Kolkata cinephiles pay tribute to Rashid Irani on his 1st death anniversary

KOLKATA: On July 30 last year, one of India’s foremost film critics passed away in Mumbai. Two or three days before that, Rashid Irani was not seen at the Mumbai Press Club or his usual breakfast table. His friends thought he had gone out of town and they waited for him to surface. Finally, a search by friends and cops led to his home on August 2, where his mortal remains were found.
On August 3 this year, Kolkata’s cinephiles paid a cinematic tribute to one of India’s life-long lovers of cinema and books with a screening of a documentary on him at Nandan where it is competing at the 5th South Asian Short Film Festival. Titled ‘If Memory Serves Me Right’, this film is directed by photographer and filmmaker Rafeeq Ellias who has over 40 awards to his credit, including an Emmy for a series of UNICEF TV commercials.
Intelligent editing with minimal sound design and smart VFX by Abhro Banerjee has ensured this becomes more than a document of the life and love of a 75-year-old bachelor whose heart would beat at 24 frames per second. At Irani’s death anniversary tribute in Kolkata, Ellias’ project became a pandemic film about how lives got ruthlessly edited by the virus.
Irani was an Indian of Zoroastrian-Iranian descent, who once owned a traditional Irani restaurant. From end-2019, Ellias’ hand-held camera followed him through the still cosmopolitan bylanes of south Mumbai, Pune’s FTTI and NFAI as he relived his fascination for Marilyn Monroe and penchant for living life vicariously through movies till mid-2021 changed the narrative completely. Contrary to popular perception, Irani had no fights with loneliness. Rather he thrived on it. “I need human contact. I need to be in the company of people. I am an observer,” he said.
Unfortunately, pandemic severed this human contact. Not being able to watch a film for two-and-a-half months damaged his psyche. The uncertainty over the reopening of theatres was a bigger jolt. Irani retired to his room of books. Neither catalogued nor counted, they remained shrouded in dust and nostalgia. On camera, Irani rued the pointlessness about worrying about life’s futility. He admitted to being worried about his books and magazines collected over 60 years. “The best solution would be to burn the whole lot,” he says.
Nothing so bizarre was tried even a year after his death. “His flat remains sealed by the cops. The forensic reports have not yet come in,” Ellias said. The treasure trove of books and archival collection of Sound & Sight magazines now remain truly orphaned.