Kolkata Int’l Film Fest exhibition celebrates a century of legends
KOLKATA: At the age of 18, Robert Bernard Altman enlisted in the US Army Air Forces during World War II serving as a co-pilot on B-24 Liberator bombers with the 307th Bomb Group. This wartime experience would later invoke his anti-war sensibilities mostly notably in M*A*S*H, a 1970 American black comedy war film.
His pioneering use of overlapping dialogues, ensemble cast and mobile camera work influenced countless filmmakers. As we stepped into Gaganendra Shilpa Pradarshanshala, where an elaborate exhibition paying centenary tribute to legends like Pradeep Kumar, Santosh Dutta, Guru Dutt, Richard Burton, Robert Altman and Sam Peckinpah, is on at the 31st Kolkata International Film Festival, we found how alcoholism has sadly touched many lives, including some incredibly creative or “genius” individuals.
The KIFF committee, in a beautiful way, have presented the life, works and the continued legacy of the above-mentioned legends in their centenary year celebrations.
Like the maverick actor-director Guru Dutt, who also battled alcoholism until his untimely death. The “master of melancholy” has left behind an artistic legacy hard to replace, marked by his masterful use of close-ups, innovative lighting, and deeply emotional depictions of human despair.
The ever-handsome Richard Burton, a star across genres, had a personal life as dramatic and tempestuous as any of his roles marked by five marriages and legendary struggles with alcoholism. “I didn’t know that Burton was one of the highest-paid actors in the world, commanding fees of $1 million or more plus profit participation in the 1960s. This exhibition has revealed so many unknown facets of Burton, one of my favourite actors of all time,” said Sudanshu Mitra, an IT employee and diehard cinephile.
Young cinebuffs are showing special interest in Santosh Dutta’s profile, stopping to appreciate an audio-visual presentation of his iconic dialogues from Satyajit Ray’s Sonar Kella. A constant fixture in Ray’s films, Dutta managed to balance a full-fledged legal practice with his acting career.
A section on Pradeep Kumar, who quickly impressed the Mumbai film industry with his refined acting style, is also drawing large crowds.
Kumar’s daughter, actress Beena Banerjee, who attended the inauguration, lamented how the veteran actor’s talent was never fully utilised.
