The Last Tenant: Sarthak recalls directing Irrfan in a film lost 25 years ago

Director-writer Sarthak Dasgupta recently released The Last Tenant, a long-lost short film starring the late actor Irrfan and Vidya Balan, on YouTube on Irrfan’s sixth death anniversary. Shot nearly 25 years ago, the film remained unreleased after its tapes were lost and damaged over time.

In an exclusive interview with India Today, Dasgupta opened up about rediscovering the film, working with a young Irrfan and Vidya, and why releasing it now became an emotional experience for him.

Calling the release “cathartic”, Dasgupta said the film had stayed buried in a “dark corner” of his mind for years after he lost the original footage.

“This film was lost. One of the tapes had completely disappeared and the other had developed fungus, so it became unusable. In my mind, it remained an unreleased film for years,” he said.

The filmmaker revealed that The Last Tenant was his very first directorial project, made at a time when he had no formal filmmaking training. Before entering cinema, Dasgupta had studied engineering and finance and worked in the corporate sector.

“I came from a finance background. I had done engineering and an MBA and was working in a financial organisation. I had not assisted anyone or trained in filmmaking. I was a complete novice,” he recalled.

Dasgupta said the film’s disappearance left him deeply disheartened. “For years, I couldn’t revisit the film. I didn’t even know whether it was good or bad because I had no copy left to watch,” he said.

The film resurfaced unexpectedly when an old VHS tape was found just before being discarded.

“I asked someone to check the tape before throwing it away, and suddenly I realised it was The Last Tenant. It was surreal,” he shared.

According to Dasgupta, the idea to release the film came from one of his assistants around Irrfan's death anniversary.

“One of my assistants suggested that we release it as a tribute to Irrfan on his sixth death anniversary. I felt that was the right thing to do,” he said.

The director admitted he uploaded the film online without any major expectations. “I didn’t care whether the film was good, bad or ugly. It was something that existed with Irrfan in it, and people deserved to see it,” he added.

The warm response that followed surprised him. “It completely went beyond all expectations. People started talking about it, writing about it. I got messages on Facebook, Instagram, calls from everywhere. Catharsis is probably the right word — something that was lost, got found, came out, and was loved by people. Every time I saw a reaction, I felt if I did it today I would probably do it differently. I was constantly being extra judgmental about my own work. But that was not the case with the audience. They just lapped it up. People are still commenting on YouTube itself,” Dasgupta said.

Recalling his first interaction with Irrfan, Dasgupta said the actor immediately connected with the story despite knowing he was working with an inexperienced filmmaker.

“I kept seeing Irrfan on television back then. His restraint, his eyes and his dialogue delivery were exactly what I wanted for the character,” he said.

Dasgupta eventually contacted the actor and narrated the script to him at his home. “I told him honestly that I didn’t understand filmmaking and was just trying to make my first film. He simply said, ‘Don’t worry. This story is beautiful. I’ll do it,’” he recalled.

The filmmaker also remembered how supportive Irrfan was throughout the shoot. “On set, Irrfan was exactly the kind of collaborator that a first-time director desperately needs — patient, generous, and completely without ego about the situation. "Irrfan, I think, was always Irrfan. He only got better and better, but he was already fantastic by then. There were not too many takes. He would understand and he would listen. Here was an actor who had done so much work from NSD — but knowing now, in hindsight, how little I knew as a director, he would still try to understand what I wanted and keep giving things. He never tried to teach me or be difficult," he shared.

He added, “Working with Irrfan gave me confidence that maybe I could direct and tell stories.”

Dasgupta also spoke fondly about Vidya Balan, who agreed to be part of the project after reading the script. “Both Irrfan and Vidya were incredibly warm and supportive. They trusted me even when I didn’t fully trust myself,” he said.

After The Last Tenant, Dasgupta went on to direct projects such as The Great Indian Butterfly, Music Teacher, 200 Halla Ho and the web series Dharavi Bank. He is currently developing Marathi films and a new Hindi feature project.

The Last Tenant, meanwhile, is on YouTube — watched, appreciated, and commented on by people who had no idea it existed a few weeks ago. A 43-minute film made by a novice director with no training, featuring an actor who would go on to become one of the finest of his generation, preserved on a VHS tape that almost got thrown away.
It is, all things considered, quite a story.