Debidas Bhattacharya, the Bengali television soap director, died on Sunday due to Covid-19 complications.
The director who debuted with Pratiksha- Ektu Bhalobashar has been in the industry for over three decades has directed a number of television serials including Maa.. Tomay Chhara Ghum Ashena (2009 soap opera) and Raage Anuraage (2013 soap opera).
Before his demise, he was awaiting the airing of his latest Bengali television serial Briddashram 2, the sequel to the mega serial Briddhashram that aired on the Bengali channel Aakash Aath.
However, his efforts were short-lived as he died in the early hours of Monday morning at around 3 a.m in a private hospital in South Kolkata. Bhattacharya is survived by his wife Anindita Sengupta and a daughter.
On December 17, his wife wrote on social media about his worsening health condition when he was put on life support.
Kindness
The film industry, commonly known as Tolly Para (Tollygunge film studio), came together to support director Debidas Bhattacharya and his family both financially and emotionally upon hearing the news of his worsening condition. The Director’s Association of Eastern India also formed a group to lend their support. However, despite of all efforts, Bhattacharya succumbed.
“Debidas did not get enough attention from the media when he was alive,” actor Debdut Gosh, Bhattacharya’s colleague and close friend told Silverscreen India.
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Ghosh recalled the memories while they worked in theatre and went on to speak about the 90s, when Bhattacharya ventured into the world of telefilms. Having collaborated in a number of shows, including Sahityer Shera Shomoy (a collection of short stories on characters created by Rabindranath Tagore and Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay that aired on Aakash Aath), Tatka Golpe Atka Mash (a mini-series) and Ei Toh Jibon (a mega serial), Ghosh said that he had the most fruitful time on sets with the direction.
“Days at work included discussions on literature, cinema, theatre, politics with Debi Da,” Ghosh said.
According to Ghosh, Bhattacharya was not just a talented director, he was also an actor, painter, and poet.
“If there was enough media attention, he could have been a star actor-director,” Ghosh added.
Ghosh said that Bhattacharya was a kind, immensely talented, soft-spoken and an emotional man.
Several other artists who have known and worked with Bhattacharya also expressed their grief.
Actor Neil Chatterjee shared a picture of the two of them and wrote a note that spoke about how Bhattacharya recognised Chatterjee’s talent among a crowd of actors. He thanked Bhattacharya for believing in him when he could not do so himself.
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Actor Sudiptaa Chakraborty also shared a picture of the director and wrote, “Polite, elegant, educated, handsome, good man, good actor, good director … These are so many adjectives that can be given next to a person’s name, people like him were almost rare. So a little neglected and cornered. That is gradually becoming normal. Became rarer. Debidas Bhattacharyya also left. The procession is not stopping ………”
Actor Joyjit Banerjee said on the director’s demise “Debi Da.. You will Live. Through your work, through your humour.. Om Shanti”