Indian film director Buddhadeb Dasgupta has died.
The National Award-winning filmmaker died around 6 am on Thursday at his home in south Kolkata, according to Sangbad Protidin and Andandabazar. He was 77.
He had been suffering from kidney issues for several years and had been on dialysis for some time. He was also facing health complications due to old age, reports bdnews24.com.
Dasgupta was a leading light of the parallel cinema movement in Bengal throughout the 1980s and 1990s alongside others such as Goutam Ghose and Aparna Sen.
He won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film five times, for ‘Bagh Bahadur’ (1989), ‘Charachar’ (1993), ‘Lal Darja’ (1997), ‘Mondo Meyer Upakhyan’ (2002) and ‘Kaalpurush’ (2008). He also won the Best Director Award for ‘Uttara’ (2000) and ‘Swapner Din’ (2005).
Dasgupta was also a respected poet. Among his more notable works are ‘Suitcase’, ‘Himjog’, ‘Govir Araley’, ‘Coffin Kimba’, ‘Chhaata Kahini’, ‘Roboter Gaan’, ‘Sreshtha Kabita’, and ‘Bhomboler Ascharya Kahini O Ananya Kabita’.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences over his passing.
“Saddened at the passing away of eminent filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta,” she wrote on Twitter. “Through his works, he infused lyricism into the language of cinema. His death comes as a great loss for the film fraternity. Condolences to his family, colleagues and admirers.”