Tapan Sinha (84), the legendary filmmaker from Bengal, passed away on Thursday morning at a city hospital after a prolonged illness. He was suffering from bronchopneumonia, electrolyte imbalance and several other age-related problems. He is survived by his son Anindya Sinha. Sinha’s death marks the end of an era in Bengali film making.

The iconic filmmaker’s demise saw the entire Tollywood film fraternity descend on his New Alipore residence to pay their last respects. As his mortal remains were brought into the house, celebrities made a beeline in front of his house to have a last glimpse of the departed soul. Shooting for films was suspended for the whole day.

It’s not easy to describe Tapan Sinha as a filmmaker. Yet, if there is one thing that distinguished him from other contemporary greats, it would be his ability to say the most complex things in the simplest possible manner. Take his breakthrough film, Kabluiwallah, for instance. This seemingly simple tale of an Afghani trader in India, adapted from Rabindranath Tagore’s novel by the same name, talked about nationality and modernism, but it did so with simple humanism that touched a chord with the audience instantly.

On Thursday morning, the scene at a non-descript New Alipore bylane where Sinha lived carried an irony of sorts. The otherwise quiet lane, lined by old houses, suddenly seemed to have come to life. Curious neighbours and onlookers drawn by the crowd and the TV crew vans zooming around the lane, craned their necks to catch a glimpse of Sinha. Inside, there was total silence.

“The last ride”, as filmmaker and Sinha’s peer Mrinal Sen said, “turns out to be the most overwhelming one¿and the most ironical too.”

Born in 1924 in Kolkata, Sinha began his film career as a sound engineer in Kolkata’s New Theatre in 1946. In 1950, he got an opportunity to work at Pinewood Studios in the UK where he spent two years. On returning to India, he turned his attention to film direction and made several films in Bengali, Hindi and Oriya.

Though works of Hollywood greats like John Ford and Billy Wilder inspired him a lot, if there was one steady influence on his works, it had to be Rabindranath Tagore. In a career spanning over three decades, he made three films based on Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s works — Kabuliwala, Khudito Pashan and Atithi.

Sinha, who straddled Hindi and Bengali cinema with equal ease, left the industry with gems in the form of children’s films like Sabuj Dwiper Raja (1979), Safed Hathi (1978) and Anokhi Moti (2000).