This story is from October 6, 2016

`Meghe Dhaka Tara' photographer breathes his last in obscurity

<arttitle><p>`Meghe Dhaka Tara' photographer breathes his last in obscurity</p></arttitle>
KOLKATA: Filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak's photog rapher Mahend ra Kumar, who had worked with the maestro in films like `Meghe Dhaka Tara', `Ko mal Gandhar', `Subarnarekha' and the unfinished films `Bagalar Banga Darshan' and `Ronger Golam' died at his Golf Garden residence on Monday . He was 81.
Ghatak's wife Surama, who has known Kumar for nearly six decades, said he died in his sleep.Jadavpur police broke into the house to recover his body after being alerted by a tea-seller.
The boy , who regularly delivered to Kumar, was alarmed when the photographer did not respond to his knocks. His body lay in the police morgue for a day before his former students claimed it and performed the last rites.
It was in the mid-1950s that Ghatak spotted Kumar playing harmonica in a Bhowanipore neighbourhood and took an instant liking to him. “On asking where he lived, Mahendra said he did not have an address. Ritwik then brought him home,“ recounted Surama, who was then married to the filmmaker and lived in a rented house in Bhowanipore.
“Mahendra later said he had run away from home as his foster parents did not treat him well. It is a strange coincidence that he arrived in our lives when Ritwik was making `Bari Theke Paliye',“ she said.
Kumar assisted Ghatak in 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' and was his still photographer in the films `Subarnarekha' and `Komal Gandhar'. “When `Subarnarekha' was being shot, the producer mortgaged the film and left midway . It was Mahendra who did ad films to raise money for the film's completion,“ she recounted.
He was also part of two projects that were stalled when the filmmaker died in 1976. He was the still photographer in 'Bagalar Banga Darshan' and the cameraman in 'Ronger Golam'.

He later worked with Ritwik's son Ritoban to complete the films. Kumar was also the cameraman in the Ritwik documentary `Yeh Kyon'.
“Kumar loved to experiment and did several things, including animation and film restoration,“ recounted film production designer Hiran Mitra. A self-taught animater, Mahendra held workshops at Max Muller Bhawan and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI). Kumar also restored `Natir Puja', the only film where Rabindranath Tagore is credited as the director.
In his interaction with students, Kumar often described in detail how Ghatak instructed him during the shootings and made sure the images were precisely planned. Ghatak personally arranged the actors, orchestrated the actor's position, eyes and movement vis-a-vis the camera.
Surama says Kumar never stopped dreaming. “Even after his movements were restricted after a stroke a decade ago, he would dream of doing animations and taking exhibitions to Japan and Australia,“ she recalled.
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