Chowringhee (film)

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Chowringhee
Chowringhee poster.jpeg
Directed byPinaki Bhushan Mukherjee
Written by Mani Shankar Mukherjee
Screenplay byAmal Sarkar
Based on Chowringhee by Mani Shankar Mukherjee
Produced byAshima Bhattachariya
Starring Uttam Kumar
Supriya Devi
Utpal Dutta
Biswajit Chattopadhyay
Subhendu Chattopadhyay
Anjana Bhowmick
CinematographyDinen Gupta
Edited byKali Raha
Music byAshima Bhattacharjee
Rabindranath Tagore
Production
company
Pompy Films
Distributed byPompy Films
Release date
  • 30 September 1968 (1968-09-30)
Running time
141 minutes
CountryIndia
Language Bengali

Chowringhee is a 1968 Indian Bengali drama film by Pinaki Bhushan Mukherjee, starring Uttam Kumar and Subhendu Chatterjee who played the lead role and Biswajit Chatterjee, Supriya Devi and Anjana Bhowmick in supporting role. The music of the film was composed by Ashima Bhattachariya who also produced this film. The film is based on a Bengal novel of the same name by Shankar. [1]

Contents

Plot

The movie revolves around the experiences of the characters the author Shankar meets while working at one of the largest and most reputed hotels of Kolkata, Hotel Shahjahan. At the end of the movie, most of the characters experience tragedy, in one form or another.

The major characters Shankar encounters with are:

Cast

Soundtrack

Chowringhee
Soundtrack album by
Released
  • 1968 (1968)
Recorded1967
StudioPompy Films
Genre Feature film soundtrack
Length0:10:15
Label Angel Digital Pvt Ltd
Producer Ashima Bhattachariya
Ashima Bhattachariya chronology
Chowringhee
(1968)
Memsaheb
(1972)

All lyrics are written by Rabindranath Tagore and Miltu Ghosh; all music is composed by Ashima Bhattachariya and Rabindranath Tagore. Every song became hugely popular and contributed a lot to the film's success.

Songs
No.TitlePlaybackLength
1."Baro Eka Lage" Manna Dey 3:37
2."Ei Kothati Mone Rekho" Pratima Banerjee 3:27
3."Kache Robe" Hemanta Mukherjee 3:11
Total length:10:15

Production

The film is based on Mani Shankar Mukherjee's most selling novel Chowronghee. Pinaki Bhusan Mukherjee directed the film, with music composed and also produced by Ashima Bhattachariya.

Film production started during late 1967 and early 1968. For the film shooting, production units were booked to the Grand Hotel of Kolkata. The film shot in Grand Hotel and Technicians Studio, both place. There is two main protagonists Sata Bose the character played by Uttam, and a writer Shankar played by Subhendu Chatterjee. During the starting of the shooting Subhendu had scheduling problems because he was attending in the Frankfurt Festival for his film Panchashwaar . Then he contacted Uttam to pause filming. Then Uttam requested to the producer and director to start filming a few days later. [2]

The plot of the film set in 1950s at in 1950 to 1952. The character of Sata Bose is inspired from two real person. First one is Satya Charan Bose who was a officer of Eastern Railway and second one is a hotelior of Spencas hotel. Both person was a same attitude like a foreigners which is a different from others bengali at that era. [3]

Reception

Film become huge popular and received huge acclaim like the novel, but the novel and the film both did not receive any awards, and also Uttam never got any awards for his outstanding performance in the film. [4] The film earned the cult status. [5]

The song Baro Eka Lage sang by Manna Dey picturized by Uttam Kumar become chartbuster and huge popular till today.

Release in Durga puja occasion in 1968 the film become huge success it's ran to full houses 112 days and ran overall 150 days in theaters. [6] The Film become blockbuster and the highest grossing Bengali film in 1968.

Awards

Bengal Film Journalists Association Award 1969 [7]

Remakes

National Film Award winner director Srijit Mukherjee made a film based on this same story in 2019, Shahjahan Regency . [8]

Legacy

The film become cult hit like novel. The novel is adapted later in many languages. The film become still popular in today's audience.

Uttam Kumar performance the main highlight of the film and regarded one of the best. Author Shankar was said that in a interview When Uttam Kumar, sitting beside me, asked me about my views after the first show, I said ‘You have made your portrayal even more attractive than the Sata Bose I developed’. He immediately asked, ‘Will you write it down for me?’. I said, ‘Even if I don’t, the public won’t wait for my views’. He asked me what’s so special about Sata Bose. I said ‘There are a few people who win hearts by not doing much like Sata Bose and film industry has quite a few such personalities. [9]

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References

  1. "Chowringhee". The Hindu . Chennai, India. 1 April 2007. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
  2. "পড়েছিলেন ডাক্তারি, হয়ে গেলেন নায়ক!". www.anandabazar.com (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  3. "Real "Sata Bose" of Chowringhee".
  4. "আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা - মুখোমুখি". archives.anandabazar.com. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  5. Prabuddha (23 February 2018). "Rewind: 50 Years of Chowringhee". RadioBanglaNet. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  6. "নিমাই ভট্টাচার্যের লেখা 'মেমসাহেব' নিয়ে সিনেমা করায় প্রথম চয়েস ছিলেন সুচিত্রা, পরে কাজ করেন অপর্ণা | TheWall". 26 June 2020. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  7. www.filmiclub.comaward/bfja-awards. 26 March 2023 https://www.filmiclub.comaward/bfja-awards/bfja-awards-1969.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. "What Srijit Mukherji thinks about the 1968 cult classic 'Chowringhee'? - Times of India". The Times of India. 4 January 2019. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  9. "Chowringhee".