Tapan Sinha named for Dadasaheb Phalke award

New Delhi, Jul 21 (UNI) Eminent film director Tapan Sinha has been selected for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2006 for his contribution to the Indian cinema.

The award given by the Central government carries a cash price of Rs ten lakhs, a Swaran Kamal and a shawl.

A committee consisting of eminent film personalities like Shyam Benegal, Gautam Ghosh, Dr A Nageshwar Rao, Sharmila Tagore and renowned flute player Hari Prasad Chaurasia had recommended Sinha's name for the award.

Sinha has won 19 National Film Awards in various categories apart from laurels accumulated during international film festivals like those in Berlin, Venice, London, Moscow, San Francisco and Locarno.

He began his film career as a sound engineer in Kolkata's New Theatre in 1946. In 1950, he got the opportunity to work in Pinewood Studios in the UK where he spent two years.

On returning to India, he turned his attention to film direction, making films in Bengali, Hindi and also Oriya. He made three films based on Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore's works: Kabuliwala, Khudito Pashan and Atithi.

Sinha's cinematic landscape traverses a journey that began with Ankush (1954) followed by Upahar (1955), Tonsil (1956), Louhakapat (1957), Kalomati (1957), Hansuli Banker Upakatha (1962), Sagina Mahato (1970), Banchharamer Bagan (1980), Adalat O Ekti Meye (1982), Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991) and Shatabdir Kanya (2001).

His cinematic works are amazing down-to-earth depiction of the struggles of common man. His reputation as an uncompromising filmmaker, a celluloid iconoclast, puts him in a class of his own, a government statement said.

The Government had recently conferred on him the 'One Time Award for life-time achievement' to commemorate the 60th anniversary of India's Independence.

UNI MMG GT RN2004