“Manikda (Satyajit Ray) was a perfectionist. He would not leave his seat even once while he was working, except when he went out for a smoke,” recalls another technician at the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

Memories are all they have.

The NFDC building, which saw those icons up close, churning out some legendary movies, is a haunted house today, standing forgotten in a corner of Behala. 

The technicians have not touched any of the recording or dubbing equipment since 2004.

The sound studio — with facilities of editing, dubbing and mixing — was set up in 1982 by the NFDC itself, at a cost of about Rs 1 crore. Its sole purpose was to provide technical support at a subsidised rate to young documentary filmmakers. The 16 mm project with rock and roll sound facility was the first of its kind in eastern India. Most of the equipment could also handle 35 mm projects.

Those were the times when the film industry was making a shift from the loop system to the rock and roll system.

Filmmakers including Ray, Tapan Sinha, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Tarun Mazumder — had once availed of its facilities.

In 1986, the West Bengal film Development Corporation stepped in with its studio Rupayan and the two together handled the technical aspect of over 90 per cent of all films made and produced in eastern India. “The studio never slept. We were a 20-strong team and many a time we have worked for nights together with the biggies of Tollywood,” says a technician. Ray’s Ghare Baire, Agantuk , Shaka Proshaka, and Sinha’s Aajab Gaayer Aajab Katha, Anokhi Moti  had all availed of the technical facilities of the film center.

By the late 90s, rock and roll sound faded, as did the 16 mm system, giving way to the more efficient digital system.

Directors and producers moved from the sprawling 10-cottah studio to one room digital studios. The last movie that was worked on at the film center was Tarun Mazumdar’s Aalo.

The team of 20 shrunk to 11, the equipment was covered up and all was forgotten.

Instead of modernising the film center, NFDC preferred to start a fresh studio, “Dvani” on Camac Street. Some of the remaining staff members from the Behala studio were absorbed in Dvani.

The Behala studio was not alone in its demise. The NFDC had three other branch offices in Cuttack, Patna and Guahati. Throughout the ‘90s, those have also faded away.