Documentary filmmaker TK Roy passes away

Documentary filmmaker and convenor of Navdurga Puja in Barabanki, Tushar Kanti Roy passed away on Sunday morning. He was 63. Roy died of cardiac arrest in his Jopling Road residence at 5.30 am. As per his wish, his last rite were performed in Barabanki, attended by a large number of prominent citizens. Producer and director of SR Films, Roy specialised in making documentaries

Documentary filmmaker and convenor of Navdurga Puja in Barabanki, Tushar Kanti Roy passed away on Sunday morning. He was 63. Roy died of cardiac arrest in his Jopling Road residence at 5.30 am. As per his wish, his last rite were performed in Barabanki, attended by a large number of prominent citizens.

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Producer and director of SR Films, Roy specialised in making documentaries. Two of his documentaries were selected for screening in two international film festivals early this year. The film titled ‘From Tragedy to Triumph: A story of reconstruction’, based on the tragedy that hit Ladakh in August 2010 and another film, ‘Bamboo and Tribes of India’ were selected in Noida and Jaipur International Film Festivals.

Not many are aware that Roy was also a magician par excellence and had staged several shows in South Africa and other parts of the world.

On his initiative, Navdurga Puja, Barabanki teamed up with HT Lucknow, to host a photography contest-cum-exhibition on Durga Puja for three successive years.

Prominent citizens including Surya Mohan Kulshrestha, Yugal Kishore, Prof Ranu Uniyal, DIET principal Lalita Pradeep and hundreds of others bid him a tearful adieu. Kulshreshtha, former director of Bhartendu Natya Akademi said, “Lucknow has lost a very big suppor t er of culture. Be it theatre, literature or any other art form, he was a supporter of all. When I was director of BNA, he asked me to conduct a workshop for children of a village in Barabanki. He did so much for the children of the village.”

“Tushar Roy called me Dada and had been covering my philanthropic activities with children since 2004 through his lens,” he penned.

“Roy made 4 documentary movies for HOPE, one of which on life-stye issues, won him acclaim in the Indian Film Festival. His movies are regularly screened in schools in UP and NCR by HOPE Initiative to this day. I will miss his creative genius, social spirit, and of course his long enriching personal friendship,” Dr Choudhuri wrote on the social media.

Yugal Kishore, a senior theatre artist said, “I know TK Roy from the time he was Raju Jadugar. He was a world class magician whose shows were held in South Africa and Mauritius. His films are shown and taught to students at Cambridge and Oxford universities. Whatever he did was par excellence.”