People like him are rare in film industry

My family and I had known Soumitra babu from when I was in my mid-teens. He often came to our house and addressed my father as "dada" and my mother as "boudi". As time passed, we did many films together and became good friends.

We used to talk about literature, film and various other art forms. He taught me a lot about acting, especially when it came to shooting and blocking, which helped me most when I became a director.

He used to tell me to consider technology a friend -- the light, microphone and camera make up half of our craft and the other half was our own performance, according to his philosophy of a good shot.

People like him are rare in the film industry -- he could write poems, perform elocution, write scripts, direct and, it goes without saying, he could act. His demise will always remain an irreparable loss.