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Dulal Dutta, the editor of every single film, feature, short fiction and documentary that Satyajit Ray ever made passed away in Kolkata on August 17 2007. He was 87.
God decided to edit him out of the script of Life and ease him of the pain and suffering he underwent in his last years because his career ended with the passing away of his master Satyajit Ray.
He lived alone in penury because sticking to a single director right through his career cost him dearly in financial terms. He led an almost reclusive life and was rarely seen in public. His bonding with Ray lasted 36 years.
From Pather Panchali to Agantuk. Dutta was committed to Ray he had met in 1952 on a rain washed day in Kolkata through his friend Bansi Chandragupta. “I am making a film that will be shot entirely outdoors. Will you be able to edit it?” He asked Dutta. Dutta said yes without thinking though he did not even know the name of the man he was talking to. “It was as we were climbing down the stairs of his 3, Lake Temple Road apartment that Bansi told me his name was Satyajit Ray.”
It was the most unique director-editor bonding that stood the test of both time and excellence, as Ray grew from an anonymous director making his first film with long gaps for lack of money to one of the ten best directors in the world according to a ranking by TIME magazine.
The story goes that he worked round the clock for two weeks to finish the editing of Pather Panchali so that it would be readied for its New York premiere in time. Says his long-time associate cinematographer Soumendu Roy “he was a thorough and honest professional, “he was ruthless in cutting out scenes he felt did not belong. While editing Asani Sanket he insisted on cutting out a couple of scenes that as the cinematographer, I did not want cut. But he persuaded Manikda that it would bring out better results. I was disappointed when Manik-da agreed. But when I saw the film after the editing, I realised he knew his job and was right.”
He learnt the ABC of editing at Mumbai’s Ranjit Movietone’s Studio in Dadar after he ran away from Calcutta in 1942. Surendra Desai, a filmmaker, took him to the editing room of the studio and told the team that this young man would be an observer till the editing of the given film was complete.
After he returned to Kolkata, editor Ardhendu Chatterjee introduced him to the legendary editor Ramesh Joshi who edited some of Ghatak’s best films. He learnt from scratch – dusting the tables in the editing room, cleaning the scissors to be used for cutting the film, cleaning the splicing tools and so on.
His independent debut was with Satyen Bose’s Paribartan (1949) followed by Borjatri (1951). In 1950, he assisted Ardhendu Chatterjee for Kanan Debi’s Mejdidi (1950) by Kanan Devi’s home production house. Then came Debatra (1955) Asha (1956) and Andhare Alo (1957), all produced by Kanan Devi. He edited both visuals and sound for Tarun Majumdar’s Balika Bodhu and Ray’s Chiriakhana in 1967.
Dutta, born in Chandannagar in 1925, saw his first film at Kolkata’s Suchitra hall in an overcrowded theatre. The film was one of the Hunterwalli series and it captivated him. His introduction into the industry was as clapper boy in Ranjit Movietone.
He was once approached by the Merchant-Ivory team to edit their production that would have fetched him good money but he declined because he felt it would take him away from Ray he was so close to. But the relationship remained on a professional plane because Dutta was a man of few words and believed only in work, work and more work.
“Maybe it was not a practical move; but creative satisfaction ruled over every other concern. Manikda’s personality, his love for cinema and immense appetite for knowledge conquered our hearts. There were times, when even days after signing our expense vouchers, we remained unpaid. Yet, Manikda’s company and brilliance would compensate for every loss,” he said sometime before his sad demise.
Aparajito is said to be the most brilliant piece of editing in his long career. But a critic wrote that the editing was very poor and Dutta was devastated. Ray put his doubts at rest by telling him that the critic had not even understood his work.
But Dutta is credited for that classic shot in Pather Panchali in which Apu and Durga sprint across a field towards a running train in the backdrop of swaying kaash stalks. The scene is now identified with one of the most classic scenes in the history of Indian cinema as is the Odessa Steps sequence in Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925).
His command over his art and craft is evident in other films too such as the picnic scene and memory game in Aranyer Din Ratri. Nayak is another example of his beautiful editing within the confines of a train that remained stationary from beginning to end. The intercutting shots between Uttam Kumar’s sad face held in close-up as he leans from the door of the compartment to look at the tracks and the illusory speed of the tracks beside will be remembered forever. He could create the illusion of motion in stationary sequences beautifully.
Under Ray's close supervision, Dutta developed a cutting style of great economy, but one which could reveal the poetry of the content. Film editing is regarded as the ‘invisible’ art behind some of the greatest sequences in world cinema. Its skills encompass a complete art unto itself without which a film might collapse completely and if done imaginatively, with concern and care, could even improve upon a badly directed film.
Dulal Dutta never permitted a single film he worked on to fall because of sub-standard editing though he worked during a time when film schools in India were an unknown entity. He was one of the richest men in Bengali cinema in terms of creativity, economy and aesthetics. But he died a poor, sad and lonely man.
Cover Photograph: Sandip Ray, Satyajit Ray, and Dulal Dutta sharing a moment while editing 'Shatranj Ke Khilari' / 'The Chess Players' (1977) : r/ClassicDesiCelebs
