Mrinal Sen was a Bengali 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.
Kabir Suman is a Bengali Muslim singer-songwriter, musician, music director, music composer, writer, actor, politician, and former journalist lives in the Indian state of West Bengal He shot to fame in the 1990s with Bengali albums such as Tomake Chai and Boshe Anko (Sit-and-Draw). Suman has won a National Film Award for Best Music Direction for his work in Jaatishwar (2014).
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.
Anandalok Puraskar or Anandalok Awards ceremony is an award ceremony for Bengali film in India. The Anandalok, only film magazine in Bengali language, published from Ananda Publishers and Ananda Bazar Patrika presents this award (Puraskar). The magazine was started on 25 January 1975 and the awards ceremony was started in 1998.
Cinema of West Bengal, also known as Tollywood or Bengali cinema, is the segment of Indian cinema, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Bengali language widely spoken in the state of West Bengal. 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.
Lopamudra Mitra is an Indian Bengali-language singer who started the trend of singing " Kobitar Gaan" or music set to poems. She is a doyen in this genre. Her most notable Kobitar Gaan, or poem set to tune, is Benimadhob by Joy Goswami. She is a popular singer in other genres like Folk, Modern Bengali Songs, and Rabindra sangeet.
Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona is a 2011 Bengali language Indian rock musical drama film directed by Anjan Dutt. It won three national film awards in 2011 including best music direction and best feature film in Bengali.
Sudhin Dasgupta was a prolific Bengali music director, lyricist and singer. He worked in various other Indian languages, such as Hindi, Assamese and Oriya. His contribution opened a new horizon to the Bengali music for both the arenas of Bengali basic song as well as Bengali film song.
Riddhi Sen is an Indian film actor who predominantly works in Bengali films along with a few Hindi films. He is the youngest actor in India to receive the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film Nagarkirtan.
Madly Bangalee is a Bengali 2009 rock musical film directed by Anjan Dutt. During his previous film "Bong Connection" shot in Houston, Director Anjan Dutt received a lot of help and support from Houston filmmaker San Banarje who arranged for the film's American cast and crew and saved the film. During this period, Anjan Dutt became a self-proclaimed fan of San Banarje and named the protagonist of this film after San.
Pijush Ganguly was a noted Bengali film, television and theater actor. In 2005 he received the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Mahulbanir Sereng.
Parno Mitra is an Indian actress who appears in Bengali films. Mitra started her career on television. Her acting assignment was Ravi Ojha's Bengali TV series Khela (2007). She was catapulted to stardom after she enacted Ranjana in Anjan Dutta's National Award winning Bengali film Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona (2011).
Ushasie Chakraborty is an Indian actress and academic who works in Bengali language films. She has played the role of Satyabati in Anjan Dutt's film adaptations on Byomkesh Bakshi. She currently plays the role of June Guha in the Bengali television show Sreemoyee.
Neel Dutt is an Indian composer and singer from Kolkata. He received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction from the Govt. of India in 2012 for the soundtrack of the Bengali film Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbona. Dutt is the third person from West Bengal to win the Best Music Direction award. He is arguably the first music director in India to rearrange a Rabindranath Tagore composition with modern electronic music.
Dutta Vs Dutta is a 2012 Indian Bengali film directed by Anjan Dutt. This is Anjan Dutt's semi-autobiographical film. Most of the film has been shot in a house of Amherst Street in Kolkata. Anjan has described this house as that which resonated the feel of his old house of Beniapukur.
Maach Mishti & More is a 2013 Indian Bengali language drama film directed by Mainak Bhaumik. This is a comedy film about today's Bengali generation. Rituparno Ghosh wrote lyrics of the songs of this film.
Aami Ashbo Phirey is a 2018 India Bengali-language drama film directed by Anjan Dutt and produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. The film stars Anjan Dutt, Kaushik Sen, Swastika Mukherjee, Anindya Chatterjee, Darshana Banik, Sauraseni Maitra, and Anjana Basu. Dutt collaborated on the music with his son Neel Dutt, who composed the music to his father's lyrics. The film was released on 13 April 2018.
The West Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for Best Male Playback Singer is given yearly by WBFJA as a part of its annual West Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards for Bengali films, to recognize the best male singer of the previous year.
