Dulal Dutta

Dulal Dutta Biography

Dulal Dutta was an iconic film editor of Indian cinema. One of the finest film editors Indian cinema has ever produced he still inspires many artists and newcomers of the field. This renowned artist is best remembered as the editor of all Satyajit Ray’s movies – the director with the Midas touch who is regarded as the best film director of Indian cinema who placed Indian movies to global platform. For 36 long years, from Pather Panchali to Agantuk, Dulal Dutta had been the constant companion of Satyajit Ray and edited all his movies. After Ray's death, Dutta worked in Uttaran and Target, directed by Satyajit Ray’s son, Sandip.

Dulal was born in 1925 in West Bengal. He came to Mumbai in 1942. He spent a few nights below the ticket counter at Dadar railway station. He met a make-up man called K L Maitra, who helped him tom find a job in film industry. He worked as an assistant, clap boy and many odd jobs during his early days. His interest was in the editing lab and he used to hang around the place. Finally, he was allowed inside. After a few years he returned to Kolkata where he worked as an assistant editor. Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955) marked his career as an independent editor. The rest is History!

Appu Trilogy, Pather Panchali or Aparajito, it’s not easy to find which one was his most outstanding work. Dutta considered Aparajito his best work among Ray’s movies. Apart from Ray he has also worked with directors like Tarun Mazumdar. He has also worked as a sound editor of a couple of movies - Chiriyakhana (1967) and Balika Badhu (1967). Dutta passed away in 2010 after a prolonged illness at the age of 86.

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Updated: April 03, 2016