Gautam Chattopadhyay
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Gautam Chattopadhyay | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Gautam Chattopadhyay |
Also known as | music composer, film director, theatre personality |
Born | 1 June 1949 India |
Died | 20 June 1999 Kolkata, India | (aged 50)
Genres | Bangla folk rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, singer, music programmer |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, saxophone |
Years active | 60s–1999 |
Formerly of | Moheener Ghoraguli |
Gautam Chattopadhyay (1 June 1949 – 20 June 1999) was an Indian Bengali singer, songwriter, bassist, and composer.[1] In 1975, as a leader he founded the progressive rock band Moheener Ghoraguli with Tapas Das, Abraham Mazumdar, Pradip Chatterjee, Ranjon Ghoshal, Biswanath Bishu Chattopadhyay Tapesh Bandopadhyay.[2] He was also a theatre personality, filmmaker, and ethnographer.
He played many Indian and Western instruments. During his college years he played lead guitar in a band called The Urge, whose members were mostly Anglo Indians, in pubs including Trincas and Moulin Rouge at Park Street of Kolkata during the 1960s.
While a student at the
Chattopadhyay returned to
Moheener Ghoraguli was not commercially successful at the time, and the band disintegrated in 1981. During the mid-nineties, Chattopadhyay revived Mohiner Ghoraguli by releasing the albums Abar bachhor kuri pore (1995), Jhara shomoyer gaan (1996), Maya (1997), and Khepar gaan (1998). He included new singers and his own compositions, as well as songs composed by others.[4]
Later, Chattopadhyay continued a solo career, composing new songs, composing music for his own films and working as music director for other film-makers. The feature films directed by him include Nagmoti (which won the President's Medal at the National Film Awards in 1983). His second feature film was Somoy (which was never released) A Letter to Mom, an English film on the life of the Anglo Indian community.
His first documentary was about the dhakis (drummers) of Bengal called The Primal Call. After that he made several documentaries, including 'The Dinosaurs, The sun temple of konarak to The Naya theatre and Habib Tanvir. He made a short film for American community television program To Love is to Paint...
Chattopadhyay was invited to Karbi-Anglong in the mid-nineties to work with the Karbi people and to preserve their folk lores and folk music, which they felt was being influenced by film music. Gautam did not believe in just saving their music by making notations and keeping it in an archive, instead, he started teaching the young people to read notations, to play and sing the songs and during this period he came up with the idea of doing an opera with them. He did the opera on their folklore called Hai-mu.[5] About 300 Karbi youth performed in this opera which was a grand success. The Karbis fell in love with Gautam. Gautam then began to make a film in Karbi language, which remained incomplete due to his sudden death in 1999.
Discography
- Shangbigno Pakhikul O Kolkata Bishayak (1977)
- Ajaana UDonto bostu ba Aw-Oo-Baw (1978)
- Drishyomaan Moheener Ghoraguli (1979)
Filmography
As director
1, Nagmoti National award (in 1983).
2, Shomoy
3, Letter to Mom
4, Rongbin (karbi)
As music director
- Kichhhu Sanlap Kichhu Pralap(1999)
- Nagmoti (1983)
- Bhalobasa O Andhakar (1982)
- Shomoy
- Rongbin
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Outcome | Capacity | Work | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1983 | National Film Awards | Best Feature Film in Bengali | Won | Director | Nagmoti | [6] |
References
- ^ "Goutam Chattopadhyay movies, filmography, biography and songs - Cinestaan.com". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
- ^ "Song of the stallion". The Times of India. 21 June 2009.
- ^ "Finding the lost sound of a generation". The Hindu.
- ^ "An asthma patient, Gautam Chattopadhyay performed somersaults on stage". Times of India. Zinia Sen, TNN | 11 February 2014
- ^ Seagull Theatre Quarterly. Seagull Foundation for the Arts. 1996. p. 49.
- ^ "30th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
External links
- Official website
- Moheener Ghoraguli homepage
- Gautam Chattopadhyay at IMDb
- Gautam Chattopadhyay discography at Discogs
- Gautam Chattopadhyay discography at MusicBrainz