Docu Turns Lens On Protecting Kol Ghats | Kolkata News – Times of India

Kolkata News

KOLKATA: Two young film-makers have made a documentary to raise awareness on the need for restoration of the dying ghats of Kolkata.
Tracing the history of some of the important ghats on Kolkata’s riverfront, ‘The Dying Ghats of Calcutta’ has dug up some of the fascinating and lesser-known stories about the Prinsep Ghat, Prasanna Kumar Tagore Ghat, Mutty Lal Seal Ghat among the 30 that dot the riverfront. The first private screening of the film will be held at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture on Sunday.
Childhood friends Atreyee and Poulomee, who are co-founders of The Ganges Walk — Rediscovering Calcutta to raise awareness of the city’s heritage, have spent four years on this documentary. In 2018, the duo began their journey by organizing walks with an intention to introduce people with the most neglected but archaeologically significant ghats.
Their first documentary — ‘The Mullicks of Pathuriaghata’ — on the earliest settlers of the city was screened at the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) and Kolkata International Short Film Festival (KISFF) in 2019. Shooting for their second documentary began last March.
During the course of the shooting, the directors interviewed Rajya Sabha MP Jwahar Sircar. Among various things, he also spoke about how the Strand Road was constructed. “He told us that it was made with the ballast brought from the Thames river in London. We also got to know how the ghats were broken down due to the shifting of the river and the construction of Strand Road,” Poulomee added.
On being asked which story of a ghat he finds fascinating, Sircar referred to TOI about “Armenian Ghat because of its fascinating intricate cast iron architecture and two ghats for combining Indian features with neo-classical European architecture — Bagbazar Ghat and Jagannath Ghat”.
While shooting the Jagnnath Ghat, the directors also came to know about the history of the first Jagannath temple. “It was built by Sovaram Bysack in the 18th century,” Atreyee said.
According to the film’s producer Laily Thompson, who is founder of Kultx and River Festival, “There are always scope to review city spaces and we are fortunate to be living in Kolkata with iconic areas — the ghats happen to be one of them.”

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/docu-turns-lens-on-protecting-kol-ghats/articleshow/89694250.cms