Amitabh Bachchan Urges To Preserve And Restore Cinema Of West Bengal

During the inaugural speech, Amitabh Bachchan discussed the matter of restoring and preserving Bengali films on a war footing, marking 100 years of Tollywood. Being the brand ambassador of Film Heritage Foundation, Bachchan also lauded the West Bengal government on its initiative to preserve its old films by tying up with Film Heritage Foundation, training 60 resource personnel.

The Thug of Hindostan actor feared that there would very few Bengali films left to celebrate unless they took urgent steps, “We must save a hundred Bengali films. This works should be taken up on a war footing movement”, said Bachchan at the Netaji Indoor stadium. Furthermore, he called for equal contributions from the industry and the public to undertake this monumental task.

In his statement, the veteran actor perceives Bengali films as a significant cultural ethos. Also, he praised the state for producing the greatest film directors, who have received accolades in various international film festivals for their great works.

Moreover, the Bollywood legend also felt the need to mention “those who work behind the scenes.” Amitabh Bachchan referred to them as “accomplished technicians and creative minds that are never truly given their due” when celebrating the 100 years of West Bengal’s Cinema.

To reinforce his point of view, the actor mentioned Bimal Roy, a celebrated director who at the beginning of his career was just a camera assistant. Additionally, another well-known film producer, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, entered the industry as a cameraman and a film editor. Similarly, who would have known the famous actor Guru Dutt worked for the Lever Brothers factory in (erstwhile) Calcutta as a telephone operator.

Same cases happened to contemporary filmmakers. According to Bachchan, Rajkumar Hirani started as a film editor, Sanjay Leela Bhansali was an assistant of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and Farah Khan was a choreography long before making his debut in the role of a director. In fact, a lot of legends in the film industry began their career from a low position, Amitabh Bachchan confided.

Amitabh Bachchan also eulogized the craftsmanship and unique content in Satyajit Ray’s film, as well as the cinematography contribution of Subrata Mitra. The Bollywood legend reckoned a film unit does not only consist of actors and actresses, director and producer.