‘I discovered myself on Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s set’

Sudeep Chatterjee had finished shooting with Salman Khan for ‘Lucky: No Time for Love’, a mega Bollywood romance shot in Russia. Around the same time, he was also working on ‘Kyun! Ho Gaya Na...’, a star-studded film with Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Vivek Oberoi. Amidst the chaos and gloss of commercial cinema, art director Samir Chanda mentioned that Buddhadeb Dasgupta was looking for a new cinematographer for his Bengali film ‘Kaalpurush’ (‘Memories in the Mist’).

Starring Mithun Chakraborty and Rahul Bose, ‘Kaalpurush’ was more of a meditative exploration of time, memory and a fractured father-son bond. And for Chatterjee, stepping onto Dasgupta’s set was like walking into another world. “It was such a deviation from the mainstream films I had just shot. It was a fabulous experience - a cathartic, poetic one,” said Chatterjee, who would go on to shoot iconic films like ‘Padmaavat’, ‘Chak De! India’ and ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’.

Kolkata-born and raised, Chatterjee had shot several documentaries before moving to Mumbai. But nothing prepared him for the creative liberation he experienced under Dasgupta. “The freedom I got… The way you can think on your own… It was such a welcome change for me. Prior to working in ‘Kaalpurush’, I had mostly worked in Bollywood commercial films as a cinematographer, which had certain norms. But Buddha babu didn’t have any. That was my freedom,” said an excited Chatterjee.

‘Kaalpurush’ eventually won the National Award for ‘Best Feature Film’. But more than the award, it was a personal breakthrough for Chatterjee. Soon after, he shot for Nagesh Kukunoor’s ‘Iqbal’, a coming-of-age sports drama that changed Chatterjee’s career for the better. And as Chatterjee admitted, ‘Kaalpurush’ had a lasting impact on him. “If you see my work post ‘Iqbal’, you will notice a change. ‘Iqbal’ was definitely a turning point in my career and I would say working with Buddha babu was a very important point. I was a young cinematographer and Buddha babu helped me a lot to evolve,” recalled Chatterjee.

On Tuesday, cinema lovers across the world remembered Dasgupta on his death anniversary.