Docu tribute to 96-year-old classical singer

Kolkata: It is uncommon to come across a 96-year-old viewer at Nandan. It is equally uncommon to find him watching a film about his own life there. But then

Pt Amiya Ranjan Bandyopadhyay

is no common man. The doyen of

Bishnupur gharana

,

Bandyopadhyay

is the oldest performing Indian classical musician. A documentary on his musical journey was screened for Kolkata’s cultural fraternity on Wednesday. Among those seated in the audience were Goutam Ghose, Pt Ajoy Chakraborty, Pt Kumar Bose, Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumdar and

Srikanta Acharya

– all in awe of the passion of the living legend and his disciplined life.

Titled “Chareibeti Chareibeti”, this 32-minute-long documentary is directed by SRFTI’s alumnus

Mrinmoy Nandi

. Aided in principle research by

Nandini Chakraborty

with voice over by Madhumanti Maitra, Nandi traces Bandyopadhyay’s life right from his birth at 19, Tagore Castle Street and then goes on to filming his house at 28, Bridaban Basak Street where he spent eight years of his childhood and then the Bhagyakul mansion where his adolescence was spent. Unlike many other biographical films, this information doesn’t come in chronological order. Instead, it is engagingly spaced out along with other archival material, footage from his concerts as well as his shots at his current residence in Salt Lake. “For the last 40 years, I have had the privilege to be his pupil. My experiences led me to make this documentary which I believe is inspirational for musicians. There is no end to the musical journey of this evergreen and diligent maestro. Hence the name, ‘

Chareibeti Chareibeti

’,” Chakraborty said.

A still from “Chareibeti Chareibeti”
Nandi has carefully woven personal anecdotes including Bandyopadhyay both as a performer, an archivist and a guru in the documentary. Bandyopadhyay has recalled how his father would smack film if he went wrong during the practice session and his early days of working as a lower division clerk at a Dalhousie Square office. During those days, Uttam Kumar used to work as an ordinary clerk in the Calcutta Port Commission. Pt Shantanu Bandyopadhyay recalled how his father’s diet sans outside food has been the same for the past 50 years. Another interesting anecdote is about how after an extremely good Pt Bhimsein Joshi concert, Bandyopadhyay had entered an empty auditorium in Siliguri. “I usually sing with my eyes closed. On opening my eyes after singing the first cycle of the first stanza of a khayal in raag Bhairon, I found that the empty auditorium had got filled,” the vocalist said on camera.

Making this documentary with the 96-year-old took over two years. “Intense research and an understanding of the personality were important. Even now he records his practice sessions with professional tabla and harmonium players daily. He then listens to the recording twice daily to find methods of improvement. Most artists are unable to retain this passion for so long. Once we got a hang of how he does it, filming him was not tough,” Nandi said.




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