For filmmaker, actor, singer-song writer Anjan Dutt, Darjeeling has always had a very special place in his heart and craft, so to speak. Right from his time as a pupil at St Paul’s School, to the filming of Bada Din, his maiden Bollywood directorial venture, to the composition of one of his more popular single scores in Bengali … Dutt’s love for and understanding of Darjeeling is almost esoteric.

Gulf News caught up with him for a freewheeling chat. Following are excerpts:

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ANJAN DUTT: The problem is that there has been no attempt to integrate Darjeeling with the rest of Bengal or India for a long, long time. The current unrest has its roots in the turmoil that erupted in 1984. The then Left Front government did not take any concrete steps to make its presence felt in Darjeeling. And Subhash Ghisingh completely ruined the economy of this beautiful, colonial-era hill station. Darjeeling is not just about tea and tourism. It used to have the best of schools in India. Students used to come from all over the world to study there. All that has been ruined.

How proactive has the present state government in Bengal been in trying to resolve the issue?

I am very happy and proud that my chief minister has gone up there, time and again, and made her presence felt. Mamata Banerjee’s physical presence in the hills and the fact that she has been personally requesting people to open their shops and establishments and urging tourists to stay on is immensely significant. With these overtures, she has made a difference in the government’s approach. And I’m dead sure that the people of Darjeeling want the government and the administration to make their presence felt, because the current agitation by GJM is extremely unruly.

Is there any legitimacy in this Gorkhaland demand?

I personally feel Gorkhaland is an impossibility. But what I personally feel is not the point. It is for the Central Government to see whether this demand is legitimate or not. But all I want to say is that this lawlessness in the name of Gorkhaland cannot be tolerated.

For someone who had grown up in those hills, does the current turmoil hurt you?

Darjeeling has ceased to be the place it was. It had such a cosmopolitan culture. But now … the nightlife in Darjeeling is finished, the music in Darjeeling is finished. Just because of a very skewed sense of ethnicity, the essential historicity of the place is being lost. There is no civil society in Darjeeling that can stand up against this vandalism and say that ‘no these are heritage buildings, you cannot touch these …’ It’s just low-end tourism that is left now in Darjeeling. High-end tourism is gone.

Where do you think the solution lies?

Darjeeling has to be integrated with the rest of Bengal. Darjeeling isn’t just about Gorkhas. There are Lepchas, Bhutias, Marwaris and so on. The Gorkhas can’t just say Darjeeling belongs to them and they cannot be allowed to step aside from any attempt at integration, claiming that they are a unique lot.