The 8th Annual Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards were held on 1945, honoring the best Indian cinema in 1944. [1]
Nutan Samarth Bahl, known mononymously as Nutan, was an Indian film actress. In a career spanning nearly four decades, she appeared in more than 70 Hindi films, many in starring roles. Regarded as one of the finest actors in the history of Indian cinema, Nutan was noted for playing unconventional parts and her performances often received praise and accolades. Nutan holds the record of five wins of the Best Actress award at Filmfare, which was held only by her for over 30 years until it was matched by her niece Kajol in 2011. In 1974, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
The Filmfare Best Director Award is one of the main awards presented given by the annual Filmfare Awards to recognise directors working in the Hindi film Industry. It was first presented in 1954 in the inaugural year.
New Theatres is an Indian film studio. It was formed in Calcutta by producer B. N. Sircar. It was formed on 10 February 1931. Motto of this company was– Jivatang Jyotiretu Chhayam. Sircar preferred to function
roughly analogous to what in USA was known as an executive producer. He built a processing laboratory... and got around him a devoted band of people.... Having decided on or approved a story or a subject for a film and the team to make it [Sircar] ensured that adequate funds were provided... but refrained from interfering with its execution. He made New Theatres a symbol of Bengali cinema's artistic good taste and technical excellence.
Madhabi Chakraborty , née Mukherjee, is an Indian actress. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in the Bengali film Dibratrir Kabya. She has acted in some of the most critically acclaimed films in Bengali cinema and is considered one of the great actresses of Bengali cinema.
Motilal Rajvansh was an Indian film actor and the winner of Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Devdas (1955) and Parakh (1960). He is credited with being among Hindi cinema's first natural actors.
Subodh Ghosh was a noted Indian author of Bengali literature and a journalist with the Kolkata-based daily newspaper Ananda Bazar Patrika. His best known work, Bharat Premkatha, is about the romances of epic Indian characters and has remained very popular in the Bengali literary world. Many of his stories have been adapted for classic Indian films, most notably Ritwik Ghatak's Ajantrik (1958) and Bimal Roy's Sujata (1959), and even today filmmakers search his works for suitable plots.
Tarun Majumdar is a Bengali Indian film director who is known for his work in Bengali cinema. He received four National Awards, seven BFJA Awards, five Filmfare Awards and an Anandalok Award. In 1990, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award.
Debashree Roy, also known as Debasree Roy, is an Indian actress, dancer, choreographer, politician and animal rights activist. As an actress, she is known for her work in Hindi and Bengali cinema. She has been cited as the reigning queen of Bengali commercial cinema. She acted in more than a hundred films and won over forty awards, including a National Award, three BFJA Awards, five Kalakar Awards and an Anandalok Award. As a dancer, she is known for her stage adaptations of the various forms of Indian folk dances as well as her innovative dance forms imbued with elements from Indian classical, tribal and folk dance. She runs Natraj dance troupe. She is the founder of Debasree Roy Foundation, a non-profit organisation that works for the cause of stray animals. Roy was a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Raidighi constituency since 2011 till 2021.
Biraj Bahu is a 1954 Hindi film produced by Hiten Choudhury and directed by Bimal Roy, and based on a Bengali novel by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay. The film stars Kamini Kaushal, Abhi Bhattacharya and Pran and has music by Salil Chowdhury. The film won the All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film.
Here is a list of the Best Indian Films as voted by Bengal Film Journalists' Association as part of their annual awards.
Nana Palshikar was an Indian film actor who appeared in over 80 Hindi films. He made his film debut in 1935 with Dhuwandhar, and went on to play character roles in both Hindi mainstream and arthouse films. He was also cast in small parts in a few international productions such as Maya (1966), The Guru (1969) and Gandhi (1982). Palshikar was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, in 1962 and 1965. He was recognised with an award in the same category by the Bengal Film Journalists' Association in 1965.
Birendranath Sircar was an Indian film producer and the founder of New Theatres Calcutta. He made Bengali-language films that were noted for introducing many film directors who later became famous. He was awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1970 and the third highest civilian award in India, the Padma Bhushan, in 1972.
Sudhendu Roy (1921–1999) was a noted Indian film director, art director and production designer in Hindi cinema, most known for his realistic art direction in auteur Bimal Roy's films, like Sujata (1959), Madhumati (1959) and Bandini (1963), and glitzy work in films Subhash Ghai's Karz (1980) and Karma (1986) to Yash Chopra's Silsila (1981), Chandni (1989) and Lamhe (1991). He won the Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction thrice for, Madhumati (1959), Mere Mehboob (1964) and Sagina (1975).
Kamal Bose (1915–1995) was an Indian cinematographer, who shot most of Bimal Roy classics, including Parineeta (1953), Do Bigha Zamin (1953), Bandini (1963), Devdas (1955) and Sujata (1960). He successful transitioned into the coloured film era, and shot Qurbani (1980), Janbaaz (1986) and Dayavan (1988).
The 5th Annual Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards were held on 1942, honoring the best in India cinema in 1941.
Gajanan Jagirdar was a veteran Indian film director, screenwriter and actor. He worked in Hindi Cinema, also called Bollywood, as well as Marathi cinema. The period of 1942 to 1947, saw his rise as a film director with Prabhat Films.
Dui Purush is a 1945 Bengali language epic family drama film directed by Subodh Mitra. Produced by New Theatres and adapted from Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay's novel and popular stage play, with a screenplay by Binoy Chatterjee. The editing was done by Mitra, who was popularly known as Kachi Babu, and cited as one of the best editors in the film industry. The music director was Pankaj Mullick with lyrics by Sailen Roy. The cinematographers were Sudhin Majumdar and Yusuf Mulji. The cast included Chhabi Biswas, Chandrabati Devi, Sunanda Banerjee, Ahindra Choudhury, Tulsi Chakraborty, Jahar Ganguly, and Naresh Mitra.
Malyadan is a 1971 Bengali film directed by Ajoy Kar, based on a short story by Rabindranath Tagore, and starring Soumitra Chatterjee, Sabitri Chatterjee and Nandini Maliya in the lead roles. Tagore's story tells a tragic tale of innocent love. At the 18th National Film Awards, the film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali.
Ekhoni is a 1971 Bengali film directed by Tapan Sinha, starring Aparna Sen, Moushumi Chatterjee, Chinmoy Roy and others. Based on an award-winning novel of the same name by Ramapada Chowdhury, Ekhoni was one of the earliest films to address the problems of urban youth, and to replace the individual hero by a collective protagonist. At the 19th National Film Awards, it won the National Award for Best Screenplay. It also won two BFJA Awards.
Chhuti is a 1967 Bengali film, based on a novel by Bimal Kar. It marked the directorial debut of Arundhati Devi, who also wrote the screenplay and composed the music for the film. At the 14th National Film Awards, it won the National Film Award for Best Film Based on High Literary Work. It also won a number of BFJA Awards, including Best Director.