 History of Bengali cinema dates back to 1898, when Hiralal Sen had established the Royal Bioscope Company, which was the first exhibition-production organization of the Bengalis. Bengali cinema evolved into current form and occupied a place of honor as the art of photography and filmmaking evolved in this part of the country.
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With the arrival of first bioscope in Calcutta, Hiralal Sen got attracted to it and started putting up bioscope shows at some of the most renowned theatre halls of Bengal. Later he produced at least forty films including India's first political film about the partition of Bengal. After Hiralal Sen, the next major milestone of Indian cinema was Dadasaheb Phalke, who made the first feature film Raja Harishchandra. The first Bengali silent movie Billwamangal was also produced during this time. The silent movies gradually led to the emergence of films with soundtracks. Jamai Sasthi was the first talkie film in Bengali released in 1931. One noticeable characteristic of the films of the yester years was that most of the stories of the films were based on the writings of the popular contemporary Bengali novelists. Some very popular writings like Kapalkundala, Durgesh Nandini etc. by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee were made into films.
Top The films of the past reached a different dimension as stalwarts like Pramathesh Barua and popular star actress, Kanan Devi came into the scene. Kanan Devi’s songs were also instrumental in some of the biggest hit films. Music directors of the films of the stature of Rai Chand Baral, also directed the music of at least hundred and fifty films, like Vidayapati. It was the combined effort of Raichand Baral, Nitin Basu, Mukul Basu and Pankaj Kumar Mullick, that made the application of the play-back method fruitful.
Top The Bengali films acquired a distinctive quality when Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen duo undertook a journey into the world of Bengali romantic melodramas. They formed one of the most stable and fascinating romantic screen pairs in the history of Bengali cinema, and this magic worked for several decades, starting in 1953, with the film Share Chuattor. The pair went on starring in many romantic and sensational dramatic pieces like Shap Mochan, Sagarika, Pathey Holo Deri, Harano Sur and Saptapadi. Besides such hits, some of the most emotional performances of Suchitra Sen are in the films Uttar Phalguni, Sat Pake Bandha (opposite Soumitra Chatterjee), Hospital (opposite Ashok Kumar), and Deep Jeley Jai. Uttam Kumar’s spontaneity of acting was actually unveiled in the film Nayak directed by Satyajit Ray. His role in Nayak fetched him the National Award for Best Actor.
Uttam Kumar & Suchitra Sen |
Uttam Kumar & Suchitra Sen |
Suchitra Sen |
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Most of Satyajit Ray’s films were successful as they showed diversity of moods, techniques, and genres.
Ray swooped on the Indian scene with new dynamism and his films reached a luminous height as he evolved a different cinematic style. He usually made realistic films but he also experimented with improbable things. Known to the world, as the greatest film makers of all times, Ray produced thirty-six feature films, documentaries and short stories. |
Satyajit Ray |
Many of the sequence of events that Ray took up for his films were unfamiliar to popular Indian cinema but these unpopular themes put Indian cinema on the world map.
 Sample of Satyajit Ray's Movie |
Top Apart from Ray, the fifties saw the arrival of two other film makers- Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen with exceptional intellectual or creative power.
Ritwik Ghatak
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Mrinal Sen
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Mrinal Sen made his debut with "Raat Bhor/The Dawn" (1956). Mrinal Sen has also directed films in other Indian languages. His films were tremendously influenced by Marxist ideals. Ritwik Ghatak’s films constituted a record of the traumas of change form the desperation of the rootless and deprived refugees from East Bengal. Ritwik’s first film was Nagarik (1952). His other major films include Ajantrik (1957), Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Komal Gandhar (1961), Subarnarekha (1962) and Jukti Takko Gappo (1974). Directors like Tapan Sinha also made their mark during this period.
Sample of Mirnal Sen's Movie
Sample of Ritwik Ghatak's Movie
Sample of Tapan Sinha's Movie |
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After many of these greats passed away, the Bengali film world went through a dark phase. The vibrancy was rejuvenated when new directors like Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Goutam Ghosh emerged. |
Buddhadeb Dasgupta |
| Sample of Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Movie |
Ghosh, a political activist and photo journalist stepped into the world of film making. His first film was Mabhoomi in Telugu, which depicted the rebellion of the workers against the Nizam of Hyderabad. Some of his finest films are Antarjali Yatra, Padma Nadir Majhi, Paar and Dakha. |
Goutam Ghosh |
| Sample of Goutam Ghosh's Movie |
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With Rituparno Ghosh emerging, we saw a man from the ad world undertook a daring journey to the film world with children’s film ‘Hirer Angti’. After a gap, he came up with three good movies, Unishe April, Dahan and Utsab.
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Rituparno Ghosh |
| Sample of Rituparno Ghosh's Movie |
Aparna Sen with her numerous films in Bangla, English and Hindi has also emerged as a powerful director from being only a successful actress.
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Aparna Sen |
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