Distinguished Visitors at the Institute

Often you can find distinguished persons from various fields of Art visiting the Institute to give lectures and to interact with the students to share their views and experiences. Notable among them is Mrinal Da ( Bengali Film Director Mrinal Sen ) who is a regular visitor who can be often found under the Wisdom Tree or in the canteen seriously discussing with the students. In those days they were given accommodation in the Guest rooms above the offices. Many a times the students used to barge into their rooms to meet them at unscheduled hours and they smilingly accepted our intrusion.

Often such meetings grew into future collaborations in film projects too. In my case I met the great Malayalam Novelist and Scriptwriter M.T. Vasudevan Nair for the first time, when he came there as Guest lecturer. Later when he made his debut as director with the President’s Gold medal winning Malayalam film “NIRMALYAM”, he wanted me as his Cinematographer, even though I was just a novice. He could have just got any of the top ranking cinematographer from the film industry for his maiden Directorial venture. But he preferred me! He still treats me like a younger brother and I had been the cinematographer for several films directed and scripted by him. Similarly I met the award winning Malayalam Director P.N.Menon also for the first time, when he came there with his film ”KUTTIYEDATHI”. After passing out from the Institute I did two films with him.

I fondly remember the meeting the Maestro Satyajit Ray at his room along with K.K.Jaiswal and other friends. He gave us a patient hearing and shared with us his experiences in making films. Here is a record of that meeting.

My self at the feet of the Master

On another occasion I along with my senior M.Azad ( Screen play writing - 1970) and other friends met the well known Bengali actor of many Satyajit Ray films, Soumitra Chatterjee in his room. Here is a photo taken at that time – I being the person behind the camera and hence not seen in the picture.

Azad( in white shirt), Dula Chandra Roy (Editing -1970) with Soumitra Chatterjee