Kolkata: Veteran Bengali filmmaker Tarun Majumdar died in Kolkata Monday after a prolonged illless. He was 91 years old. Majumdar had been suffering from kidney and heart problems for a long time, and was admitted to SSKM Hospital in the city on June 14.
According to reports, he was put on ventilator Sunday, and breathed his last Monday morning.
Majumdar had been kept in the woodburn ward of SSKM Hospital after he was admitted, but was shifted to the critical care unit when his condition deteriorated, the reports said. His condition had improved a bit in the last few days, but had to be put on ventilator on Sunday after it deteriorated again.
The doctors could not not revive him, and the veteran director died at the hospital at 11:18 am on Monday, Anandabazaar Patrika reported.
According to an ABP Ananda report, a medical board was constituted in the morning to monitor and decide the line of treatment for Majumdar. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed grief over his death, the report said.
Tarun Majumdar made his debut as an independent film director in 1965, with Alor Pipasha. Previously, he was part of Yatrik, a group of filmmakers also including Dilip Mukhopadhyay and Sachin Mukherjee. The group separated in 1963. Under Yatrik, his first film was Chaowa Pawa (1959), which he jontly directed with Dilip Mukhopadhyay and Sachin Mukherjee.
Among Tarun Majumdar’s best works are Balika Badhu (1976), Kuheli (1971), Shriman Prithviraj (1972), Dadar Kirti (1980), Palatak (1963) and Ganadevata (1978). He has worked with several legendary actors such as Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, and Soumitra Chatterjee, among others.
He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1990.
Majumdar’s film Ganadevata won him the National Award for Best Feature Film with Mass Appeal, Wholesome Entertainment and Aesthetic Value in 1978. In 1984, he went on to win another National Award, this time in the category of Best Scientific Film (including Environment and Ecology) for Aranya Aamar.
Majumdar also won the Filmfare for Balika Bandhu in 1967, Nimantran in 1972, Sansar Simante in 1976 and Ganadevata in 1980. He got the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.
Majumdar is survived by his wife Sandhya Roy, an actor who worked in 20 of his films. Several notable actors, including Moushumi Chatterjee, Tapas Paul, Mahua Roychoudhury and Ayan Banerjee, among others, made their silver screen debut with Tarun Majumdar films.