Looking back at the golden age of cinema

'the young owe the old nothing'. this may well be the slogan of the present generation as it sees newer vistas opening up and the race to the future does not allow any looking back. yet there is also the saying that without a past there can be no future. unfortunately this is not always kept in mind, at least not till such time as the achievements of yesteryears are brought into focus as a reminder that the present was born out of the past.the tara bangla programme astarag (setting sun) tries to do this, recalling the days gone by in the world of the arts and the people whose contribution needs to be remembered. last week, it was kalipada chakravarty who was brought out of the moth balls and it was an exercise to be lauded. what a career the old man had. as a youngster, he sat at one side in the gatherings of another stalwart, danibabu, the son of girish ghosh, the garrick of bengal and an actor in his own right. there, young kalipada got to hear classical music and also had a direct acquaintance with the world of the theatre. naturally, he woke up to his own talents and soon emerged as a singer and thespian of repute, appearing not only on the stage but also in films, including those made by satyajit ray, rajen tarafdar and tapan sinha. most of the time he was the villain, but in ray's chiriyakhana he was the coachman rasik mia whose observations on the nocturnal movements at golap colony helped detective byomkesh unravel the murder mystery. it was a small role but like any true artiste, chakravarty has no regrets about that as to him the more important things to be remembered is, "the confidence which ray had shown in me". his experience of working with "madam" (suchitra sen) is also something which he remembers with pride and fondness. to the present generation, kalipada chakravarty is almost wholly unknown. yet it was not so very long ago that he had kept the audience engaged and contributed to the bengali cinema. fortunately, he is still around and so the programme was possible. who remembers any more names like dhiraj bhattacharya, nabadwip halder, bhanu banerjee or kanu bandopadhyay who had brought to like bibhuti bhusan's harihar in ray's pather panchali and aparajito. it was because of people such as these that the crowds thronged the city's theatres and cinema halls. today, the public stage has all but disappeared and as for cinema, the less said the better. coming back to the present. it is understandable that the us and afghanistan should continue to hog the limelight during news bulletins, but local channels would perhaps have done well to keep in mind of a nearer home event that is about to take place. bangladesh is going to the polls and the results will not be relevant only to itself. yet there is practically no sign that the electronic media are aware of this. even in the context of terrorism, bangladesh should have attracted greater attention, given the numerous complaints of dhaka harbouring elements inimical to india's security. the coverage of the palace massacre in kathmandu had also left much to be desired and lack of resources cannot be the only reason. it appears to be more a lack of planning. cricket lovers in kolkata (and that means the entire population) should be happy. the astrologer at star sports super selector programme saw a successful south african tour for deep dasgupta and added that he might well turn out to be another farokh engineer. so that's what the stars foretell.