 14 January 1943, in a well to do family in Kolkatta. He was selected for a film direction course in 1971 and completed it in 1974. At this time, the film Garm Hava was made and screened at FTII. Social changes in Indian politics and society around this time motivated Dasgupta to make films on those topics. Along with his knowledge of film making and a close relation with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray, his films focused on depiction of social reality and made comments on society. Satyajit Ray had interviewed him in FTII and remained a guru to him all his life. He wanted to make a film on Satyajit Ray and wrote the script for it. He has a younger brother Ashoke Dasgupta, who lives outside India and is a writer. Uday Chandra, an actor from FTII is like his brother and best friend.
Creative career
Rahul Dasgupta made more than 100 advertisements. He worked for O&M advertising agency.
He made documentaries for Discovery and National Geographic Channel.
He had made one script in 1980s on which he was working with Mithun Chakrobarty, Uday Chandra and Shabana Azmi. The film was about to start but because of some problems and tragedy in his family, he left the feature film.
His film Genesis won various awards including National Award. "Genesis" was made in 1974 on 35mm B&W, and is 28 minutes long. Shaji N. Karun did camera in this film. The print of the film was lost and eventually found. It was very damaged but has since been restored and was screened at FTII. Freedom was made in Rahul Dasgupta's final year in film. Trilok M Kamdar was the cinematographer for this film.
In addition to film making, Rahul Dasgupta acted in few films at FTII. He also acted in plays. One of his roles was a 60-year-old man, in the play Lunchtime Story with Rohan Kulkarni and Kunal Pant.
Among his last works were acting in FTII students film and a workshop with editing students in which he performed as an actor taught.