The Hindu : National : Rally for preserving studio

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 05, 2006

National

National

Rally for preserving studio

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA : Well-known names in Bengali cinema, including actors and technicians, demonstrated here on Monday demanding an assurance from the West Bengal Government that the 71-year-old Technicians' Studio - the hub of the local film industry - is retained as a studio and not used for other purposes after privatisation. The State Government took over the studio in 1979, making it the first State-owned cinematographic studio in West Bengal.

Speakers, their political allegiances notwithstanding, feared that the winding up of the studio once it is sold could spell the doom of Bengali cinema.

Prominent among those who attended a rally organised by the Co-ordination Committee of Artistes and Technicians, Film and Television Industry of West Bengal, were film and theatre personality Soumitra Chatterjee, matinee idol Prasenjit Chatterjee and veteran actor Ranjit Mullick. Soumitra Chatterjee said the agitation would continue till the State Government assured them that in the event of the studio being privatised, it would not be used for other purposes by the new owner. Mr. Mullick demanded that the studio be retained as a heritage site.

The studio had been used by Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwick Ghatak. Satyajit Ray used it for his classic Pather Pachali in the early 1950s. Earlier known as Kali Studio, it was renamed Technicians' Studio when it was taken over by a co-operative of film technicians and directors in1952.

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