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 major role in the New Wave cinema of eastern India.
The Bengal famine of 1943 was an anthropogenic famine in the Bengal province of British India during World War II. An estimated 2.1–3 million people died, in the Bengal region, from starvation, malaria and other diseases aggravated by malnutrition, population displacement, unsanitary conditions and lack of health care. Millions were impoverished as the crisis overwhelmed large segments of the economy and catastrophically disrupted the social fabric. Eventually, families disintegrated; men sold their small farms and left home to look for work or to join the British Indian Army, and women and children became homeless migrants, often travelling to Calcutta or other large cities in search of organised relief.
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.
Madhabi Chakraborty 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.
Several fiction, non-fiction and cinemas were based on Kolkata or depicted Kolkata from certain point of views. Some of such works are listed here.
Mannu Bhandari Yadav was an Indian author, screenplay writer, teacher, and playwright. Primarily known for her two Hindi novels, Aap Ka Bunty and Mahabhoj (Feast), Bhandari also wrote over 150 short stories, several other novels, screenplays for television and film, and adaptations for theater. She was a pioneer of the Nayi Kahani movement in Hindi literature, which focused on the aspirations of the emerging Indian middle class, and her own work is notable for its depiction of the inner lives of middle class working and educated women. Her work tackles themes of family, relationships, gender equality, and caste discrimination in India.
Tarini Khuro is a fictional character created by Satyajit Ray. Literally it means respected uncle Tarini. Khuro in old colloquial Bengali means paternal uncle. The full name of Tarini Khuro is Tarini Charan Bandopadhyay. Tarini khuro's adventure stories have a touch of supernatural forces in them. Ray's earlier creations were Feluda and Professor Shonku. This character is central to about fifteen stories written by Ray.
Mohit Chattopadhyaya was a Bengali Indian playwright, screenwriter, dramatist and poet. He was a leading figure in modern Indian drama. Mohit Chottopadhya died on 12 April 2012. He had been suffering from cancer.
Khandhar is a 1984 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Mrinal Sen, based on a Bengali short story, Telenapota Abishkar by Premendra Mitra. The film stars Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival.
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 their exploitation 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.
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.
Matira Manisha is a 1966 Odia film directed by Mrinal Sen.
Interview (1971) was a Bengali film directed by noted Indian art film director Mrinal Sen. A path-breaking film in terms of narrative innovation and cinematic technique, it was a commercial and critical success. It also happened to be the debut film of Ranjit Mallick. Although it was a film on the colonial hangover, it touched upon diverse issues like anti-establishment, middle class cowardice, and unemployment.
Akash Kusum is a 1965 Bengali film directed by noted Indian parallel film director Mrinal Sen. The film was remade in 1979 in Hindi as Manzil.
Samik Bandyopadhyay is a Kolkata-based critic of Indian art, theatre and film.
Chinnamul was a 1950 Bengali film directed by Nemai Ghosh. This was the first Indian film that dealt with the partition of India. The story revolved around a group of farmers from East Pakistan who were forced to migrate to Calcutta because of the partition of Bengal in 1947. Russian film director Vsevolod Pudovkin came to Calcutta at that time, watched this film, and being inspired, he bought the print of this film to release in Russia. The film was shown in 188 theaters in Russia.
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 resonated feel of his old house of Beniapukur.
Apanjan is a 1968 Bengali film directed by Tapan Sinha. Set against the backdrop of the political violence that rocked India, and West Bengal in particular, in the late 1960s, it tells the story of an aged widow in a village who goes to Calcutta to stay with relatives, but faces only exploitation. She moves to a slum, and finds her "own people" in a group of educated, unemployed youth, who are caught up inexorably in the prevalent violence. The film was a commercial success, and also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali, as well as several BFJA Awards. In 1971, it was remade in Hindi as Mere Apne by Gulzar and in 1984, in Kannada as Benki Birugali.
Asit Bandopadhyay was a Bengali dramatist, screenwriter and actor. He was associated with the Nandikar theater group. He lived and worked in Kolkata, India. He was a playwright, screenwriter, director and actor.
Satya Bandhyopadhyay was an Indian actor, known for his work in Bengali cinema. He acted in over 300 Plays, in numerous plays and performed frequently on the theatre.
