Korak Day

Could he be a Hindu, or is he a Muslim? No, a Christian perhaps. Most people in Rajabazar are confused about Korak Day’s identity. But the 33-year-old, diminutive frail frame clad in lungi-kurta, is happy to be rid of a religious tag. For Korak’s only concern are the underprivileged women and children of the Muslim-dominated Rajabazar belt, who cling on to him for hope, for inspiration, for a lifeline.

Amaar Nijer, the charitable trust Korak had set up a year and a half ago much against the wishes of his parents, is where around 200 children learn the alphabet and their mothers attend vocational courses.

From a rented space in Narkeldanga, Korak runs separate classes for primary school-goers, dropouts, older girls and extra coaching. The women are trained in painting, embroidery, zardosi, flower and bonsai-making. A no-loss business scheme, improvised by Korak, helps them use their creativity to earn a living. With raw materials provided by him, the women conceive designs that are later used on greeting cards, T-shirts, kurtas and saris.

To the city’s film fraternity though, Korak is also known as a filmmaker, with two titles to his credit. The student of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) quit the direction and screenplay-writing course midway to make his first short Kolkatar Kali. The second venture, My Karma, fetched him laurels from far and wide — it was screened at the New York International Film Festival, Las Vegas, and the Los Angeles Film Festival last year.

“I left SRFTI as I had to make a lot of compromises. I felt a mere degree would not add any value to my sense of being,” comes his candid confession.

“Films, for me, are a medium — and by far the best — to reach the people for and with whom I have been working all these years. The pain depicted by the actors (Moon Moon Sen, Arjun Chakraborty and himself) in My Karma is a reflection of what I have seen in these people,” says Korak, who drifted towards his “roots” in Calcutta, leaving behind a childhood and college days in Agra.

The Master’s degree-holder in maths had a stint in the Indian Navy, too, before working as a volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity and enrolling at SRFTI.

As a social worker, Korak has charted a difficult path for himself. At Amaar Nijer, donations are a no-no; it survives with profits from Korak’s films and by selling a couple of audio albums for which he has penned and composed songs. “I do not believe in charity,” is his final word.