Samir Chanda

Calcutta, Aug. 18: Samir Chanda, the art director of many iconic films from both Bollywood and Bengal, died on Thursday evening following a heart attack. He was 53.

Chanda was a constant collaborator of directors like Mani Ratnam (Dil Se, Guru, Raavan), Shyam Benegal (Zubeidaa, Bose, Welcome to Sajjanpur) and Vishal Bhardwaj (Omkara, Kaminey, 7 Khoon Maaf). His Hindi repertoire also includes blockbusters like Rang De Basanti, Ghajini and Krrish. Among his big films awaiting release are Pankaj Kapur’s Mausam and the under-production Joker by Shirish Kunder.

His Tollywood filmography includes Goutam Ghose’s Moner Manush and Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Kaalpurush.

Chanda also played a key role in developing the art direction course at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

He won three National Awards and numerous popular film awards for his art direction and production design.