Veteran Bengali filmmaker Tarun Mazumdar passed away in Kolkata on Monday. He was 91.
Tarun Mazumdar, known for his sensitive and accessible films about middle-class life, passed away at the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, reports state. He was admitted there since June 17 due to a chest infection, as well as kidney and heart ailments. The cause of his death is said to be a cardiac arrest.
Born in pre-Independence Bengal, Tarun Mazumdar made his directorial debut with the 1959 romantic comedy Chaowa Pawa, starring superstars Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. The film was co-directed by Sachin Mukherjee, Dilip Mukherjee and Tarun Majumdar. The trio was popularly known by their screen name Yatrik.
Since the 60s onwards, Tarun Mazumdar made popular and impactful films like Balika Badhu (1967), Kuheli (1971), Shriman Prithviraj (1973), Ganadevata (1978), Dadar Kirti (1980), Bhalobasha Bhalobasha (1985) and others. He won the National Film Award five times, and was bestowed the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 1990.
Tarun Majumdar was known for his associations with legendary actors like Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Rabi Ghosh, Anup Kumar, Sandhya Roy, and, later, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Debashree Roy and Tapas Paul. He was married to Sandhya Roy from the 60s to the 90s, and directed her in twenty films.