A tete-a-tete with Soumya Shankar Ghosal

An ardent lover of Kolkata like this blogger, Soumya Shankar Ghosal, a management consultant by profession and a photographer by passion, recently made our city proud when he secured the third position in ‘The 20 Most Influential Street Photographers for 2017’ list from across the world derived from a poll on the street photography website www.streethunters.net. His group Streets of Calcutta is perhaps one of the world’s largest street photography archives dedicated to one city. It was nice to engage with him in a conversation which is as follows. The photos in between are handpicked by the ace lensman from his vast body of work.

1. What does this achievement mean to you? How important is this listing?

Achievement is recognition of your efforts. However, saying so, I must reiterate the fact that achievement is not the ultimate goal. Photography is solely pursued for oneself. The next stage is sharing the joy with others. The third stage is the part of recognition. I am a self-taught photographer and didn’t have the privilege of having a master. Hence, recognition in terms of apperception is an acid test that the photograph has passed exam of sharing the joy with the viewer.

The recent listing is sincerely prestigious one. More so because the list features some of the most gifted photographers I look up to and sharing a little space with them is wonderful. I thank each and every one who felt I should be a part of the top 20 out of the 124 photographers nominated from across the world.

2. Going back to where it began. What got you hooked to street photography and when?

I photographed everything that caught my attention but slowly realized that I had developed an inclination towards Street Photography from around 2008. The street is full of surprises. Exploring the same lane at different times will offer different subjects and perspectives. Exploring streets and knowing the unknown Calcutta is always a fun learning experience.

Oh Calcutta! This is what strikes me each time I explore the city. Although, I was born and have lived in this wonderful metropolis for 36 years, I rediscover the city each time I go out on photowalks. I am never bored walking the same alleys over and over again. Calcutta is a city of diversity. Documenting the diversity helps me learn about the city better.

 

3. Tell us about Streets of Calcutta. How has the experience been so far?

Streets of Calcutta was born out of a passion to create a shared learning platform for a city-based street photography archive. The objective was to enthuse newcomers who love street photography. What started with a single individual has spread to over 20,000 across social media platforms. We don’t consider SOC as a group. Technically, you don’t need to either join or leave. As long as you love photographing Kolkata, we consider you a part of it.

The forum is quit active in terms of the number of posts on the group as well as Instagram. Apart from the offline interactions have done an online review session which had received more than 225 photos in just 1 hour.

The journey has been pretty exciting! Whatever Streets of Calcutta has achieved is because everyone took an ownership of the subject. Friends Indrajit Lahiri, Nilanjan Pathak and Ayanava Sil deserve a special mention. A special ‘Thank you’ to the brilliant photographers who have encouraged us – Mr. Debarshi Duttagupta, Ms. Lopamudra Talukdar, Mr. Bikas Das and Mr. Asis Sanyal.

4. What do you consider a significant achievement of Streets of Calcutta?

The most significant achievement is Streets of Calcutta has been able to bind together like-minded individuals to educate others about street photography. This genre is not documented much. So when the newcomers, the experienced, the good, the better and the best come together, a vast repository of knowledge is created. We believe in the power of shared learning. I am proud to say, Streets of Calcutta has been able to show street photography in a different light in its 2 years of existence.

5. You do photowalks in the city under Streets of Calcutta. What has been your most memorable photowalk experience?

Every walk is memorable. And yet, there is one walk I particularly remember since it was not about numbers but that of sheer passion for photography of my fellow enthusiasts. That was February 2015 and the walk coincided with an India-Pakistan match. And yet 41 participants turned up.

SOC conducted one of its largest photowalks in August 2015 in association with Amazon India at Shovabazar to celebrate World Photography Day. The participation was recorded at 176. Planning was vital and had to be meticulously executed to manage the big turnout efficiently. Team leads were appointed and briefed in advance and group sizes were kept at a suitable number based in the experience of the team leads. The whole program was managed efficiently with the constant support of the leads and the participants.

6. What are the plans of Streets of Calcutta this year?

We have planned a lot for everyone at SOC in 2017. The execution of the same is being worked upon. Mostly this is related to increasing the offline interactive sessions. Last year we had showcased the work of more than 60 individuals at our exhibition ‘Soul of Kolkata’ in association with ITC Sonar and Nikon. This year too we plan to go ahead with its version 2.0 but with a twist.

To check the Street Hunters list ‘‘The 20 Most Influential Street Photographers for 2017’, click here. 

If you wish to visit Streets of Calcutta, click here

Instagram handle of Streets of Calcutta: streetsofcalcutta

To know Soumya Shankar Ghosal better, visit his website here. 

#interview #streetphotography #StreetsOfCalcutta

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The big bang release of ‘Praktan’

As an impassioned supporter of Bangla cinema, it gives me a high to note the great job the makers of the keenly-awaited 27^th May release Praktan has done in distribution. Besides an uncharacteristically wide release in Bengal (last heard 101 theatres, by distributor Piyali Films managed by Arijit Dutta of Priya Entertainments), the film is having an unprecedented big release all over India. Most importantly, and as another first, this will be a day-date release which means the film will see a release all over India on the same date as Bengal.

In the 25 cities that the film will be released in, most do not generally see a Bengali release though they are known to have a sizeable Bengali population (like Lucknow, Kanpur, Chennai, Allahabad, Bhubaneshwar, Patna and Dhanbad). Bangla movies have a release (if at all) deferred by a few weeks mostly in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.

On top of it and as yet another first, Praktan is going to have a day-date international release in 8 cities in US and 1 city in Canada. The theatres are:

California- AMC Mercado 20, Cine Grant Fremont

New York- Bombay Theatre

Dallas- Fun Asia Richardson

New Jersey- Regal Commerce Center

Los Angeles- Brea Plaza 5 Cinemas

Seattle- Roxy Cinema

Toronto- Albion Cinemas, Woodside Cinemas

Bangla movies don’t see an international release for quite some time. In the past, a US-based organization called Databazar used to release Bangla movies in the US on a small scale but the efforts were not sustained for long.

All this is possible thanks to Eros being the distribution partner. This big and eminent production & distribution house of Hindi cinema and of late, regional cinema, has the necessary clout in distributing Indian movies in the country and international markets. Eros decided to back the Praktan director duo Nandita Roy & Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay’s films after they distributed their last release nationally observing its success in Bengal (Belasheshe, a blockbuster of 2015). 

If Praktan is a success, a large national and international market will open before Bangla cinema from which it can immensely benefit.  The struggling industry is probably pinning its hopes on the film.

#Praktan #PraktanRelease #ErosRelease #USrelease #CanadaRelease

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‘Elixir’ makes it to the Cannes big league

A lady was waiting at a restaurant in Kolkata for her husband’s friend to deliver a parcel. The waiter served her a glass of water. And it changed her life, as it was not water, but ‘Elixir’.

Srija was living an unhappy life because of a failed marriage. Her husband was a corporate slave and had little time for his family. The Elixir gives a U-turn to her living by transporting her to a dream life where she meets a man and they fall in love. Akash, her lover, is in his early thirties, very sensitive and caring and has all the qualities of a quintessential Bengali lover. She starts living two parallel lives but yearns for this imaginary life and prefers it to the reality. It affects her psychological well-being and she eventually ends up in a hospital. There, she is offered a final choice- another drink of Elixir.

This is the synopsis of a short film named Elixir made by debutant Anirban Guha, born and brought up in Kolkata, and working as a banker in Delhi. What makes this film different is that it has been selected among forty films from India for screening at the ongoing Cannes Short Film Corner (11th to 22nd May 2016).

 The official poster for Cannes Short Film Corner

Another interesting bit about the film is that those who have acted in it are all non-actors, except the female lead Daminee Benny Basu. Mahul Brahma, a Kolkata-based senior editor-turned-corporate communicator, plays Akash, her dream lover. Anirban, however, had the support of an experienced cinematographer and editor in Ravi Kiran Ayyagari and Sreya Chatterjee respectively, both alumni of FTII. Sreya won a national award for her work in 2008.

As I asked Anirban how he had zeroed in on the story, he revealed that the story (written by his wife Sinjini Sengupta) actually inspired the film. He was very excited with the story, so decided to base the film on it.

About casting Mahul, Anirban said that he was his first choice for Akash because he was sure that Mahul would be able to deliver. He was glad that Mahul agreed to do the role and did justice to it. Mahul, on the other hand, is happy about his new experience. He said, “When Anirban told me about the role I thought he must be joking. He was absolutely sure that I will fit the role of Akash, the dream lover, best. Every day of the shoot was a challenge for me. But thanks to the excellent team effort, the hard work paid off.  Watching our movie screened at Cannes Film Festival will be an amazing experience.”

Mahul Brahma in a still from the film

The making of the film was quite a challenge. Anirban being extremely busy with his job, shot the film in just four days in Kolkata in December 2015 when he finally managed to take leave. The post-production was the biggest challenge as his crew was spread across three cities. Hence, much of the iterative and intense work had to be carried out over conversations over phone and internet chat. It also needed with some quick trips to Kolkata over weekends to brush up and even out loose ends.


#Cannes #Elixir #ShortFilmKolkata


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Dada’r Shongey Dil Sey Deejiye- the fundraiser for Tata Medical Center

It started operations five years back in New Town, Kolkata with the aim to bring the best cancer care available in India to Kolkata that could benefit thousands of cancer patients in eastern India. Till then the destination cancer care hospital for this part of the country used to be Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai.

It is a great relief to know that, Tata Medical Center has not only fulfilled the aim but has also become a reliable address for cancer patients and their families to head for. It has a human face as it is run on a not-for-profit basis. With the wait time for patients in getting therapy becoming longer even as the radiotherapy department is working round the clock, the hospital is in crucial need for expansion.

A bit on the background of this blessing for those in need:

It was conceptualized as a philanthropic initiative in 2004 for the eastern and north eastern India and the neighbouring countries. It had been noted that maximum cancer patients in India are from the eastern part. The trust which the hospital would be governed by, called Tata Medical Centre Trust, was established in 2005. Set up at a cost of Rs 350 crores, the hospital is an integrated cancer treatment facility with state-of-the-art equipment from the best of manufacturers worldwide and 167 beds, half of which is earmarked for free or subsidized treatment to underprivileged patients. The no. of beds was subsequently taken to 183. It provides a holistic range of services from diagnosis and therapy to rehabilitation and palliative support. To date, it has treated 58000 patients out of which 53000 were from eastern India.

A detailed expansion plan is already in place and it will add 252 inpatient beds to the hospital (much more than the current strength), 3 radiotherapy linear accelerators, a dedicated paediatric oncology unit including day care and ICU and cafeteria for patients and visitors. In fact, construction has started in November 2014 and it is expected to be ready by mid to late 2017. Needless to say, it calls for massive finance and contribution can come from sensible individuals and businesses who relate to the cause and the pride of Kolkata that that the hospital will become. Once operational, it will add immensely to affordable and quality cancer care in the private space in the east.

Tata Medical Center announced in a press conference last week about its fundraising initiative Dada’r Shongey Dil Sey Deejiye for the planned expansion. No prize for guessing ‘Dada’- it’s Sourav Ganguly who has come on board to show his support for the hospital’s expansion.

The fundraiser, to be held in the evening of 8^th April, was themed around cricket. Usha Uthup was to perform, apart from popular stand-up comedian Angad Ranyal. There would also be a fashion show with designer Krishna Mehta’s special collection for the occasion where stars like Jisshu Sengupta would walk the ramp. Actors Dev and Raima Sen were also to be present to support the cause. Auction of cricket memorabilia would be held. The tickets were auctioned through WhatsApp and Facebook, and the top 10 bidders would be presented with a limited edition canvas personally autographed by Sourav Ganguly.

Apart from Sourav, those present in the press conference were Geeta Gopalakrishnan, Honorary Director – Donor Relationship, Tata Medical Center; Dr Mammen Chandy, Director, Tata Medical Center; Suresh Gopinathan Menon, Vice President, Tata Consultancy Services; Ambar Singh Roy, Head- Corporate Communication, Tata Steel, West Bengal and Suvankar Sen, Executive Director, Senco Gold & Diamonds.

(Left to right) Ambar Singh Roy, Suvankar Sen, Dr Mammen Chandy, Geeta Gopalakrishnan and Sourav Ganguly

(Left to right) Geeta, Sourav and Suresh Gopinathan Menon

Dr Chandy briefly told how the radiotherapy unit is being run for almost 24 hours and still patients have to wait and how the expansion would be adding to the hospital.

Suresh Gopinathan Menon said about the patient management software that TCS had made for Tata Medical Center when it started operation and that it aims to make the operations light on paper, if not completely paperless.

Ambar Singh Roy said that Tata Steel is committed to supporting Tata Medical Center in as many ways as possible. It has been leveraging various platforms (like Tata Steel 25K marathon) to generate support for the hospital.

Subhankar Sen talked about the unique donation initiative implemented at Senco Gold jewellery stores. In each store there will be boxes marked as Dil Sey Deejiye 10 Rupayee and Dil Sey Deejiye 100 Rupayee. The customers would be requested to pitch in with their bit by donating money starting with a meagre amount as Rs 10 (Sen reminded that the drops make an ocean). He said that people buy jewellery for happy occasions and they won’t mind donating for such a noble cause which will make their happiness bigger.

Sourav said he visited the hospital for Make a Wish foundation and Dr Chandy took him on a tour of the hospital. From that day, he became mentally attached to the hospital.

#TMCKolkata #Philanthropy #Fundraiser

  

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The first Instagram exhibition in India

Yes, you saw that right. Instagram held its first exhibition in India in this city earlier this month. It featured the work of 20 Instagrammers.

As it was, photography professional Soumya Shankar Ghosal from the city got a surprise call from Facebook (which owns Instagram) in December ’15 and he was told that they were intending to hold their first Instagram exhibition of India in Kolkata, coinciding with Global Business Summit in January ’15 (for the best exposure). His role would be curating a part of the exhibition as part of the curator team and the theme would be ‘Diversity of Bengal’. One of the photographs which had already been selected by the team was his click of Nakhoda Masjid during Ramadan.

So Soumya and his team in his photography initiative Streets of Calcutta (Said to be the world’s largest street photography archive) and another popular Facebook group Calcutta Instagrammers collaborated and got down to business poring over hundreds of photographs on Instagram and zeroed in on seventeen. Instagram kept the work of three commissioned shoots- Bandna Festival of Purulia district, Durga Puja at Sonagachhi (A red light area in Kolkata) and the Christian community in Kolkata.

The exhibition was held at ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani on 7^th to 9^th January not with great fanfare but it did make a mark with the visitors. Soumya and his friends, yours truly included, did their bit in spreading the word on social media.

A team from Facebook inaugurated the exhibition the traditional way- lighting a diya (traditional Indian lamp). Ritesh Mehta, Head- Economic Growth Initiatives, Ankhi Das, Public Policy Director of Facebook and Katie Harbath were present along with the participants. The exhibition was inaugurated by Derek O’Brien, Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha from West Bengal and an eminent quizmaster from the city. The photographs truly reflect diverse aspects of Bengal and Kolkata. Here’s a look at it.

Katie Harbath lighting the diya on inauguration as Derek O'Brien (extreme left) and Ankhi Das (second from left) look on

Chhau dance, Purulia

  

Moi-Charan (Bull race) Festival at Herobhanga village near Canning

 Cham, a Tibetan mask dance performed by monks in Kalimpong, north Bengal

 Soumya Shankar Ghosal with his Nakhoda Masjid click

Derek in awe of Arpita Pramanick's (right) shot of Mullick Ghat, Howrah with the famous Howrah Bridge

 in the background

A silent prayer saying thanks before the meal in a Christian home in the city

The fervour of Holi celebration in Burrabazar, Kolkata

 The popular 'Dhunuchi dance' in Durga Puja in Sonagachhi  

 Cattle are decorated with stamps and worshipped in the Bandna Festival in Purulia district

An artist making Pata Chitro, the famous folk art of Bengal. A large part of his body was burnt in a fire at

his home that claimed his family members. Shot by Sammya Brata Mullick.

Ritesh Mehta sharing a light moment with Soumya

I was very happy to see blogger and photographer friend Indrajit Lahiri’s photo of Chitpur, which I made the cover of this blog during Ramadan last year (Find it in the Cover Photo Archive section of this blog).

 To know further details, take a look at Soumya's blog post here. It busts a myth about Instagram photos.

#InstagramExhibition #PhotographyKolkata #PhotographyExhibitionKolkata

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A long-awaited debut

As Bauddhayan Mukherji’s keenly expected debut film Teenkahon released on 11^th September 2015, I had a sense of déjà vu as an audience member.

It is because of the similarities between the film with another debut that took place about nine years back. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s Anuranan made a mark and gave birth to a filmmaker in the talent-starved Bangla film industry.

Let’s look at the common chord of the two films-

1. Both the filmmakers, Bauddhayan and Aniruddha are successful ad filmmakers working for national brands in Mumbai and had a long cherished wish of debuting in filmmaking with a Bengali film. Their experience of making ad films has resulted in good production value of their films without an indulgent budget at disposal.
2. Both have diligently saved money to produce their own film (as it was least likely to find the right producer who would support a debutant’s vision and let him make the film his way). Bauddhayan has even gone to the extent of saying that filmmaking was the end and ad filmmaking was the means to it.
3. Indrani Mukherjee, the wife of Aniruddha was one of the producers, while Monalisa Mukhopadhyay, the better half of Bauddhayan took charge of production of Teenkahon and broke a few of her fixed deposits in the process.    
4. Both the films star Rituparna Sengupta.
5. Both the films are relationship tale.
6. Both the directors have written their films with a co-writer. Abhinandan Banerjee collaborated with Buddhayan on screenplay and dialogue and Aniruddha’s co-wrote his film with Gaurav Shukno Lanka Pandey.
7. The films are backed by big houses from Hindi film industry. While Anuranan was presented by Shemaroo, Viacom 18 is distributing Teenkahon.
8. Now the least of the similarities- While Teenkahon has won accolades in film festivals all over the world, unlike Anuranan, both the directors won the Aravindan Puraskaram from Thiruvananthapuram before release.

Looking forward to how Teenkahon is received by the audience.

#Teenkahon #BauddhayanMukherji #BanglaCinema

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A proud Bengali moment at National Awards 2014

Well, when I saw the above on Srijit Mukherji's Facebook page it suddenly struck that it was a great and rare Bengali moment! It hasn't ever happened that a Bengali president was doing the honours for national award for Best Director and Best Screenplay to a Bengali director-screenwriter for a Banglai film. The same recipient for the said awards is also rare, at least in Bangla cinema.

Here's wishing a proper recovery to the accomplished director from his fatal leg injury in New Delhi. 

Photographs are by Photo Division. Government of India.

KC gets the first award!

Well, Liebster Blog Award is actually a token of appreciation presented by fellow bloggers in global blogosphere. My heartfelt gratitude to fellow blogger Panu who thought Kolkata Curry was worth making it to the list of 5 blogs she ‘adores’ and giving the award to.

I am a follower of Panu’s blog Presented by P and love reading her smartly written gastronomic experiences in the city.

Here’s my pick for the Liebster Blog Award:

Chakhori Corner by Sreeparna, Jahnavi, Sohini - a Kolkata food blog that reviews eateries of all kind.
Sakagaze by Anindo Sen – a superbly written personal blog. Great writing on cinema.
Presented by P by Panu
Calcutta Chromosome by Diptakirti Chaudhuri – a personal blog by a non-resident Kolkatan-at-heart.
Bong Pen by Tanmay Mukherjee – a humourous blog in Bengali.

Guys, do claim your award and share it on your blogs. Thanks a ton to each of you for delighting and informing me as a reader. Your blogs have the special quality of making me read them frequently off my limited personal online time. Do keep up the good writing and delight your readers.

Here’s what you have to do to claim the award: Copy and paste the blog award (image) on your blog. Also Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.

You also can
 Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
 Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog to check out your award-giving blog post.

Any other blogger who is reading this can do the above too to show the appreciation to the blogs he / she like the most.

A milestone

Am absolutely loving to share with you, the KC readers, that KC has just crossed 60,000 page views. Considering the count is since its birth in May 2006, that's close to 1000 page views a month! And that's pretty good by the standards of an Indian blog.

Thank you readers from the core of my heart, for visiting. Special thanks go to the followers of this blog. Hope it makes their following KC more worthwhile.

Keep visiting and keep contributing through comments, suggestions, info on and pictures of this lovely city. Hope to have a long journey together.