Director Pradeep Sarkar passes away
Hindi film director Pradeep Sarkar, known by the nickname of ‘Dada’ across the industry, passed away suddenly early morning today. The Parineeta director was on dialysis and his potassium levels had dropped drastically.
A late entrant into the world of feature films, Pradeep Sarkar started his career in the advertising industry. He went on to direct several popular music videos as well. The first of his five films was Parineeta in 2005, which was a big success.
The Delhi College of Art gold medallist translated his penchant for art on to his music videos and films—both feature films and commercials—imbibing them with an almost unforgettable charm.
Among the four Filmfare Awards that Parineeta was one for Best Art Direction, which Sarkar shared with Tanushree Sarkar and Keshto Mandal. For Parineeta, he won the Best Debut Film of a Director award at the 53rd National Film Awards.
Pradeep Sarkar directed only five feature films, and all of them stand out: Parineeta (2005), Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (2007), Lafangey Parindey (2010), Mardaani (2014) and Helicopter Eela (2018)
Among the music videos that have stood the test of time are ‘Dhoom Pichak’ and ‘Maaeri’ by Euphoria, ‘Ab Ke Saawan’ by Shubha Mudgal and ‘Piya Basanti’ by Sultan Khan.
For his work in the ad-film industry, he won the prestigious Rapa Award and the Best Director of the Year award at the Abbys.
He worked on more than 3000 ad films, including iconic campaigns like Cadbury’s ‘Pappu Paas Ho Gaya’, Eveready’s ‘Give Me Red’, Catch Masala’s ‘Chinese Whisper’ and the ‘Sabse Tez’ campaign for Aaj Tak.
In an interview given to the exchange4media website in 2021, he said that among his personal favourites were the Yellow Pages campaign from his early days and the ‘Sabse Tez’ campaign for Aaj Tak.
