Through the Eyes of a Cinematographer: A Biography of Soumendu Roy by Devapriya Sanyal

Author:Devapriya Sanyal
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: null
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers India
Published: 2017-07-10T00:00:00+00:00

LIFE AFTER

SATYAJIT RAY

Roy’s odyssey is one of its kind by a cinematographer in Bengal, or even in India. He worked with some of the finest names in Indian cinema. He says it is nearly impossible to draw any sort of comparison between the various directors he has been lucky to work with. But one of his lasting associations has been with Tapan Sinha, who, though never quite matching the international appeal of Ray and his films, was considered one of the most influential and important Bengali film-makers right through the 1950s to the ’80s, with a string of popular hits to his credit. After working with Satyajit Ray for over four decades and having garnered a lifetime of experiences, Roy began working with Tapan Sinha in the 1990s.

Ek Doctor Ki Maut is a 1990 award-winning Hindi film by Tapan Sinha which depicts the ostracism and bureaucratic negligence a doctor faces because of his groundbreaking research in leprosy. The backdrop of the story is Bengal. The film is based on a short story ‘Abhimanyu’ by Ramapada Chowdhury. Sinha’s film won the 1991 National Film Award for Best Direction and the 1991 National Film Award–The Special Jury Award for Pankaj Kapoor’s role as the protagonist, Dr Dipankar Roy, in the film. In 1992, it won Sinha the Filmfare Best Screenplay Award too.

Soumendu Roy feels privileged to be part of a film that received acclaim from both critics and the audience. ‘This was my first film with Tapan da – it was not Antardhan. This was a film that was mostly shot in a studio. The outdoor locales were restricted to Jadavpur University in Kolkata, and to mostly the laboratories and corridors there. But there was an extremely difficult shot which we took in Chandipur; it was a long trolley shot which we filmed at the magic hour. And the entire scene was taken in one shot only. Seema the wife, played by Shabana Azmi, comes to visit her husband after she hears that he has been transferred to a village. When she reaches she does not find him in the house; instead she spots him on the seashore, absorbed in his thoughts. Shabana gives him courage, and they walk back together, deep in conversation. With regard to lighting, this was going to be a very difficult shot. We were ready and waited with the camera and trolley, and when the magic hour came, we quickly took the shots. I think it was a shot of about three minutes.’

Roy’s second Bengali film with Sinha was Wheel Chair, and it was again extremely successful as a film. ‘Wheel Chair was shot mostly in a studio; the only outdoor set was for shooting Dr Moulik’s home for invalids in Bonhooghly. Tapan da’s story was based on Dr Moulik’s life. The beds shown in the home was a studio set, and the exterior of Dr Moulik’s home was of a house in Mallickpur. We also shot in the famous Chatterjee International Centre building, to depict Labani Sarkar’s office, and also took some shots inside the lift there.

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