Apurba Kishore Bir

Apurba Kishore Bir (born 1948), also known as A. K. Bir, is an Indian film cinematographer, screenwriter and director. An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, he worked in various Ad-films and documentaries before making his feature-film debut. He won the National Film Award for Best Cinematography for 27 Down, his debut film. His directional debut Aadi Mimansa won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. Bir's other directional ventures Lavanya Preeti and Baaja were bestowed with the National Film Award for Best Children's Film. As of 2014, he has won nine National Film Awards—including three for Best Cinematography—and is one of the directors of National Film Development Corporation of India.

Bir (left) at IFFI 2011

Apurba Kishore Bir
Bir in 2016
Born1948 (age 74–75)[1]
Odisha, India
Alma materFilm and Television Institute of India[2]
Occupation(s)Cinematographer, Director
Years active1973–present
Spouse
Prativa Bir
​
(m. 1982)​
ParentAjoy Chandra Bir
AwardsNational Film Award for Best Cinematography

Biography

Born in Balikuti village of Odisha, Bir had a great passion for painting. At the insistence of his father, he joined the Film and Television Institute of India with a specialisation in motion-picture cinematography.[3] After passing out of the institute, he worked on short films and documentaries. 27 Down, his debut feature-film as a cinematographer, won him the Best Cinematographer award at the 21st National Film Awards.[3][4] Nearly 70 percent of the film was shot using a handheld camera.[4] Bir was one of the first-unit cameramen for Richard Attenborough's Gandhi.[5][6] He won two more awards for "Best Cinematography" for Daasi (1988) and Aadi Mimansa (1991). The latter also marked his directional debut.[7] It won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. As a director Known for his work in Parallel Cinema. Bir's films focused on children as two of his films—Lavanya Preeti and Baaja won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film in 1993 and 2002 respectively. The former received the "Best Asian Film" award at the Osaka International Film Festival in addition to an "International Jury's Critic Award" and a screening at the Berlin International Film Festival.[3] Hamari Beti, for which he wrote the screenplay apart from photography and direction, was screened at the competitive section of the "World Film Section" of Chicago International Film Festival in 2006.[5] In 2012, Bir was appointed as one of the directors of the National Film Development Corporation of India.[5] He headed the "Technical Sub-committee" and was the chairman of the feature film jury of the 45th International Film Festival of India in 2014.[8][9]

Filmography

Awards

Best Cinematography

Best Regional Film (Oriya)

Best Children's films

Best Film on National Integration

1991: Aadi Mimansa

Other awards and honours
  • 1991 – Aravindan Award for Best First Film of a Director Aadi Mimansa[11]
  • 1993 – International Jury's Critic Award at Udaipur International Film Festival for Lavanya Preeti[11]
  • Jayadeba Award[12]
  • Lavanya Preeti – Best Asian Film award at the Osaka International Film Festival.[13]
  • 2011 – Taranga Cine Awards for Best Cinematography[14]
  • 2013 – Padma Shri[15]

References
  1. "Apurba Kishore Bir - About This Person - Movies & TV". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2013. Born in 1948 in Orissa
  2. "::DIRECTORATE OF FILM FESTIVALS::". dff.nic.in. Retrieved 16 January 2013. In 1974 three Oriya graduates from the FTII, Sadhu Meher (Actor), A.K. Bir (Cinematographer) and Ravi Patnaik (Editor), secured National Awards for the film, '27DOWN'.
  3. "ONFILM Apurba Kishore Bir". Eastman Kodak. 22 April 2013. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  4. "Apurba Kishore Bir on 27 Down". Time Out. Mumbai. 11 December 2009. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  5. "Oriya cinematographer Apurba Kishore Bir appointed independent director of NDFC". odishatoday.com. 2012. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2013. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has appointed noted Oriya cinematographer AK Bir as one of the independent directors of National Film Development Corporation
  6. "Director's Biography: A K Bir". Children's Film Society. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  7. Agrawal, S. P. (1 January 1993). Development Digression Diary of India : 3d Companion Volume To Information India 1991–92. Concept Publishing Company. p. 18. ISBN 978-81-7022-305-4.
  8. "Technical Sub-committee of IFFI 2014". Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original on 23 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  9. "45th International Film Festival of India, 2014 - Indian Panorama 2014: Final Selection for Feature and Non-Feature Films" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  10. "Regional films hold the clue to Indian ethos". The Times of India. 2011. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2013. Bir also handled the second camera in the first unit of Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning film Gandhi
  11. "46th National Film Festival 1999". Directorate of Film Festivals. p. 75. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  12. "Apurba Kishore Bir to get Jayadev Award". The Pioneer. India. 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2013. Apurba Kishore Bir will get Jayadev Award, the highest honour of Oriya cinema for lifetime achievement, for the year of 2010
  13. "Labanya Preeti (Loving Hearts) | Children's Film Society, India". cfsindia.org. Retrieved 17 January 2013. The film won the Best Asian Film award at the Osaka International Film Festival
  14. ":: Odiaone News – Latest Ollywood happenings. News, Stories, Ollywood Masala and many more". odiaone.com. 2012. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2013. Best Cinematographer – A.K. Bir (Jianta Bhuta)
  15. "Padma awards for Sharmila, Rajesh Khanna, Sridevi – The Economic Times". The Times of India. 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013. cameraman Apurba Kishore Bir, ... were named for Padma Shri.
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