Tapan-da, the go-to bookseller for Ray, Sen and Smita Patil, succumbs to Covid

Kolkata: One of Satyajit Ray’s favourite haunts in central Kolkata was this “hole in the wall” bookstore in the Grand Hotel arcade on Chowringhee. It might be difficult to visualise now, but the larger-than-life Ray would sit on a wooden stool outside the store and go on browsing foreign film publications to his fill; buying some and placing orders for some more. The man, who knew of Ray’s choices, is no more.

Tapan Chatterjee

— known to generations of film directors and scholars of film studies as Tapan-da — passed away at a Covid hospital in Howrah.

Foreign Publishers Agency

was set up in 1941 by his uncle and Chatterjee came as a young 19-year-old boy from Bankura, to manage the business. The store dealt only in foreign publications and specialised in books on films. It was a one-stop shop for anyone who wanted to buy rare books and magazines on films. Much like Ray, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Rituparna Ghosh were regulars at the store, looking for Tapan-da to help them find what they were looking for.

“Ray was a regular buyer of Sight and Sound, Cineaste and American Cinematographer from this store. He would come to Tapan-da with his list of books. Tapan-da was self-taught. He read the books at the store voraciously and gained rare knowledge that enabled him to engage in conversations with the city’s top intellectuals,” said Ashish Bhattacharya, his cousin and present owner of the bookstore.

“Tapan-da was a much sought out person by Govind Nihalani and Smita Patil, who would buy from here,” Bhattacharya added.

Ray’s son, filmmaker Sandip Ray, was sad. He would often accompany his father to the store and would browse and buy too. “Those days were different, such rare foreign publications were not easily available and hence this bookstore stood out despite its modest look. My father was a regular here and Tapan-da was only too happy to assist. They shared a rare bonding,” Ray reminisced.

The senior Ray started visiting the store in the 60s and made acquaintance with Chatterjee from 1974 onwards after the young man started managing the store by himself. The famous picture of Ray sitting on the stool outside engrossed in reading was taken by his photographer, Nemai Ghosh, who too is no more.

Chatterjee was 66. He had taken the first dose of vaccine but still contracted the disease. He started having multi-organ failure at the ESI Hospital Balitikuri and died on Tuesday afternoon.

He is mourned by hundreds of booklovers, who say that he encouraged reading to such an extent that he didn’t mind taking out his accounts books and keeping a record of “pore diye diyo biota nao.”

One such is writer-critic Shamik Bandyopadhyay, who said in a heartfelt tribute: “Tapan was so kind and generous. There were times when I ran up bid arrears. More than half my life I have been without a job and never had the patience to wait to procure a book till I had the means to pay for it. Tapan was always a kind, trustful saviour.”


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