Anjan Das

Winner of 2 national awards and multiple international awards, Das started his film career in the mid-1970s with two documentaries named The Art of Anant Malakar and Tripura. His first feature was Sainik (Soldier). The film was shown in various international film festivals including Berlinale in 1976. Other notable ones were Mannheim, Tehran, Cracow, Mongolia, and Yugoslavia, and it was invited to San Remo Film Competition in Italy, where Das became the youngest filmmaker ever to compete at the prestigious film fest. Thereafter several documentaries followed, notable among them are those on Indian Oil Corp., Hindustan Lever, ONGC, Bengal Emta Coal Mines, Industrial Development Corp. of Orissa Ltd., Andrew Yule etc. In 2001, he made the feature film ‘Saanjhbatir Rupkathara’ (Strokes and Silhouettes), which was picked up by Columbia Tristar for distribution, making it the first regional film to be picked by the Hollywood kingpin in history. The film was showcased at several international film festivals including Montreal World Film Festival, BFI London, Rome, Rotterdam, Edmonton, Madrid, Singapore, etc. The film was chosen as one of the 7 best films of that year at BFI London Film Festival. It proved to be a massive commercial success as well. The film’s poetic, lyrical, and unique aesthetic treatment earned Das the tag of creating Kobita Cholochitro (Poetry on Celluloid) that would reflect in all his films in future. Then came the feature film ‘Iti Srikanta’ (Yours truly, S…