Filmmaker Kumar Shahani, one of the leading figures of arthouse cinema, passed away in Kolkata on Saturday, 24 February. He was 83. With a career spanning six decades, Shahani directed critically-acclaimed movies such as Maya Darpan (1972), Tarang (1984), Khayal Gatha (1989) and Kasba (1990).
Shahani was born on 7 December, 1940, in Larkana, Sindh, in undivided India. His style of storytelling was influenced by greats such as Pasolini and Tarkovsky.
He studied at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune and was known to be one of the favourite students of filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak. Later, Shahani went to France and assisted Robert Bresson on his film Une Femme Douce. Maya Darpan won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Shahani focused more on portraying everyday life in his two personal films about music and dance, Khayal Gatha (1989) and Bhavantarana (1991).
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