Bosonto Choudhury superseded Uttam Kumar in Shankhabela.

Bosonto Choudhury superseded Uttam Kumar in Shankhabela.

Bosonto Choudhury superseded Uttam Kumar in Agragami’s epic film Shankhobela. The film was released in the year 1966 and ended up being a blockbuster.

There was lot of history behind the film. Sudhin Dasgupta, the composer of music in the film for the first time used Manna Dey to sing for Bengali superstar Uttam Kumar. All the songs in the film sung by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar became super hit. Some of them included “ke pratham kache esechi”, picturised in the romantic scenario of Maithon amidst river Damodar, “ami agantuk ami barta dilaam”, “aaj mon cheyeche ami hariye jabo”, to name a few.

As far as Bosonto Choudhury was concerned, he was one of the competitors of Uttam Kumar other than Bikash Roy and Astiboron, who had started their careers with Uttam Kumar. Bosonto Choudhury acted in lesser number of films, as he only signed those films which suited his culture, aristocracy and education. Therefore from his first film Mahaprashthaner Pothe, his performance in noted films used to depict aristocracy legacy of Bengal that was left behind by Chabi Biswas.

In Shonkhobela, he played the role of the doctor, who treated Uttam Kumar’s son, after Uttam Kumar left his Madhabi. Madhabi could not compromise with Uttam Kumar’s fast life, full of parties and hard drinks, which was necessary for the success of his marketing career. She left the house of Uttam Kumar and worked in a school to upbring her child.

Bosonto Choudhury showed compassion to Madhabi, and understood her social standing while treating the child. The story of her life was told to him by his assistant played by Mrinal. The child had to be treated and operation had to be carried out which the signing of bond by the guardian. Bosonto Choudhury compelled the father of the child Uttam Kumar to come and sign the bond.

He scolded Uttam Kumar for remaining carefree about his son who was terribly sick. Bosonto Choudhury’s astounding personality in the film brought back the marital peace of Uttam Kumar and Madhabi Muherjee who stayed separately after the differences were made.

The viewers appreciated Uttam Kumar’s brilliant performance in the role of a romantic husband which he depicted with highest amount of maturity. Uttam Kumar’s romantic style of performance had always created a benchmark in the world of romantic acting and that was the reason why Oscar Winning director Satyajit Ray had considered Uttam Kumar as the greatest matinee idol, fulfilling the aspirations of numerous middle-class Indians. But some way down the line, Bosonto Chouhdury superseded Uttam Kumar with his aristocrat performance and at the end of the film received higher accolades from the critics and educated section of the society. Both Uttam Kumar and Bosonto Choudhury had immense contribution in Bengali classic films, and their space had remained empty after 50 years of the completion of the films. For those reasons Shonkhobela should be preserved and restored.

Review of Amritakumbher Sandhane.

Review of Amritakumbher Sandhane.

Director Dilip Ray experimented with epic literature of Bengal’s literary giant Samaresh Bose titled Amrito Kumbher Sandhane. The film was based on the experience of visiting Kumbh Mela in Prayag Sangam in Allahabad. It was probably the last film where Sudhin Dasgupta composed music mostly which included bhajans and bayul songs.

Subhendu Chatterji played the role of the observer in the film. He was a writer and related the stories of different individuals who travelled with him. He observed the story of Bhanu Banerjee, who had a daughter, who left the house with her girl friend and never returned back. Bhanu searched for her in Allahabad.

He witnessed the story of George Becker, who was a sadhu, then married Sanghamitra and left the life of ascetic. But she left him and became a baijee in Benaras and again returned back to Allahabad as a devotee. Anup Kumar was a bayul, who went to Prayag for giving holy dip in the sangam of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. But at the holy time for bathing in Prayag, there was immense rush and got stamped and died.

Subhendu met a Bihari family of Pramod Ganguly and his three wives. The characters were played by Aparna Sen, Ruma Guha Thakurta and Lili Chakravarty. Their husband was old and infirm. He was taken to Prayag so that the holy dip can change his health. Instead he got stamped in the rush and died. All the three wives got back being widows.

At the time when everyone wanted to bath in Prayag, the naga sanyasis from different akhras created a mess, and the police and administration failed to stop the crowd and the unrest. It took away the lives of more than thousands of people and the rest returned back with injuries.

Samarash Bose attacked the unscientific belief in the minds of rural people in India that bathing in the holy waters of Prayag during Kumbh Mela can wash away all their evil and bring prosperity in life. His words were given expression by Subhendu Chatterji in the film he realized that Kumbh Mela hardly brought any happiness and prosperity, on the other hand took the lives of innocent people. But for uneducated population of the country the religious beliefs in their minds cannot be substituted by rational scientific thinking.

Dilip Ray was appreciated for his efforts to make a film on the brilliant subject and the film ended being very successful.

Manna Dey and Sudhin Dasgupta.

Manna Dey and Sudhin Dasgupta.

Manna Dey had a very sweet relationship with Sudhin Dasgupta. He was used by almost all the leading composers of Bengal namely Anil Bagchi, Nochiketa Ghosh, Salil Choudhury and others. But probably his westernized andaz was used to the limit by Sudhin Dasgupta.

Sudhin Dasgupta used Manna Dey in Uttam Kumar’s film Goli Theke Rajpoth with the song “lag lag lag lag bhelkir khela”. Manna Dey’s songs “ami agantuk” and “ke prothom kache esechi” composed by Sudhin Dasgupta in Uttam Kumar’s film Shankhabela created sensation in Bengali celluloid in 1966. Manna Dey’s songs “ami kon pothe je choli” and “bachao ke acho” in Uttam Kumar’s film Choddobeshi became super hit as well.

In the 70s, Manna Dey’s songs “esechi ami esechi”, “lekha porata shikhe phele” and “paye paye joriye rakho” in Uttam Kumar’s film Har Mana Har created sensation as well. Uttam Kumar gave the lips of his lifetime in the film Har Mana Har. While major success of Sudhin Dasgupta came in Uttam Kumar’s films, he made major contribution in Soumitra Chatterji’s films as well. The songs “ei shohor theke aro anek dure”, “hoyto tomari jonyo”, “jibone ki pabona” in the film Teen Bhubaner Pare, composed by Sudhin Dasgupta and sung by Manna Dey showed the westernized orchestration of the giant composer.

Sudhin Dasupta’s songs in Soumitra’s films Prothom Kodom Phul and Bosonto Bilaap were equally successful. Manna Dey’s all round musical skills were used to perfection in these films. Even the song “ogo tomar sesh bichare asay” sung by Manna Dey in bayul andaz in Kali Banerjee’s legendary film Dak Horkora, and composed by Sudhin Dasgupta made the viewers speechless.

Manna Dey sang many numbers of solo numbers as basic discs under the compositions of Sudhin Dasgupta. One of the notable songs included “ami taar thikana rakhini”. The songs of Sudhin Dasgupta and Manna Dey combination should be preserved and restored.

Contribution of Geeta Dutt in Bengali films.

Contribution of Geeta Dutt in Bengali films.

Geeta Dutt was probably the most successful playback singer of bollywood films after Lata Mangeshkar in the 50s and 60s. She had sung for all the leading singers of the period including Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Wahida Rehman and others.

Geeta Dutt was extremely successful in Bengali films as well. Her song “tumi je amar” sung in the film Harano Sur for Suchitra Sen became the greatest hit of the 50s. The song was played in Uttam Kumar’s film Harano Sur a number of times by the director Ajoy Kar and was used to bring back the memory of Uttam Kumar who lost it in an accident.

Geeta Dutt’s songs “ogo shundara”, “jhanak jhanak madhur badhon baaje” and “nir choto khoti nei” composed by Nochiketa Ghosh and picturised on Suchitra Sen in the film Indrani stormed the bollywood viewers in 1958. The film became super hit and songs became timeless hits.

Suchitra Sen and Geeta Dutt combination again struck gold in the film Hospital. The song “ei shundor sharnali shondhay” became super hit in the film. Very Geeta Dutt suited Suchitra Sen as well as Sandhya Mukherjee’s voice. Both Geeta Dutt and Sandhya Mukherjee used to be considered the most popular singers of the golden age, the 50s and 60s.

Geeta Dutt’s other hit songs in Bengali films include “amar duti chokhe” and “ei mayabi tithi” sung in Uttam Kumar’s film Sonar Horin. The songs were picturised on the actress Namita Sinha. Geeta Dutt’s song “kacher chirir chotay” composed by Sudhin Dasgupta and picturised on Sabitri Chatterji became super hit in 1958. It was song in Agragami’s epic film Dakharkara where Kali Banerjee played the role of his life.

Geeta Dutt sang many memorable hit songs for Mala Sinha in Bengali films. One of such songs included “nishi raat banka chaand akashe” in Uttam Kumar’s film Prithibi Amare Chay. The other song include “banshi bujhi shei sure aar baajbe na” sung in the film Sathi Hara with Mala Sinha and Uttam Kumar.

The other films where Geeta Dutt made significant contribution included Lukochuri, Modhyorater Tara, etc. Geeta Dutt’s songs should be preserved and restored.

Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya - the legendary classical singer of bengal.

Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya – the legendary classical singer of Bengal.

Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya was the one of the legendary classical singer of Bengal of the 50s and 60s, who showed his excellence in films songs, Bengali modern songs and shyamasangeet. He did not get the recognition he deserved as the major attention of the media was focused only towards Hemant Kumar, the romantic singer of Bengal, but along with Manobendra Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Akhilbondhu Ghosh, Satinath Mukherjee and others, Dhanonjoy’s classical touch inspired the composers to compose pure classical and semi-classical songs.

Dhanonjoy’s evergreen modern songs included “matite jonmo nilam” composed by Prabir Mojumdar, “kabir kheyale premomoy tumi samrat shahjahan” composed by himself, “jhanana jhanana baje” composed by Salil Choudhury, “ei jhir jhir jhir batashe” composed by Sudhin Dasgupta, “ruma jhuma jhum” composed by Rotu Mukherjee, “antabihin oi andharater” composed by Salil Choudhury, “shilpi moner bedona”, “tandra elo bolo jaagi kemon kore”, “chameli melona ankhi”, “bashorer deep aaj” to name a few.

Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya acted in Bengali films like Pasher Bari (which was remade in hindi with the title Parosan where Kishore Kumar played his role), nobo bidhan, etc. His brilliant songs in Bengali films included “jagannath swami gamanapathagami bhabatue” sung in the film Nilachole Mahaprobhu, composed by Raichand Boral, “jhir jhir jhir jhir jhir borosha” in the film Pasher Bari, composed by Salil Choudhury, “katharo aghate chinno paye rokto jhare” in Uttam Kumar’s film Sabar Upare, composed by Robin Chatterji, etc. He made major contribution in Uttam Kumar’s film Nabajanmo, Uttam Kumar’s film Shilpi, etc.

Besides, Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya had sung more than 200 shyama sangeet (devotional songs sung for Goddess Kali). Some of his legendary shyama sangeet included “e maya proponchomoy” in the Uttam Kumar’s film Share Chuattor, “gaya ganga prabashadi” in the film Rani Rashmoni, also major songs in the films Sadhok Bamakhepa and Joto Mot Tato Poth. His brother Pannalal Bhattacharya became a legend in the world of Shyama sangeet.

Dhanonjoy died in the early 1990s, after leaving a huge treasure of classical songs and still remains a king (samrat) in the minds of numerous music lovers in the country.

Review of Uttam Kumar's Shankhabela.

Review of Uttam Kumar’s Shankhabela.

Uttam Kumar was the uncrowned monarch of Bengali classic films of the 50s, 60s and 70s. He had acted in around 205 films, so most of his films are landmarks in Bengali film industry. But some of the films created history due to some unique reasons. Shankhabela is one of that kind of film.

The film as released in 1966. Uttam Kumar was big corporate officer in the film who had married Madhabi Mukherjee and had a small son. Due to requirement of corporate world, he had to give parties distribute drinks to the business tycoons of the respective jurisdiction and get involved in drinking himself. All these activities were not like by Madhabi Mukherjee. She felt that all those activities could spoil her son.

After repeated requests when Madhabi saw that Uttam Kumar could not avoid parties, drinking, etc., she left the house and lived separately with her son. The son fell seriously in due period of time and was brought before Bosonto Choudhury, a specialist doctor in Kolkata. He asked her to get her son admitted in the hospital.

While treating the child he tried to reunite the family which was virtually separated. He called Uttam Kumar, the father of the child, and told him about his son’s sickness and rebuked him for failing to fulfill the responsibilities of a father. After curing the child he asked Uttam Kumar to take his wife and child back home thereby ending their mental differences.

The important fact in the film was that the composer Sudhin Dasgupta, used Manna Dey, the legendary singer of bollywood films to sing songs for Uttam Kumar, for the first time. He was associated with successful Hemant Kumar whose matched him the most. Manna Dey was previously used in the song “lag lag lag lag velki khela” in Uttam Kumar’s film Goli Theke Rajpoth in 1959, by Sudhin Dasgupta, but that was not a musical film, and the musical excellence of Manna Dey remained unnoticed.

Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar’s spirited performance in the songs “ke pratham kache asechi”, “ami agantuk ami barta dilam”, “aaj mon cheyeche ami hariye jabo” flabbergasted the Bengali audience. Due to the success of Shankhabela, Manna Dey dethroned Hemant Kumar from being the dominant singer in Bengali films, and created a magical combination with Uttam Kumar till his death. Manna Dey’s hit songs for Uttam Kumar stormed Bengali films like Anthony Firingi, Nishi Padda, Chowrangee, Jibon Mrityu, Stri, Chaddabeshi, Chiradiner, Sanyasi Raja, etc., to name a few.

Besides, Uttam Kumar gave the most romantic lips in a boat with Madhabi in Mython in the romantic song “ke prothom kache esechi”. The composition was totally westernized and the lyrics written by Pulak Banerjee was very romantic. Even legendary composer Naushad appreciated Sudhin Dasgupta for making the tune of “ke pratham kache esechi”, when Sudhin Dasgupta went to Bombay to place it before Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar.

The other aspect of the film directed by Saroj De ( the main director of Agragami), was the casting of Bosonto Choudhury in the role of the doctor. He was assisted by a panel of doctors including Mrinal who had his debue in the film, but his personality overshadowed the romantic personality of Uttam Kumar. Critics argue that Bosonto Choudhury gave his best performance in the film Shankhabela. The film addressed the intellectual viewers of Bengal and other parts of the country and could be very well categorsied as cine-classic. The film and the songs should be restored for those reasons.

Uttam Kumar and Sudhin Dasgupta

Uttam Kumar and Sudhin Dasgupta.

Uttam Kumar had dominated Bengali cinema for more than 35 years till his death in 1980. There were lot of composers who had contributed a lot for the success of his films which included Anupam Ghatak, Robin Chatterji, Anil Bagchi, Hemant Kumar, Nochiketa Ghosh, Salil Choudhury, to name a few. Among them Sudhin Dasgupta made a memorable contribution for the success of Uttam Kumar’s films and he especially created a combination of Manna Dey with Uttam Kumar which no other composer thought before him.

Sudhin Dasgupta used Manna Dey for the song “lag lag lag lag bhelkir khela” in Uttam Kumar’s film Goli Theke Rajpoth in 1959. At that time although Uttam Kumar became Mahanayak he was still overshadowed by the powerful performances of Chabi Biswas who was the dominating figure in Bengali films in the 50s. The film was related to the manner in which Chabi Biswas reformed Uttam Kumar who was previously a thief in the film. The music was appreciated by the musiclovers.

In 1966, Sudhin Dasgupta stormed Bengali films with his romantic composition for Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar titled “ke prothom kache esechi” in Uttam Kumar’s film Shonkho Bela. The film was directed by Saroj Dey under the banner of Agragami and Uttam Kumar acted along with Bosonto Choudhury and Madhabi Mukherjee in the film. The other hit songs in the film included “ami agantuk” by Manna Dey and “aaj mon cheyeche ai hariye jabo” sung by Lata Mangeshkar. The film became superhit and gave birth to the combination of Uttam Kumar and Manna Dey which ruled Bengali films for the next 20 years.

The same combination entertained the viewers in the film Choddobeshi. The major hit songs of the film included “amar din katena” by Asha Bhosle, “aro dure cholo jai” by Manna Dey and Asha Bhoshle, “ami kon pathe je choli” and “bachao ke acho” by Manna Dey. Sudhin Dasgupta impressed the viewers with his westernized tunes in a film which was based on a comedy story. The same film was remade in hindi with the title Chupke Chupke.

Sudhin Dasgupta gave superhit tunes in Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen’s film Har Mana Har. The hit songs included “esechi ami esechi”, “lekhaporata sikhe phele”, “pae pae choriye rakho”, etc. The film was released in 1971 and created strong impression in the box-office.

The other hit films where Suchin Dasgupta gave good music to Uttam Kumar included Kokhono Megh, where Anjana Bhowmick acted opposite Uttam Kumar. The above-mentioned films should be restored for their immense musical value.