NFAI acquires huge personal collection of Ritwik Ghatak associate Mahendra Kumar

A huge collection of films and other material from the personal collection of Shri Mahendra Kumar, a close associate of legendary Indian Film Director Ritwik Ghatak, has been acquired by National Film Archive of India (NFAI).

Shri Mahendra Kumar, a celebrated still photographer, worked as an assistant cameraman with Ritwik Ghatak for many years. The personal collection consists of celluloid film reels, photographs, 35 mm colour positive slides, black and white negative film strips, posters, scripts, cameras, lenses, film rolls, CDs, DVDs, books, journals, research articles, write-ups, letters, diary, notebooks and miscellaneous items. The material that was housed in Kolkata-based Centre for Studies in Social Sciences is now being transferred to NFAI for better preservation.

“We are delighted and truly honoured to receive this substantial collection of an artist who was closely associated with one of the great stalwarts of Indian Cinema Shri Ritwik Ghatak. I am thankful to Ms. Rosinka Chaudhury, Director CSSSC and Shri Abhijit Bhattacharya, Documentation Officer CSSSC for agreeing to NFAI’s request for prompt transfer of the material to NFAI where it can be stored in a controlled thermal condition. I am thankful also to Shri Mahendra Kumar’s brother Shri Narinder Sabharwal and to the US-based film scholar Shri Anil Srivastava who initiated the dialogue in this process”, said Prakash Magdum, Director, NFAI.

“Since the material is voluminous, the first task is to catalogue and check the content and condition, particularly of film reels. NFAI will plan to digitise the material and upon completion of the process will share a copy of these materials with the CSSSC, for its collection to help researchers and students in their work”, added Shri Prakash Magdum.

“With the help of his friends and brother in 2017, the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) acquired a collection of the papers, photographs and films of the late Mahendra Kumar, the renowned photographer, cinematographer and film editor (who collaborated most productively with the legend Ritwik Ghatak). Since the CSSSC’s well-known visual archives do not have a provision for film material, we are happy to be able to transfer the collection to the care of the NFAI for restoration, preservation and digitisation. We hope this endeavour will preserve and propagate the work of Mahendra Kumar for future generations”, said Ms. Rosinka Chaudhuri, Director, CSSSC.

A preliminary study of the material suggests that there are more than 1,600 photographs, 2,300 colour positive slide films, 350 stripes of negative films (each stripe contains six rows of negative film folder) as well as about 30 cans of film reels. The oldest photograph dates back to the 1930s. There are some rare photographs of renowned dancer Uday Shankar and his dance troupe. Incidently, Mahendra Kumar was closely associated with Uday Shankar’s creation ‘Shankar-Scope’, he being the main photographer. There are some rare posters of films like Nagarik, Subarnarekha and Titas Ekti Nadir Naam of Ritwik Ghatak in the collection.  

“We appeal to film collectors as well as instituions that are having such archival film-related material to deposit it with NFAI so that it can be preserved for future generations and made accessible to film researchers”, said Prakash Magdum, Director NFAI.  

NFAI had acquired three unfinished films of Ritwik Ghatak - ‘Kato Ajanare (1959), ‘Bangar Banga Darshan (1964) and ‘Ranger Ghulam (1968) three years back from Government of West Bengal archives.

NFAI has also restored six films of Ritwik Ghatak, namely Ajantrik (1958), Bari Thekey Paliye (1959), Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Komal Gandhar (1961), Subarnarekha (1962), Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (1974).