The Bengali Night | |
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Directed by | Nicolas Klotz |
Written by |
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Based on | Bengal Nights by Mircea Eliade |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Emmanuel Machuel |
Edited by | Jean-François Naudon |
Music by | Michel Portal, Brij Narayan |
Distributed by | Gaumont Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 115 minutes |
Countries |
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Language | French |
The Bengali Night (French : la Nuit Bengali) is a 1988 semi-autobiographical film based upon the Mircea Eliade 1933 Romanian novel, Bengal Nights , directed by Nicolas Klotz and starring Hugh Grant, Soumitra Chatterjee, Supriya Pathak and Shabana Azmi.
Allan (Hugh Grant) is an engineer working in 1930s Calcutta. He is invited to stay with the family of his boss, Narendra Sen (Soumitra Chatterjee) which includes his wife, Indira (Shabana Azmi) and daughter Gayatri (Supriya Pathak). Gayatri and Allan become romantically involved leading to tragedy.
Production of the film occurred about a decade after Maitreyi Devi (the inspiration for the character Gayatri) published her version of the story Na Hanyate , (originally published in Bengali). She also extracted a promise from Eliade that his version would never be published in English as long as she is alive. According to Ginu Kamani in "A Terrible Hurt:The Untold Story behind the Publishing of Maitreyi Devi," Maitreyi witnessed the making of the film "The Bengali Night," which was shot in Calcutta from 1987-88 (Eliade had died that year). Her protests culminated "in court cases against the film for insulting Hinduism and for being pornographic." [1] The film was only shown once in India at a film festival in 1989 to mixed reviews and was never released in theaters in the U.S. [1] Kamani also notes:
The film was mostly shot at the huge Zamindar Mansion - "Gaine Bari" of the village of Dhanyakuria and some parts at Indrapuri Studios, Kolkata.
Mahasweta Devi was an Indian writer in Bengali and an activist. Her notable literary works include Hajar Churashir Maa, Rudali, and Aranyer Adhikar. She was a leftist who worked for the rights and empowerment of the tribal people of West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states of India. She was honoured with various literary awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith Award and Ramon Magsaysay Award along with India's civilian awards Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.
Charulata is a 1964 Indian drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Based upon the novel Nastanirh by Rabindranath Tagore, it stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Sailen Mukherjee. The film is considered one of the finest works of Ray and is often featured in the lists of the greatest films ever made.
SoumitraChatterjee was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. He is best known for his collaborations with director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked in fourteen films.
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Teen Kanya is a 1961 Indian Bengali anthology film directed by Satyajit Ray, and based upon short stories by Rabindranath Tagore. The title means "Three Girls", and the film's original Indian release contained three stories. However, the international release of the film contained only two stories, missing the second. This version was released on VHS in 1997 under the title Two Daughters. The Academy Film Archive preserved the international version of Teen Kanya in 1996.
Raima Sen is an Indian actress who is known for her work in Hindi and Bengali films.
The IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress is chosen by the viewers and the winner is announced at the ceremony.
Nastanirh is a 1901 Bengali novella by Rabindranath Tagore. It is the basis for the noted 1964 film Charulata, by Satyajit Ray.
La Nuit Bengali is a 1933 Romanian novel written by the author and philosopher Mircea Eliade.
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Nicolas Klotz is a French filmmaker born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine.
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Maitreyi Devi was an Indian poet and novelist. She is best known for her Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novel, Na Hanyate.
Na Hanyate is a novel written in 1974 in Bengali by Maitreyi Devi, an Indian poet and novelist who was the protégée of the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. The writer received Sahitya Akademi Award for this novel in 1976. She wrote the novel in response to Romanian philosopher Mircea Eliade's book La Nuit Bengali, which related a fictionalised account of their romance during Eliade's visit to India.
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Rita Koiral or Rita Kayral was an Indian Bengali actress, known for her television and film roles. She appeared in several soap opera roles, often as villains and often opposite Monami Ghosh. Directors she worked with included Prabhat Roy, Agnidev Chatterjee and Aparna Sen. She also acted in jatra . Koiral was born in Kolkata, and was still living there at the time of her death. She obtained a BA and an MA in accountancy from Calcutta University. Later she joined Durdarshan Kendra Calcutta as its newsreader.