Santi Choudhury (1929-82)
Major independent documentary film-maker. Educated at Presidency College, Calcutta, and Glasgow University. Active participant in British film society movement (1954). Worked with Satyajit Ray (1955-7). Founded Little Cinema film unit in Calcutta (1958) which made over 100 shorts independent of government support, influencing the younger generation of documentarists. Also made children’s films. Except for Dakather Hatey Bulu and Heerer Prajapati, all titles are documentaries.
FILMOGRAPHY: 1957: Songs of Bengal; 1958: Virsa and the Magic Doll; 1959: The New Roots; 1960: Rabindranath’s Shantiniketan; 1961: Lokeshilpay Terracottay Ramayan; Banglar Mandirey Terracotta; 1962: Rabindranather Chitrakala; 1963: Your Home Defence: Home Guards; They Met the Challenge; Science for Children; Dakather Hatey Bulu; 1964: Handicrafts of Assam; To Light a Candle; Madhabir Biya; 1965: Song of Punjab; Folk Instruments of Rajasthan; 1966: A City in History; Calcutta; Electrocine; 1967: To Share and to Learn; Handicrafts of Rajasthan; 1968: Benarasi’s Secret; Heerer Prajapati; Entertainers of Rajasthan; 1969: Secularism; 1971: Biju in Hyderabad; The Other Calcutta; Seeds of the Green Revolution; An Indian Journey; Working Together; Action for Calcutta; 1972: Janasanstha; Indian Engineering; Dakshina Haryana; Mughal Gardens Pinjore; Green Horizon; ITC Tube: The Lifetimer; 1973: An Environment; After Ten Years; 1974: Asia ‘72; Silent Service; A Painter of Our Times; 1975: Search for Self- Reliance; 1976: We’re Building an IOL Pipeline For You; 1977: Parvati; 1978: Banglar Kabigan; The Magic Hands; 1980: Husain; Region of Harmony; Seven; Pahar Theke Shahar; 1981: Subho Tagore; 1982: Racing in India.