Probashi- Cover Story
Probashi- Cover Story
Excerpts from Production Controller ’ s Diary
Excerpts from the Diary of a Film Production Controller
Suarjit Dasgupta is the CEO of the Kolkata based SDG
Films whichh provides film management services for both documentary and feature films . In his
22 year long career with the film industry as production controller , Surajit has been involved with some of the top directors ncluding Goutam Ghose , Buddhadeb Dasgupta , Sandip Roy , Vikram Singh , RS Ravindran , Bappa Ray , Lambarto Lmabertini , Patrick Glaize , Debabrata Pyne and others . Till date he has handledd more than 35 feature films , at least 25 documentaries and more than 1000 episodes of TV Serials and Corporate
Advt films . Surajit ’ s job involves the complete gamut of management of film shooting‐ help draw contracts for the actors and technicians
, hiring equipment , budgeting , location scouting , logisticss of outdoor shoots , discussion with the studio , financial management of the entire shooting of the film , coordination of the post production work and getting the Censor certificate .
The film bug had bitten Surajit right from his student days . He was an active member of film societies in Kolkata , seeing and discussing films was a passion . With a brilliant academic record Surojit soon found himself in a cushy job with Kelvinator India Ltd . His interest in films however continued unabated , fuelled further by a college senior who used to work in films and would relate his experience to Surajit . And one day at the spur of the moment , Surajit decided to convert his passion into his profession , and walked into a film company asking for a job . Untrained in film making
, the initial days were spent working for free and learning about film making . His family was his bedrock , who allowed their son to indulge into what he liked best while providing the required financial support . Today Surajit is one of the most sought after production controller in the Bengali film industry
. Yes professional success has also brought in its financial rewards , but for him money does not seem to be the driver . Out of 35 feature films he has been Production Controller for , 18 feature films got National Awards in different categories , and so did 15 documentaries . It is the euphoria of being part of another national award win is what keeps Surajit going . Incidentally if you happen to see
Goutam Ghosh ’ s latest release Shunyo Awynko keep a look out for Surajit , he has a small acting part in the film . Who said Production Controllers only work behind the screen !
7 May 2013 : Today saw the film Shobdo at Bioscope Multiplex , liked the film . Shobdo is the story of Tarok , a Foley artist , whose job is to give background noises like footsteps , squeaky doors and breaking glass etc . to film sequences . This brought back memories of my early days in the industry when there were no specialised Foley artists , and we in the production team would create the Foley sounds in the recording studio using a number of improvisations . I remember this scene of wild elephant frolicking in a pond for which I and the film editor had to give the splashing and stomping sound made by the elephants . We hired two large boat shaped pans from a nearby tent house . The pans were filled with water and we pulled up our trousers and starting plodding in the water . My editor who had a larger body frame was the big elephant and me the small one .
The sound we recorded mimicked the sound which elephants had made in the wild . Then there was this documentary by Goutam Ghose on the silk route
, it had shots of horses trotting and my job was to reproduce the same sound in the studio . So I brought two coconut shells from home and in sync with the trot in the film
, would hit the shells on the studio floor and the sound so produced mimicked well the clicking of horse hoofs . We recorded the sound and used it in the film . My biggest challenge was to do Foley for the breaking of banks by a flooded river for the film Padma Nadir Majhi . I brought in moist clay blocks and hit them on the floor with all the strength I could muster and recorded the sound ; the track was used in the film .