Dear Master the film - On Demand Replay (27 March 2024 show)

This blog post is by Mrs. Subha Das Mollick, Director of Dear Master a film about Bose Einstein. The film was presented at a special showing at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences on the campus of the university.

Below are Mrs. Das Mollick's impressions of the event. A recording the pre and post showing discussion on Zoom is available. To view the film itself, please follow the instructions below.

Dear Master the film is available for viewing until Sunday 7 April, 2024 midnight Pacific Standard Time. After that please contact [email protected] for additional information.

​Thank you.

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It happens rarely in the life of a filmmaker that the grandchildren of the protagonists of her film grace the world premiere of the film.

That incredible moment came in my life on the 27th of March, 2024, when Dear Master was screened at the Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Sriloy Dey, the prime mover of the event, had tracked down Albert Einstein’s great grandson Dr. Thomas Einstein and invited him to the world premiere of this film that explores the relationship between the star physicist of the day and an unknown physicist from a little known town in a colonized nation.

Dr. Dey had also invited Falguni Sarkar, a grandson of this ‘little known physicist’. Today half the fundamental particles constituting the Universe are named after this physicist. His name is Satyendranath Bose and the particles that obey the statistics propounded by him are called Bosons. Falguni Sarkar called this epochal event of the coming together of the two grandsons, nothing short of ‘quantum entanglement’.

For the world premiere of Dear Master, there was a small live audience at Ohio University and there was an eclectic audience of science enthusiasts from different corners of the world, who had joined online and who watched the film via the Vimeo link.

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By way of introduction I said that I was sitting in Bose’s native city Calcutta, once considered the second city of the Empire. In this city Bose is still a revered name, not because half the particles of the Universe are named after him, but because so many people have inherited fond memories of this friendly, easy going, ever helpful physicist who shunned the ivory tower of fame and led the life of a people’s physicist.

Among the audience too were some with fond memories of Bose.  They stayed back after the screening to share these cherished memories. They also asked questions that sprang in their mind after viewing the film. For many others in the audience, this relationship between two scientific minds was a revelation. In spite of their lack of knowledge in Physics, they were drawn into the human story. They wanted to know more about the points of divergence between Bose and Einstein’s thoughts on counting light quanta. They asked about the significance of Bose Einstein Statistics in our everyday life.

Partha Debnath, who had joined in from Philadelphia, reminded us about the ‘God particles’ Higgs Bosons, that had hogged the newspaper headlines a little more than a decade ago. Bachaspati Roy from Delaware informed us about the children’s book he is writing on Indian luminaries in the pre Independence era. He said that the scientists in that era enjoyed a lot of camaraderie and they functioned almost like a consortium.

The conversation inevitably turned to AI when, in response to Jayasri Hart’s comments, I said that the animations and recreations of Europe of the 1920s was a product of human intelligence and not AI.

The conversation drifted from AI as image maker to AI as language expert. Bose, in his lifetime, had vociferously promoted the use of mother tongue for learning science. Today AI has made that task simpler.
Interestingly, almost 100 percent of the online audience were Indians and 80 percent of them were first generation Bengalis residing in different parts of the world.  The world premiere of Dear Master on the 27th of March proved that Satyendranath Bose is still a big draw among Bengalis anywhere in the world. Sadly, his influence tapers off outside this sphere.

For me, the biggest take away of this world premiere was the comment by Darcie Whelan Kortan, “As a lay person, it was hard to understand the issue about the emission of the atom (that he seemed to disagree with Einstein about). If any physicist could explain briefly, much appreciated.”

Thank you Darcie for following the film closely and asking such a pertinent question, even though you are not a physicist and you are not a Bengali. If the film succeeds in triggering the minds of more viewers like you, I shall consider that as the greatest fulfillment of my love’s labour.

Subha Das Mollick
Director, Dear Master
​Kolkata, India

 Watch the Zoom Discussion (43 minutes)

Dear Master Ohio screening (With subtitles) from Subha Das Mollick on Vimeo.

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We want to hear from you!

After you have watched Dear Master we would love to get your feedback and review of the film.  Please take a few moments to provide us with your review and comments via the form below. Unless you approve otherwise, all information about you will be kept confidential, and will not be made available to any third party, advertiser, or related institution.

​Thank you!

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Make a Donation

The SN Bose Project is an independent project led by Falguni Sarkar to educate the public about the life, work and contributions of Professor Satyendra Nath Bose, founder of Bose Einstein Statistics and for whom the fundamental particle Boson is named after.

The project often partners with writers, filmmakers, artists, and other organizations to host events relating to Professor Bose. Unless otherwise noted, all activities are offered at no cost. As such, if you would like to make a NON tax deductible donation to the SN Bose Project and our partners, we welcome your support with a donation of as much as you are able. Every penny is valuable for us and will help us keep going, and allow us to produce more content around this important project.

For more information contact [email protected].