Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, or simply Lagaan, is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language epic period musical sports drama film written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film was produced by Aamir Khan, who stars alongside debutant Gracy Singh and British actors Rachel Shelley and Paul Blackthorne. Set in 1893, during the late Victorian period of British colonial rule in India, the film follows the inhabitants of a village in Central India, who, burdened by high taxes and several years of drought, are challenged by an arrogant British Indian Army officer to a game of cricket as a wager to avoid paying the taxes they owe. The villagers face the arduous task of learning a game that is alien to them and play for a victory.
Mrinal Sen was an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and a few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Indian filmmakers, along with his contemporaries Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, and Tapan Sinha, Sen played a major role in the New Wave cinema of eastern India.
Rituparno Ghosh was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his second feature film Unishe April which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Having won 19 National Awards, along with his contemporaries Aparna Sen and Goutam Ghose, Rituparno heralded contemporary Bengali cinema to greater heights. Ghosh died on 30 May 2013 in Kolkata after a heart attack. Ghosh was also one of the openly homosexual personalities in Indian cinema.
Utpal Dutt was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the "Little Theatre Group" in 1949. This group enacted many English, Shakespearean and Brecht plays, in a period now known as the "Epic theatre" period, before it immersed itself completely in highly political and radical theatre. His plays became an apt vehicle for the expression of his Marxist ideologies, visible in socio-political plays such as Kallol (1965), Manusher Adhikar, Louha Manob (1964), Tiner Toloar and Maha-Bidroha. He also acted in over 100 Bengali and Hindi films in a career spanning 40 years, and remains most known for his roles in films such as Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome (1969), Satyajit Ray’s Agantuk (1991), Gautam Ghose’s Padma Nadir Majhi (1992) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee's breezy Hindi comedies such as Gol Maal (1979) and Rang Birangi (1983). He also did the role of a sculptor, Sir Digindra Narayan, in the episode Seemant Heera of Byomkesh Bakshi on Doordarshan in 1993, shortly before his death.
Nandita Das is an Indian actress and director. She has acted in over 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das appeared in the films Fire (1996), Earth (1998), Bawandar (2000), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Azhagi (2002),Kamli (2006), and Before The Rains (2007). Her directorial debut Firaaq (2008), premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and travelled to more than 50 festivals, winning more than 20 awards. Her second film as a director was Manto (2018). Based on the life of 20th Century Indo-Pakistani short story writer Sadat Hasan Manto, the film was screened at Cannes Film Festival in the "Un Certain Regard" section. In September 2019, Das produced a two-minute Public Service Announcement music video India's Got Colour. The music video is about the issue of colourism and urges the audience to celebrate India's diversity of skin colour. Her first book, 'Manto & I', chronicles her 6-year long journey of making the film. She wrote, directed, produced and acted in a short film called, Listen to Her, that sheds light on the increase in domestic violence and overburden of work that women have been facing during the lockdown. She had also sought petition seeking the commutation of the death sentence handed out to Ajmal Kasab.
Bhuvan Shome is a 1969 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Mrinal Sen based on a Bengali story by Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay. The cast includes Utpal Dutt and Suhasini Mulay. The film is considered a landmark in modern Indian cinema.
Suhasini Mulay is an Indian actress in Assamese, Bollywood and Marathi films as well as television. She won five National Film Awards.
Ranjit Mallick is an Indian actor who works mainly in Bengali cinema. Though he has starred in parallel films like Interview, Calcutta 71, Shakha Proshakha and romantic comedy like Mouchak; he is particularly known for appearing in action films such as Shatru, Guru Dakshina, Amader Songsar, Indrajit, Jibon Niye Khela, Nabab etc. In later years, he has further received praise for playing supporting roles in Sathi, Nater Guru, Gyarakal, Chander Bari and Bajimaat. He was also the Sheriff of Kolkata for the year 2014. He is one of the most anticipated actors of Bengali cinema and has been a part of more than 100 films as of now. Megastar in Bengali film industry
Mrigayaa is a 1976 Indian historical drama film directed by Mrinal Sen and produced by K. Rajeshwara Rao. It is based on an Odia short story by Bhagbati Charan Panigrahi, called "Shikaar". The film portrayed the relationship between the British colonial government and native villagers, and the exploitation of the latter by Indian landlords in 1920s India. It also depicts the friendship between a British administrator, who has a flair for game hunting, and a native tribal, who is an expert archer. The lead actors, Mithun Chakraborty and Mamata Shankar, both made their cinematic debuts through the film.
Kharij, sometimes translated as The Case is Closed, is a 1982 Bengali film by Mrinal Sen under the banner of Neelkanth Films. It is based on the 1974 Ramapada Chowdhury novel of the same name. The film was hit at the box-office.
Cinema of West Bengal, also known as Tollywood or Bengali cinema, is an Indian film industry of Bengali-language motion pictures. It is based in the Tollygunge region of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The origins of the nickname Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge and Hollywood, dates back to 1932. It was a historically important film industry, at one time the centre of Indian film production. The Bengali film industry is known for producing many of Indian cinema's most critically acclaimed global Parallel Cinema and art films, with several of its filmmakers gaining prominence at the Indian National Film Awards as well as international acclaim.
Tota Roy Chowdhury is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Bengali and Hindi cinema. He is also known for his versatile acting performances, fitness, martial arts and dance moves. His notable roles include Feluda in the web TV series Feluda Pherot based on Satyajit Ray's Feluda series, Chandon Chatterjee in Karan Johar's film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani and Rohit Sen in Star Jalsha's daily soap Sreemoyee.
The Odia cinema, colloquially known as Ollywood, is the Odia language Indian film industry, based in Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack in Odisha, India. The name Ollywood is a portmanteau of the words Odia and Hollywood.
Koushik Sen is an Indian actor in film, television and theatre, based in Kolkata. He is the director of the theatre group Swapnasandhani. He won a Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for best supporting actor for his performance in the Mrinal Sen directed film Aamar Bhuvan. He was awarded Girish Purashkar 2023 by the Cultural Department of the Government of West Bengal for his extraordinary contributions to theatre. This year he was also awarded Telly Academy Best Actor Award for Godhuli Alap series.
Firaaq is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Nandita Das. It is set one month after the 2002 violence in Gujarat, India and looks at the aftermath in its effects on the lives of everyday people. It claims to be based on "a thousand true stories". Firaaq means both separation and quest in Arabic. The film is the directorial debut of actress Nandita Das and stars Naseeruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Inaamulhaq, Nassar, Paresh Rawal, Sanjay Suri, Raghubir Yadav, Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash and Tisca Chopra.
Sadhu Meher was an Indian actor, director and producer.
K. K. Mahajan was an Indian cinematographer who was known for his work in Parallel Cinema. In a career that spanned over four decades, he won four National Film Awards. He was best known for his work with filmmakers such as Kumar Shahani, Mani Kaul, Basu Chatterjee and Mrinal Sen.
Bolo Na Tumi Aamar is a 2010 romantic comedy movie directed by Sujit Mondal and starring Dev and Koel Mallick in lead roles with Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Mousumi Saha and Tota Roy Chowdhury in supporting roles. The music was scored by Jeet Ganguly. The film was released on 15 January 2010. The film was a remake of the 2006 Telugu movie Happy, which itself is inspired by the Tamil film Azhagiya Theeye. It was Super-hit at the box-office. It was the second highest grossing movie in 2010.
Munnudi is a 2000 Indian Kannada language film directed by P. Sheshadri, based on Bolwar Mahammad Kunhi's short story Muthucchera, and starring Tara, H. G. Dattatreya, Shashikumar and Chaya Singh in pivotal roles.
Shekhar Chatterjee (1924–1990) was an Indian actor and film director.
