Diptendu Pramanick#First film seminar, 1955
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Diptendu Pramanick
| image = Diptendu.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Pramanick in the 1940s
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1910|7|18}}
| birth_place = Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1989|12|15|1910|07|18}}
| death_place = Kolkata, West Bengal, India
| nationality = Indian
| years_active = 1931–1976
| children = 2
| father = Sudhamoy Pramanick
}}
Diptendu Pramanick (18 July 1910 –15 December 1989) was an Indian film personality from Calcutta. He was the founder secretary of the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association {{Cite web |url=http://eimpa.org/index.php |title=EIMPA official website |access-date=8 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108012230/http://eimpa.org/index.php |archive-date=8 January 2015 |url-status=live }} in Calcutta, India, a fraternity of film personnel which is an interface between the entertainment industry of eastern India and the Government. During his multifarious career he came in contact with eminent personalities and saw the evolution of this organisation from its initial days to being a regionwide entity.
Early life and education
He was born on 18 July 1910 in Calcutta. He was the eldest son of Sudhamoy Pramanick from Shantipur. He did his early schooling in Calcutta and then at the Raiganj Coronation School, Raiganj where his father practised as a lawyer.
In 1926 he returned to Calcutta and cleared Matriculation followed by the Intermediate examinations in Science in 1928. He then joined the Scottish Church College, Calcutta.
His interactions with many a revolutionary (due to his father's involvement with the Congress and the Satyagraha movement at Raigunj), the explosive air of the times, and the inspiration from a famous alumni (The Oaten Affair – Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose assaulted Prof Oaten due to the latter's derogatory comment on Indians ) {{Cite web |url=http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/subhas-boses-statue-unveiled-at-presidency-college_100345774.html |title=Subhas Chandra Bose assaults Oaten, 1916 |access-date=15 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415230913/http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/subhas-boses-statue-unveiled-at-presidency-college_100345774.html |archive-date=15 April 2010 |url-status=live }} probably drove him to antagonise an Indian-loathing teacher at Scottish Church College, and follow Bose's suit.
He later graduated from Asutosh College, and earned a bachelor's degree in science from the University of Calcutta in 1931.
Career
1931–1948
File:TheModernReview 1935Jan DP.jpgAfter leaving college, he worked as the Secretary to the then Mayor of Calcutta Sri Santosh Kumar Basu.{{Cite web |url=https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/jsp/MayorsKolkata.jsp |title=Kolkata Mayors : KMC |access-date=21 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402113918/https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/jsp/MayorsKolkata.jsp |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=live }} Out of his literary inclinations, he associated with literary conferences and Bengali literature fora.Ramananda Chatterjee:The Modern Review (Calcutta), vol 57 ; The Modern Review Office, Calcutta (1935), page 141. The 12th Prabasi Banga-Sahitya Sammelan was inaugurated by Rabindranath Tagore in Calcutta, December 1934 (Photo : The Reception Committee was chaired by Ramananda Chatterjee)..Also seen in the photograph is Akshay Kumar Nandi, father of Amala Sankar.
On completion of Mr Basu's term as Mayor, he became the Liaison Officer of Civil Defense and in the Publicity Section of the Commercial Museum. In 1942, he moved to the Home Department of the then Bengal Government as Liaison Officer, Civil Defense. The concept of Civil Defence owes its origin to erstwhile ARP Organisation raised and operated during World War II (1939–45) to safeguard the life and property of the civilian population and train the citizens to handle war time crisis.
At this time, Japan had overrun Burma and the threat of bombing was looming large on Calcutta. Eventually Japanese aircraft bombed Budge Budge (south of Calcutta).
A Bengali folk rhyme {{Cite web |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/1767 |title=Bengali folk rhyme |access-date=13 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140420132026/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/1767 |archive-date=20 April 2014 |url-status=live }} captures this World War II event:
| class="wikitable" | |
| Sa-re-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni | [Do re me fa so la ti] |
| Bom(b) phelechhe Japani, | the Japanese have dropped a bomb |
| Bomer modhye keute shap | There is a cobra in the bombs |
| British bole bapre-bap. | The British shout, (in awe and fear) |
The bombing led to widespread panic – over a million people fled from the city and there was a huge pressure on civic authorities to control the situation. Indian Civil Defence Department expanded at a rapid pace to counter these threats and planned lighting restrictions, medical platoons, fire-fighting and rescue units.{{cite book |last=Drucquer |first= Seth|date= June 1942 |title= Civil Defence in India |location=Calcutta |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=9781406758962}} At the end of the war, the department was wound down starting 1947.
Subsequently, he tested his skills of entrepreneurship through a venture (Cine Furnishers Limited) with a couple of friends . It is here that he came in close contact with people of the Bengali film industry of Kolkata.
EIMPA
Enthused with these contacts, he joined an association of producers, distributors and exhibitors of Bengal (Bengal Motion Pictures Association) in 1948 as Secretary Screen Year Book & Who's who 1956, Express Newspapers Ltd., Mumbai, page 374{{cite book|editor1-last=V. Doraiswamy, V.N. Sharma|title=Asian Film Directory & Who's who|year=1952|pages=255|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0wY6AQAAIAAJ&q=%22D+Pramanick%22+|access-date=21 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502155250/https://books.google.com/books?id=0wY6AQAAIAAJ&dq=%22D+Pramanick%22+bmpa&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22D+Pramanick%22+|archive-date=2 May 2019|url-status=live}} while Sri B. N. Sircar was the President. Next year he started the BMPA journal{{Cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/filmtvinfo/publications/16+/pdf/imagineasia.pdf |title=British Film Institute guide |access-date=17 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602083002/http://www.bfi.org.uk/filmtvinfo/publications/16+/pdf/imagineasia.pdf |archive-date=2 June 2010 |url-status=dead }}Erik Barnouw : Indian Film, Columbia University Press, New York (1963), pages 143, 206, 284. and was the editor Centennial Issue : Newspaper Press Directory, volume 100, Benn Brothers Ltd, London (1951), page 502 ''{{cite book|last1=Ayyar|first1=K.P.V.|title=The Indian Press Year Book|date=1956|publisher=Indian Press Publications|page=343|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8H8UAAAAIAAJ&q=%22D+Pramanick%22+film|access-date=17 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502053132/https://books.google.com/books?id=8H8UAAAAIAAJ&q=%22D+Pramanick%22+film&dq=%22D+Pramanick%22+film&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwin6a7LncjRAhUDwI8KHVICBE0Q6AEIOjAH|archive-date=2 May 2019|url-status=live}} for more than two decades.{{cite book|title=The Indian Press Year Book|date=1954|publisher=Indian Press Publication|page=304|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjs6AQAAIAAJ&q=%22D+Pramanick%22+bmpa|access-date=1 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502051610/https://books.google.com/books?id=mjs6AQAAIAAJ&q=%22D+Pramanick%22+bmpa&dq=%22D+Pramanick%22+bmpa&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAmoVChMIivSukffUxwIVhJCOCh0VCwa9|archive-date=2 May 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite book|title=Newspaper Press Directory, vol 102|date=1951|publisher=Benn Brothers Ltd, London|page=625|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0Y1AQAAIAAJ&q=%22D+Pramanick%22|access-date=18 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502053218/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0Y1AQAAIAAJ&dq=%22D+Pramanick%22+film&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22D+Pramanick%22|archive-date=2 May 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last1=Sur|first1=Ansu|title=Bengali film directory|date=1999|publisher=Nandan, West Bengal Film Centre|location=Kolkata|page=vi,280|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-hkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22d+pramanik%22+BMPA+journal|access-date=7 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214215809/https://books.google.com/books?id=R-hkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22d+pramanik%22+BMPA+journal&dq=%22d+pramanik%22+BMPA+journal&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NvPiU9CnC4i_uAStzIJo&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA|archive-date=14 February 2017|url-status=live}}
The Association was working on a rented premises at 125, Dharamtolla Street (now Lenin Sarani) which was moved to 2, Madan Street, Calcutta. The association grew under his leadership and moved into 98E Chowringhee Square (now 98E B.N. Sircar Sarani – EIMPA house - its present location).
He was the first secretary of the then expanded Eastern India Motion Picture Association (EIMPA) and was instrumental in opening the EIMPA offices in Patna and Guwahati.{{Cite web |url=http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1122487/ |title=Indian Law |access-date=18 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726175059/http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1122487/ |archive-date=26 July 2011 |url-status=live }} In this period the uncertainties of war led to severe shortage of raw film stock in the country. A Film Advisory Committee was formed under the Government of India, and was given control of raw film stock distribution.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dishumdishum.com/BollyPresentation/GLOBALIZATION.PDF |title=Contact Support |access-date=14 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303182016/http://www.dishumdishum.com/BollyPresentation/GLOBALIZATION.PDF |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=live }} EIMPA played an important role as a trade representative, negotiating materials for the film industry of eastern India and much of Diptendu's efforts were directed for the same. During his tenure he also served as the Secretary of Film Federation of India (1953–1954).V. Doraiswamy, V.N. Sharma (editors), 1956 : Asian Film Directory & Who's who, Doraiswamy-Mumbai, page 53 In 1956, Diptendu and other stalwarts like Satyajit Ray, Robert Hawkins, Vijaya Mulay and Dasgupta revived the Calcutta Film Society which witnessed the joining of 300 members.{{cite book|last1=Cherian|first1=VK|title=India's Film Society Movement: The Journey and its Impact|date=2016|publisher=Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd|page=264|isbn=9789385985621|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iytwDQAAQBAJ&q=pramanick|access-date=25 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502004437/https://books.google.com/books?id=iytwDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=India%27s+Film+Society+Movement+cherian&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3tuKn6-vhAhXLV30KHV8JCdcQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=pramanick&f=false|archive-date=2 May 2019|url-status=live}} File:CFS revival-1956.jpg The same team were then the prime movers behind the formation of the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) in 1959 which was presided by Satyajit Ray, with Diptendu as the Jt. Treasurer http://www.premendra.info/art16.htm accessed at https://web.archive.org/web/20091124180214/http://www.premendra.info/art16.htm on 14 January 2012 : published in Chitralipi, Kolkata (May 2006){{Cite web |url=http://icinema.medialabju.org/archive/files/aae76b96279c4a45dd884d92cc2a3af6.pdf |title=Film Society Movement in India |access-date=18 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001011537/http://icinema.medialabju.org/archive/files/aae76b96279c4a45dd884d92cc2a3af6.pdf |archive-date=1 October 2015 |url-status=live }} during which Indira Gandhi was a member of the FFSI (till 1964).
= First International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 1952=
The Films Division of the Government of India sponsored and organised the First International Film Festival of India in 1952. BMPA played a pivotal role in organising the festival in Calcutta. Frank Capra, the famous American director flew in {{Cite web |url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?spid=28439 |title=Capra at Turner Classic Movies website |access-date=18 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606074654/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/participant.jsp?spid=28439 |archive-date=6 June 2010 |url-status=dead }} and was overwhelmed by the reception he got at Calcutta after visiting Bombay and Delhi. In his autobiography he wrote {{cquote|.. Was deluged with garlands ... Bengali people are quite different from the rest of India. They are like the Irish, emotional, sentimental. All riots and revolutions start in Bengal. I can understand it. It took me an hour to leave the airport, what with the crowds and the photographers...
|publication=The name above the title - an Autobiography Frank Capra, The name above the title - an Autobiography, Vintage Books, New York, 1985, page 437|40px}}
This photograph depicts his welcoming at the Dum Dum Airport as in his autobiography, with the who's who of Calcutta Filmdom.
=First film seminar, 1955=
Sangeet Natak Akademi convened the first film seminar at Delhi and it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.{{Cite web |url=http://www.filmtvguild.in/milestones.htm |title=Film & TV guild website |access-date=20 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719114936/http://www.filmtvguild.in/milestones.htm |archive-date=19 July 2011 |url-status=dead }} Prominent film personality attended this seminar {{Cite web |url=http://www.lazydesis.com/chai-time/51698-history-indian-cinema.html |title=History of Indian Cinema - Lazydesis |access-date=20 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713192323/http://www.lazydesis.com/chai-time/51698-history-indian-cinema.html |archive-date=13 July 2011 |url-status=live }}
| File:DP PRESathome.jpg at his residence]]
| File:DP PMathome.jpg to meet at his residence]] |
=Twilight years=
In the early 1970s, he was still getting nominated to committees, {{cite book|title=Report of the Enquiry Committee on Film Censorship|date=1969|publisher=Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting|page=163|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOxkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22D+Pramanick%22|access-date=18 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502051529/https://books.google.com/books?id=VOxkAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22D+Pramanick%22+film&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22D+Pramanick%22|archive-date=2 May 2019|url-status=live}} representing the Cinema trade for their infrastructural and legal issues, including the significant 1967–68 and the 1973–74 Parliamentary Estimates Committee.{{cite book|title=Second Report-Estimates Committee (Fourth Lok Sabha)|date=1968|publisher=Lok Sabha Secretariat|location=Parliament Library|url=http://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/757723/1/ec_04_02_1967.pdf|access-date=15 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190515050153/https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/757723/1/ec_04_02_1967.pdf|archive-date=15 May 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite book|title=Estimates Committee|date=1973|publisher=Lok Sabha Secretariat|location=Parliament Library|edition=Volume 5, Issues 56-58|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LmRPAQAAMAAJ&q=%22D+Pramanick%22+|access-date=17 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502155312/https://books.google.com/books?id=LmRPAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22D+Pramanick%22+film&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22D+Pramanick%22+|archive-date=2 May 2019|url-status=live}}
The elaborate reports of the 1968 and 1973 Committees raised issues about institutional finances, cess based state funding of cinema, creating a generation of ‘low-budget’ stars to counter the lopsided economics of a star-heavy industry and censorship reforms. In that sense the report anticipated the birth of a generation of stars from the state-driven FTII in the Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil era.{{cite book|last1=RAJADHYAKSHA|first1=ASHISH|title=Indian Cinema in the Time of Celluloid From Bollywood to the Emergency|date=2009|publisher=INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS|isbn=978-0-253-22048-6|page=235|url=https://indiancine.ma/texts/ashish%3AIndian_Cinema_in_the_Time_of_Celluloid/text.pdf|access-date=17 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118051352/https://indiancine.ma/texts/ashish%3AIndian_Cinema_in_the_Time_of_Celluloid/text.pdf|archive-date=18 January 2017|url-status=live}}
The Pramanick family
{{tree chart/start}}
{{tree chart| | GOB|y| RAD| | GOB=Gobindo Chandra | RAD=Radharani}}
{{tree chart| | | | |!| | | | | | | | | |}}
{{tree chart| | SUD|y| SWA| | | | | | | | | | SUD=Sudhamoy Pramanick | SWA=Swarnabala }}
{{tree chart| | | | |)|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|.| }}
{{tree chart| | |DIP|y|NIY| |NAB| |SUP| |SUU| |ANI| |SAB| |NIK| |ASI| | DIP=Diptendu Pramanick | NIY=Niyoti | NAB= Nabendu | SUP=Suprabha |SUU=Subhendu| ANI=Anita | SAB=Sabita |NIK=Nikhilendu | ASI=Asita ... }}
{{tree chart| | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{tree chart| | | | |SUB|y| GOU| | | | | | |SUB=Subrata | GOU=Gouri}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | |}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | |SOU|y| ADI| | | | | | |SOU= Sougata Pramanick | ADI=Aditi}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | |}}
{{tree chart| | | | | | |SHA| | OIN | | | | | SHA=Sharmila|OIN=Oindrila }}
{{tree chart/end}}
Legacy
Children from many underprivileged families of Dahuka, a remote village in Bardhaman district, receive school books from the Diptendu Pramanick Book fund every year, during a ceremony held on the occasion of the Saraswati Puja.2010 Annual report of the Dr S. S. De Education Foundation (Regn# S-196221 1999-2000 : W.B.Societies Act 1961), page 5.
The apex body of film distributors and producers (EIMPA) continues to help the industry facing the challenges of corporatisation, censorship, piracy and "multiplexes".{{Cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/calcutta-times/EIMPA-plans-Tollywood-survival-kit/articleshow/33217695.cms |title=EIMPA plans Tollywood survival kit, TOI, Jan 3, 2003 |website=The Times of India |date=3 January 2003 |access-date=22 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909041207/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/calcutta-times/EIMPA-plans-Tollywood-survival-kit/articleshow/33217695.cms |archive-date=9 September 2015 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130630/jsp/7days/17064362.jsp |title=A tryst with money, The Telegraph, June 30, 2013 |access-date=22 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005084924/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130630/jsp/7days/17064362.jsp |archive-date=5 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/news/Backless-Rituparna-passes-censor-test-but-not-newbie/articleshow/37825608.cms |title=EIMPA guidelines required for censorship, TOI, Jul 5, 2014 |website=The Times of India |access-date=29 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708082315/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/news/Backless-Rituparna-passes-censor-test-but-not-newbie/articleshow/37825608.cms |archive-date=8 July 2014 |url-status=live }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- [http://www.asutoshcollege.in Ashutosh College]
- [http://www.scottishchurch.ac.in Scottish Church College, Calcutta]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20091222083113/http://scottishchurch.ac.in/College%20History02.pdf History of Scottish Church College]
- [http://eimpacinema.blogspot.com/2009/08/association-of-film-industry-of-eastern.html EIMPA blog]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100507171509/http://www.sangeetnatak.com/ Sangeet Natak Akademi, Delhi]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110201170932/http://www.ffsi.org.in/next.htm Federation of Film Societies of India]
- [http://cameraworking.raqsmediacollective.net/pages/timeline_nf.htm Timeline for Cinematography In India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925053306/http://cameraworking.raqsmediacollective.net/pages/timeline_nf.htm |date=25 September 2012 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110615101626/http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/filmi_sangeet/film_song_1940s_film.html Film events of 1940s]
- [http://bangodarshan.com/samajik/JANAPAD/BARDHAMAN_VILLAGE_LIST.pdf Village Dahuka in Bardhaman district]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pramanick, Diptendu}}
Category:Scottish Church College alumni
Category:Asutosh College alumni
Category:University of Calcutta alumni