The historical 100-year old Technician Studio in Tollygunge (South Kolkata), which the Trinamool Congress-led government in Bengal recently renovated, was inaugurated by chief minister, Mamata Banerjee on Saturday.
The renovated Technicians Studio has all the amenities of a modern studio and six of its floors have been named after Bengal’s legendary filmmakers and stars, Satyajit Ray, Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Tapan Sinha, Ritwik Ghatak and Rituparno Ghosh.
A delighted Mamata said on her Facebook page, ‘Today I had visited the studio along with everyone. I can now invite all the Hollywood and Bollywood artists to come here’. Ever since the Trinamool government came into power in 2011, it had committed to build new film studios and refurbish the existing ones.
In fact, Banerjee recalled how Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali, Aparajita and even Uttam Kumar’s last shooting in Ogo Bodhu Sundari was done at Technician’s Studio. ‘The studio was in a dilapidated condition till the state government decided to revamp it. It hardly had any facilities which a modern national level studio offers. The renovation is satisfactory and important film makers from outside Bengal can make their films here from now on,’ said artist Suvaprasanna.
The swanky new studio was opened in the presence of Dwijen Mukherjee, Sabitri Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Biswajit, Sandhya Roy, Sandeep Ray, Ranjit Mullick, Dipankar De, Moon Moon Sen, Tapas Pal, Prasenjit, Deboshree, Chiranjit, Parambrata, Raima and a galaxy of eminent personalities from the world of Tollywood on Saturday.
A few years back, there was a plan to sell off the studio which was strongly resisted by the artists and technicians The state Government had taken up their cause. ‘It is indeed a great day and we are all very happy to dedicate Technicians Studio once again, to the film and television industry’, said Banerjee on her Facebook page.