Tribute to Tagore on his death anniversary

Today morning, I woke up to Rabindrasangeet being transmitted from two Bengali TV channels and realized that they were paying tribute to Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore on his death anniversary.
Rabindra Nath Tagore – a man of many qualities, a man who has penetrated into the very fabric of Bengali culture like no one has ever done or will ever do. He was a master with creating characters, situations and was comfortable with poetry and prose. His two-liners have become memorable quotes for Bengalis from all walks of life – from the lover boy to the wise old men.
He was perfectly at ease with poetry and prose – examples are the dance dramas that he composed. Not only the songs but the music and the dance forms. It was a capsule for which the credit belonged to him and him only. Side by side, his novels and short stories keep the readers spellbound.

He belonged to a rich family but, right from his childhood, he was different – that is why he began to compose poetry just by listening to the pitter patter of raindrops on the leaves. Or – staring at the tall palm trees swaying in the wind, he could compose some more poetry that are unforgettable.
Many of his works were made into movies by Satyajit Ray and, more recently, it has become for others movie makers to jump on to the bandwagon of Tagore to come to the limelight – the dress code of his era brings back nostalgic memories which these movie makers exploit to the hilt.
Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 for his collection of poems and is probably the only man who has composed national anthems for two countries – India (Jana gana maa) and Bangladesh (Amar sonar Bangla).
He had established Bishwa Bharati University. It was an open air citadel of education where students came from all corners of the world. I had visited the place a couple of years back and was sad – the place had lost its charm. The buildings were in need of repairs and the surroundings looked as if no one really bothered about the upkeep. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Influence of Bengali culture on Hindi movies

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Influence of Bengali culture on Hindi movies

We have noticed that during the last decade, there has been an unmistakable influence of Bengali culture on Hindi movies and even TV serials, thanks to big names like Sarat Chandra Chattopadhaya, Rabindra Nath Tagore and Satyajit Ray – they had very strong power of writing and when their novels came on the silver screen the products took the world by storm. Of course, some part of the credit should go to the producers and directors who saw tremendous potential in the story and were adept at translating the thoughts into visuals that kept the audience spellbound.
Take the novel Devdas – it was penned by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhaya in 1917 and its first movie version was released in 1955 – it was directed by Bimal Roy. Subsequently, in 2002, it got a fresh of life with the direction of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the cast of Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Maduri Dixit. Yes, the storyline was modified to accommodate the 21st century mindset and the result was a boost to Bengali culture.
Another similar movie is Parineeta – another story of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhaya. Originally written in 1914, it captured the imagination of the audience when it was made in Hindi in 2005 with Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan and Sabyasachi Chakravorty. The period costumes, the Bengali settings helped to make popular the Bengali culture.
It needs to be mentioned that Vidya Balan has contributed a lot to popularize Bengali culture through her memorable performance in the 2012 movie Kahani – it gave the viewers a ringside view of the famous Durga Puja festival in Kolkata.

Bollywood usually portrayed Bengalis as Keshto Mukherjee, a drunkard or Asit Sen, the potbellied character who could fit into the role of a policeman with ease. To the common man outside Bengal, the people of Bengal were shown to be fond of fish and rosogolla. But, gradually, perceptions have changed – thanks to movie producers and directors who have had the courage to break out of tradition.
The result is for all to see – Bengali dress styles, Bengali food, Bengali culture and even characters who mouth Bengali words have increased in not only the Bollywood movies but can be seen in TV aerials as well.(to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Life at ATTI gets boring, I begin to like Bengali movies

As the days passed, my life began to get boring. The routine became monotonous. Coming to the classes in the morning at Clive House and listening to the lectures on Aircraft Materials or Theory of Flight made it difficult to suppress the yawns. But then, as the saying goes, what can’t be cured must be endured. Therefore I began to explore newer avenues of keeping myself occupied.
One of these was going in for Bengali movies in the cinema halls in the Shyambazar-Hatibagan area. Till then my preference was for English movies because I had my basic schooling and college in English medium. Hence, I was more comfortable in that language. However, my Bengali friends in ATTI changed my outlook.
It was in 1963 that I began seeing Bengali movies and some of these were real masterpieces like Mahanagar of Satyajit Ray, Nirjan Saikate of Tapan Sinha and Uttar Falguni of Asit Sen in which Suchitra Sen played the dual role of mother and daughter. Other memorable movies were Palatak starring Anup Kumar and Deya Neya starring Uttam Kumar.
Then there were Saat Pakey Bandha – this was another of Suchitra Sen’s hit movie. This movie earned for her the Best Actress Award at the prestigious Moscow Film Festival 1963.
Another remarkable movie was Chhaya Surya – its heroine was Sharmila Tagore and she gave a really wonderful performance in the movie.
To cut it short, watching these movies, I realized that the mother tongue is important come what may and, mentally, I began to prepare myself mentally to prove that I was a Bengali. (to be continued …)

Growing up days – Bengali movies of the 1960s

The Bengali movies of the 1960s presented a special era in movie making because it brought to the forefront C, a black and white movie that revolutionized film making.
Later, in 1962, he presented the movie Kanchenjangha – the first Bengali movie in color. This was another mini revolution because Bengali movies in that period were more often than not in black and white. Suffice it to say that Satyajit Ray left a deep impression on Bengalis and their world of make believe.

As to actors and actresses, the choice in that period was limited to stalwarts like Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Sabitri Chatterjee, Supriya Debi, Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Aparna Sen, Bikash Roy, Kamal Mitra, Pahari Sanyal and their contemporaries. Some of them became typecast in fatherly roles like Kamal Mitra, Pahari Sanyal.
Then there were those who excelled in comic roles – names like Jahar Roy, Bhanu Bandopadhaya, Anup Kumar, Nripati Chatterji, and Robi Ghosh come to mind immediately. They ruled the roost for decades.
Incidentally, Suchitra Sen received international acclaim through the movie Saat Paake Bandha – she received Best Actress award in the 1963 Moscow Film Festival. (to be continued …)