Tapan Sinha

Personal Info

Known For Director

Gender Male

Tapan Sinha

Biography

Tapan Sinha (2 October 1924 – 15 January 2009) was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time who made more than 40 feature films in Bengali, Hindi and Oriya in a career spanning nearly half a century. A contemporary of West Bengal's cinema icons - Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen - Sinha was an equally powerful storyteller who, like his favourite novelist, Charles Dickens, won a large and appreciative audience by dealing with the problems that confront ordinary people. Born in Kolkata, Sinha was the fifth child of Tridibesh and Pramila Sinha. He attended schools in Bhagalpur and Bankura. As a student at Patna University, Bihar, Sinha responded sympathetically to Mahatma Gandhi's Quit Indiamovement, launched against the British in 1942. However, when he moved to Kolkata University, where he was studying for an MSc in physics, he fell under the spell of British and American film-makers, particularly John Ford, Billy Wilder, Frank Capra and Carol Reed. He later claimed that it was Jack Conway's 1935 version of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities that motivated him to become a film-maker. After gaining his master's in 1946, Sinha joined the New Theatres studios, Kolkata, as a trainee sound engineer. Two years later, he moved to the Kolkata Movietone studio and, in 1950, he received an invitation to the London film festival and an opportunity to work at Pinewood studios, near London, where he took a job in the director Charles Crichton's unit as a sound engineer. While in London, he was exposed to the works of Italian directors Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini. On returning to India, Sinha made his first film, Ankush (The Goad, 1954), which featured an elephant belonging to a zamindar (tax collector) as the central character. His final film was released in 2001. Sinha, whom many critics regarded as India's David Lean, was honoured at international festivals in Berlin, Venice, London, Moscow and San Francisco and had received the Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest cinema honour from the Indian government in 2008.

Known For

Director

2000
The Magic Pearl

as Director

1994
Wheel Chair

as Director

1991
Disappearance

as Director

1990
Death of a Doctor

as Director

1989
Didi

as Director

1988
Today's Robin Hood

as Director

1986
Terror

as Director

1985
Baidurya Rahasya

as Director

1984
Man and Woman

as Director

1982
The Law and a Lady

as Director

1980
1979
Sabuj Dwiper Raja

as Director

1977
The White Elephant

as Director

1977
Ek Je Chhilo Desh

as Director

1976
Harmonium

as Director

1974
Sagina

as Director

1973
1972
Zindagi Zindagi

as Director

1971
Sagina Mahato

as Director

1971
Ekhonee

as Director

1968
Apanjan

as Director

1967
The Market Place

as Director

1966
Galpo Holeo Satti

as Director

1965
Atithi

as Director

1964
A Burnt House

as Director

1964
Arohi

as Director

1963
The Desolate Beach

as Director

1962
1962
Aamar Desh

as Director

1961
1960
Hungry Stones

as Director

1959
Khaniker Atithi

as Director

1958
Iron Door

as Director

1958
Kalamati

as Director

1957
Kabuliwala

as Director

1956
Tonsil

as Director

1955
Upahar

as Director

1954
Ankush

as Director

Writer

2009
Teen Murti

as Screenplay

2009
Teen Murti

as Story

2009
Teen Murti

as Screenstory

1990
Death of a Doctor

as Screenplay

1988
1986
Terror

as Screenplay

1986
Terror

as Dialogue

1986
Terror

as Writer

1985
Baidurya Rahasya

as Lyricist

1985
Baidurya Rahasya

as Screenplay

1980
1979
Sabuj Dwiper Raja

as Screenplay

1977
Ek Je Chhilo Desh

as Lyricist

1977
Ek Je Chhilo Desh

as Screenplay

1976
Harmonium

as Screenplay

1976
Harmonium

as Lyricist

1974
Sagina

as Screenplay

1972
Bawarchi

as Writer

1971
Ekhonee

as Screenplay

1971
Ekhonee

as Lyricist

1967
The Market Place

as Screenplay

1966
1966
1965
Atithi

as Screenplay

1964
A Burnt House

as Screenplay

1964
Arohi

as Screenplay

1963
The Desolate Beach

as Screenplay

1963
The Desolate Beach

as Adaptation

1962
1962
Aamar Desh

as Story

1960
Hungry Stones

as Screenplay

1956
Tonsil

as Screenplay

1954
Ankush

as Screenplay

Sound

2009
Teen Murti

as Music

1988
1986
Terror

as Music

1985
1979
1977
1976
Harmonium

as Music

1971
Ekhonee

as Music

1968
Apanjan

as Music

1967
1966
1965
Atithi

as Music

1951
Datta

as Sound Designer

1951
Barjatri

as Sound

1949
Paribartan

as Sound

Producer

1988
Today's Robin Hood

as Producer

Actor

1994
Filmmaker for freedom

as Archival footage