Films make stamps post perfect

KOLKATA: What’s the connection between a cell phone, a stamp and an actress? Difficult, unless one is aware of Austrian-American actress Hedy Lamarr. During World War II, she along with composer George Antheil developed spread spectrum and frequency hopping. The principles of her work have been incorporated into modern Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology.She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. A stamp released on her from Austria happens to be among the thousands of others in the collection of Kolkata-based philatelist Dipok De. The grand old man of Indian philately and one of the founder members of Cine Central is now working on an as-yet untitled English book on cinema and stamps.
Seated in his office on the ground floor of a residential apartment on Amherst Street, 78-year-old Dipok De knows about the history of world cinema like the back of his palm. Clad in a batik punjabi and a lungi, De runs his fingers through his greying beard as he points at the stamp folders and says, “India was the first country to design a stamp on Charlie Chaplin!”
Born in Chittagong, De had shifted to Burma during his childhood. That’s where he got smitten by the film bug before coming to Kolkata where he enrolled into the Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship. Thereafter, he opened his own advertising firm and used to work on ads that were published in newspapers abroad. “In 1990, I wanted to host a national exhibition called Cinepex. But few stamps on world cinema were available then. So, I had to include other personalities. The scenario changed in 1995. The world celebrated the centenary of Lumiere Brothers,” he informs.
The advent of emails, however, was a blessing in disguise. “To survive, post offices worldwide tapped on the interest in cinema to issue stamps that would appeal to collectors. The maximum number of stamps was released on Marilyn Monroe! I personally have 200 stamps on her,” De says.
Some countries issued real gold, silver and platinum stamps too. “I’ve a gold-plated stamp on ‘Gone With The Wind’,” De proudly shows while ruing the fact that India still hasn’t cashed in on this trend because of bureaucratic issues. “African countries have stamps on Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty and Kajol. Republique De Guinee has a stamp on Aishwarya! But we don’t. In India, the maximum number of stamps released on a film personality is just two. That was for Satyajit Ray,” he says. De had designed Ray’s commemorative stamp by using a still from ‘Pather Panchali’, a profile of Ray and the Oscar. “I’m the only Indian to have designed a stamp for the United Nations. It was issued on November 22, 1985,” he says.
Showing his collection of 1500 pages of film stamps comes with an impromptu cinema quiz. Who is the only person to have got a Nobel and an Oscar? It was George Bernard Shaw! And De has a stamp commemorating that too! Apart from stamps on personalities like Federico Fellini, Andrzej Wajda, Alfred Hitchcock, Audrey Hepburn, Greta Garbo, Michael Jackson, Raj Kapoor, Uttam Kumar, Ritwik Ghatak, Nargis and Smita Patil, De also has stamps on how to make a film! Multiple stamps on the Harry Potter franchise (including one released by China) and ‘Lord of the Rings’ find space in his treasure trove. How does he keep track of stamps on recent movies? Does his grandson help? “No, he is too young though he likes stamps on ‘Finding Nemo’ and Mickey Mouse. Stamp catalogues help me spot the new releases,” he says.
Once he spots a stamp there is no escaping the pleasurable itch to possess it. “The stamp on ‘King Kong’ came in a folder that made a loud sound once it was opened. A decade earlier, I had bought it for Rs 15,000,” he says, while opening the elaborate ‘King Kong’ folder.
Doesn’t anyone at home scold him for spending so much on his passion? Grinning from ear to ear, he says, “I’m lucky. I’ve an understanding wife!”