Quick Birthday Note on Anjan Dutt

Coincidentally, my inclusion of Anjan Dutt's Chaalchitra Ekhon, which I saw at its Kolkata International Film Festival premiere, in the World Poll of the best films of the year conducted by the reputed Australia-based film magazine Senses of Cinema became a meagre gift to the great filmmaker on his birthday, as they published it today on their website. His 2009 film, Madly Bangalee, is also on this list as one of the best older films I watched for the first time last year.

 

Chaalchitra Ekhon was a transformative experience for me, someone whose journey into cinema and cinephilia began with Mrinal Sen's Padatik. For quite some time, I've felt nothing but disillusionment in the direction Bangla cinema is headed; I started feeling there's nothing left to cinematically explore in this city, and films like those by Mrinal Sen, or the Calcutta Trilogy of Satyajit Ray can no longer be made. Now, all that's left in this godforsaken city is capitalist and political propaganda on hoardings and posters. Dutt's film broke my (dis)illusion. Working with different mediums like cinema, DSLR, and iPhone cameras, Dutt proved that Sen or Ray could still make films about this city if they were alive today with the same raw energy. The city is not dead. Sen could still get to the streets, film in the busiest of locations, and tell authentic urban tales, perhaps more comfortably owing to the advancement in digital technology.

Madly Bangalee, Dutt's film from 2009, was made by him at age 56. Yet, it's among the most youthful films I've seen. No filmmaker at his age understood the youthful angst of young adults like him. The same could be said about Chaalchitra Ekhon, which he’s made at 70. His interactions with the debutant Sawon Chakraborty make some of the most wonderful moments in the film, especially in the film’s climax.

 

And then, there's his music in both these films. I await the release of Dutt's tribute song to Sen from Chaalchitra Ekhon, the song that kept me standing and clapping with tears when everyone was walking out after the screening ended. I was first introduced to Anjan Dutt through his music when I was young. As a child, I was restricted from going out of my house, so I would sit and gaze at the pedestrians walking by, at birds, cats, dogs, and mice. Later, when I first Dutt's Aamar Janala (on Tara TV, if I remember correctly?), I was reminded of those days looking out of my window as a kid. Dutt's discography is vast and diverse; I can't write even about all of my favourite songs because of how overwhelming their impact has been on me. The music of Madly Bangalee did not just sound good, it wonderfully captured the inner lives of these troubled youngsters as well as the elderly character played by Dutt himself.

 

Happiest Birthday Anjan Dutt!