Tapan Sinha, one of the most accomplished film makers of India and winner of 19 National Film Awards has been selected for the Dada Sahed Phalke Award for the year 2006.
Known for making films that are very true to real life and which portrays the genuine problems and harsh difficulties of the common man, the veteran film maker was chosen for the award in recognition for his long period of contribution to Indian cinema.
The movie maker born on October 2, 1924 was decided as the most deserving person to get the award by stalwarts of films and art like A.Nagshwar Rao, Sharmila Tagore, Shyam benegal, Gautham Ghosh and the legendry flute player Hari Prasad Chaurasia.
Tapan Sinha's interest in films started when he was doing his Masters in Physics at the Calcutta University during 1943-46.
This new love for cinema was due to watching the films of masters like John Ford, Billy Wilder, Carol Reed and Frank Capra.
The addictiveness for movies led him to take up a job as trainee sound engineer in New Theatres Studios in Calcutta in 1946.
After working there for some time, he shifted to Calcutta Movietone Sturios.
In 1950, he got a chance to work at the Pinewood Studios in London.
He immediately went to London and began to work with director Charles Creighton.
The period of two years that Tapan Sinha lived and worked in London made him more determined to come back to India and try his hand in directing films.
After returning from Britain in the 1950's to India, Tapan Sinha decided to concentrate only in making movies.
The veteran made his debut with the film 'Ankush' in 1954.
Although this movie which was based on a novel called "Sainik" by Narayan Ganguly turned out to be a flop, it gave him a chance to get started and make his next film called as 'Upahar' in 1955.
The film 'Kabuliwala' which was based on a novel having the same name written by Rabindranath Tagore came out in 1956.
This film is still considered as one of his best works and also as one that established him as a talented film maker to watch out for.
'Kabuliwala' was screened at the Berlin Film Festival of 1957 and bagged an award for its music score.
He went on to make two more movies called 'Khudito Pashan' and 'Athithi' based on Rabindranath Tagore's works.
Tapan Sinha is also known as an expert and perfectionist in adapting classic literature into top class movies.
Some of the other famous Bengali writers whose works this film maker has transformed into films are Samaresh Bose, Banaphool, Jarasandha, and Tarashankar Bandopadhyaya.
The famous Hindi film 'Bawarchi' directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in 1972 was a remake of 'Galpo Holeo Satyi' which is the film that was made by Tapan Sinha in 1966 and one which showed his mastery on making a comic fantasy.
The film 'Ek Doctor Ki Maut' having Pankaj Kapoor and Shabana Azmi in the lead roles came out in 1991. It won the National Award for the second best feature film and gave its maker the best director award too.
He followed up with the movie 'Wheel Chair' in 1994.
The year 2001 saw the coming out of one of the most ambitious projects of the veteran in the form of a six part film based on the stories of famous writers like Rabindranath Tagore, Gourkishor Ghosh, Prafulla Roy, Sarat Chandra Shattopadhyaya and Dibyendu Palit.
The movie titled as 'Shtabdir Kanya' which means Daughters of this century was a work that showcased the exploitation, abuse, and neglect Indian women have faced all along the 20th century.
Tapan Sinha's films have won several awards in International film festivals of London, Berlin, Seoul, Venice, San Francisco, Locarno, Cork film festival in Ireland among other highly prestigious festivals across the world.
Some of Tapan Sinha's famous films are 'Safed Haathi', 'Zindagi Zindagi', 'Ekhoni','Sagina Mahato', 'Apanjan', 'Hatey Bazaarey', 'Galpo Holeo Satyi' 'Jotugriha', 'Arohi', 'Nirjan Saikate' and 'Tonsil'