Tapan Bose (b. 1946)
Documentary director; part of Cinemart Foundation with actress Suhasini Mulay (Bhuvan Shome, 1969, Bhavni Bhavai, 1980) and Salim Shaikh. Started as assistant to Sukhdev. Controversial cineaste, often hampered by officialdom. Independent début, An Indian Story, featured the infamous Bhagalpur incident in which prison inmates were blinded as part of police torture. Co-d his second film examining the consequences of the Bhopal gas disaster (1984). From Behind the Barricade attacks the central government’s repression in Punjab. The film was banned for its overt support of separatist militants. An appellate tribunal revoked the ban, imposing other strictures such as the unprecedented requirement that ‘In all interviews, so as to ensure the genuineness of the interviews and interviewees, except where the interviewee is a known public character, there shall, throughout the interview, be a subtitle ... depicting the name and address of the interviewee and the location where the interview was taken. In default, such interview to be deleted in its entirety’ (see A.G. Noorani, 1993). Also works on video.
FILMOGRAPHY: 1981: An Indian Story; 1986: Bhopal: Beyond Genocide; 1991: The Vulnerable Road User; 1993: From Behind The Barricade; Jharkhand.