Subrata Mitra’s Kolkata house set to get heritage status

The West Bengal Heritage Commission is set to declare the residence of iconic cinematographer Subrata Mitra on 70, Sarat Bose Road, as a building of heritage importance. A notice has already been served to state that local authority/owner/occupier/leaseholder shall not transfer, by way of sale, lease or mortgage or cause demolition, removal, alteration, defacing, hoarding of the wall or misuse of the part of whole of this building. Plans are also afoot to build a museum there soon.
Mitra is known as the godfather of Indian cinematography in India, having worked with Satyajit Ray and given the early Merchant-Ivory films their characteristic look. At 21, Subrata Mitra began his career as a cinematographer in ‘Pather Panchali’. He is known for pioneering the technique of bounce lighting while filming ‘The Apu Trilogy'. Later, he also worked in ‘Devi’, ‘Mahanagar’, ‘Kanchenjungha’, ‘Charulata’, ‘Nayak’. His other important works include ‘The Guru’, ‘Bombay Talkie’, ‘Mahatma and the Mad Boy’ and ‘New Delhi Times’. From 1997, Mitra was an emeritus professor of cinematography at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. A Padma Shri recipient, he was also given the Eastman Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Cinematography.

WBHC had received an e-mail from Mitra’s family friend Sunanda Basu, expressing apprehensions about the property being on the verge of demolition. The red building next to South Calcutta Girls’ College is under 24×7 CCTV coverage. A security guard, who has watched Sandhya Ray’s movies but has no idea about Mitra, prevents people from entering. If sought permission, he points at the phone number of Subimal Chakraborty, secretary of the trust called Subrata Mitra Archives, on the main gate of the compound.
“He was my Dronocharya and I am his Ekalavya. I have retired as a professional photographer of the government of India. Subrata Mitra Archives is housed in this building. This house was given to this trust by Subratada’s brother, Pragyan, in 2017. The question of our eviction doesn’t arise,” Chakraborty said.
Chakraborty said this house has archival material belonging to Mitra. “They are under restoration. He had worked with Jean Renoir in ‘The River’. Subratada was a sitar player. The sitar he had played for the title music of ‘The River’ is there in this house. So are his charcoal sketches,” he said.