Life began at 70 for Abhijit Gupta. A top-shot consultant, retirement opened up a new chapter in his life as his debut book was launched at Calcutta Club last month.

A Copper Sky is a coming-of-age tale of young Amar Das who moves from Delhi to London, much like the author himself.

“The first part of the book deals with the confusion of a youth who sees a foreign land and a liberated society for the first time in the 1950s. Even his own family is troubled with the changes in Amar’s life. As the novel progresses, the protagonist matures,” said Gupta, who now lives in Bangalore.

Though set in the Fifties, Gupta feels his book has an universal appeal. “Certain issues don’t change,” he said. To connect with the youth, the author has also opened a Facebook account and started writing a blog.

Gupta did not rule out a sequel. “The book is not all darkness. There is a lot of fun and laughter in it too,” he signed off.

Flashback

A hit film, behind-the-scenes moments, a few laughs and some poignant memories – the audience was treated to all this and more at the city launch of Bimal Roy’s Madhumati, Untold Stories From Behind the Scenes written by the filmmaker’s daughter, Rinki Roy Bhattacharya.

The afterword for the book is written by filmmaker Anik Dutta, who is also Roy’s grand-nephew. “Perhaps I share a spooky connect with my mother’s uncle,” grinned the director of Aschorjyo Prodeep. “In Madhumati, he explored the supernatural and reincarnation of the human soul, a subject discussed for the first time in Hindi cinema. It was very different from his other films like Sujata, Bandini or Do Bigha Zameen, which had a social message. Every artist wants to explore the unknown, tread the untrodden path at least once in his lifetime.”

The author shared some trivia about the film and its crew. “It was a formidable team. The story was written by Ritwik Ghatak. The background score and music was composed by Salil Chowdhury. Hrishikesh Mukherjee was the editor though his assistant, Gurudas Dhaimade, edited much of the film. The credits mentioned Dhaimade as associate editor.” A few years ago, Dhaimade was felicitated by the Bimal Roy Memorial and Film Society, chaired by Bhattacharya.

Roy was possibly the only director who arranged for film screenings for his technical team, said the author. He would get copies of films he liked, many of them by Russian filmmakers, and get his team to watch them.

She described her father as a simple man at home who was strict with his children. “I never knew my father was in a glamorous profession. He never let us into that world. He believed in aesthetics. There was always a bronze vase full of flowers in his room and the walls were filled with black- and-white framed photographs. Every evening he came home, changed into his lungi and read the newspaper while relaxing on a couch in the living room.”

“We all had dinner together and we children were put to bed quite early. One particular evening, there was a frenzy of activity in the house even after dinner, something unusual in our house. I grew curious and stayed up with my friend who lived next door to find out what was happening. I almost fainted when I saw Dilip Kumar in our living room. Here was the man of my dreams just a few yards away and I couldn’t even ask for an autograph because my father wouldn’t allow it!”

The actor was there to discuss the script of Madhumati, Bhattacharya later found out. The Dilip Kumar-Vyjayanthimala starrer ran to a full house in Roxy for 24 weeks. “In those days if a film ran full house for more than 24 weeks, the workers at Roxy were entitled to double pay. Sadly, the owners didn’t want to pay and so stopped screening the film.”

Friendship & love

Sudeep Nagarkar turned impromptu love guru for the young audience at the launch of his fifth book, You’re the Password to My Life, at the Starmark store in South City Mall recently.

“Friendship is the only ship that does not sink,” said the Mumbai-based author as he introduced his protagonists Virat and Kavya, best of friends sharing some wild and magical time together. “Not all girl-boy equations have to lead to love.” If Nagarkar had his way, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani would have ended differently, he said.

As the author spoke about the value of real friendship, the audience sought his advice on broken relationship and life after love. “Each person comes to your life to teach you something and bring you closer to your destiny,” said the author.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Showli Chakraborty, Chandreyee Ghosh and Ayan Paul