Aranyer Dinratri was Ray's masterpiece.

Aranyer Dinratri was Ray’s masterpiece.

Satyajit Ray experimented with classic literature of Sunil Ganguly to make the film Aranyer Dinratri in 1969. The film was based on the life of tribals of forest area in the region of Palamou and Daltongunge in Bihar.

It was Ray’s masterpiece. The film was related to the experience of four Bengali friends who went for a travelling experience in Palamou for few days. Soumitra Chatterji, Subhendu Chatterji, Samit Bhanja and Robi Ghosh were the four friends.

They met the family Pahari Sanyal who had a house in the forest region. The life of the tribals and the solitude attracted the friends and they started staying in the forest bunglow without the permission of the forest ranger. Pahari Sanyal’s daughter Sharmila Tagore fell in love with Soumitra Chatterji, while his daughter-in-law Kaberi Bose liked Subhendu Chatterji.

Samit Bhanja, a cricket player in the film was depressed about his girlfriend Aparna Sen in Kolkata and mixed with Simmi Garewal, a tribal girl. In fact it was the only film of Satyajit Ray where Simmi Garewal acted. He was beaten up by a local tribal, who he accused about stealing his purse. In fact his purse fell down in the house of Pahari Sanyal where he was playing badminton with Kaberi Bose, Subhendu Chatterji and Robi Ghosh.

They returned back after staying for few days. It was pity that Satyajit Ray could not make a coloured film in 1969, otherwise, the weird landscape of Daltongunge would have haunted the viewers. The nightlife in the tribal forest was very unique with the native people drinking a kind of desi alcohol and sleeping.

Goutam Ghosh got attracted with the film and made a sequel of it with the title Abar Aranye, few years back. He had to change the team, because although Soumitra Chatterji, Subhendu Chatterji and Samit Bhanja was alive, Robi Ghosh had died. Kaberi Bose also died in the late 70s. The film won a number of awards both nationally and internationally. The film Aranyer Dinratri should be preserved and restored.

Tapen Chatterji had been remembered on expiry.

Tapen Chatterji had been remembered on expiry.

Satyajit Ray’s grand creation Gupi Gayeen died on 25th May, 2010. Tapen Chatterji suffered a massive heart attack and died in Kolkata on 25th May, 2010.

He was an automobile engineer. He worked in Bikaner in Rajasthan for some time. Poet Subhas Mukherjee took Tapen Chatterji to the office of Sandesh Publication House. Sandesh was edited by Satyajit Ray at that point of time.

Satyajit Ray did cast Tapen Chatterji in the film Gupi Gayeen Bagha Bayeen released in 1963. The story of the film was written by Ray’s grandfather Upendra Kishore Ray Choudhury. The rest was history. Tapen Chatterji gave lips in leading songs in the film sung by Anup Ghoshal, namely “bhuter raja dilo bar”, “maharaja tomare selam”, “tham theme thak”, “ek je chilo raja”, “dekhore nayan mele”, to name a few.

Gupi Gayeen won national and international awards under different categories. Satyajit Ray again did cast him again in the film Hirak Rajar Deshe in 1980. Again he played the role of Gupi Gayeen along with Robi Ghosh playing the role of Bagha Bayeen. In Gupi Gayeen Bagha Bayeen, Tapen Chatterji stopped Jahar Ray from attacking Shundi kingdom and killing Santosh Dutta. In Hirak Rajar Deshe he brought the end of the evil regime of Utpal Dutta who played the role of Hiraker Raja.

But apart from Satyajit Ray’s Gupi Bhagha series, he did get chance only in very few landmark films. One of them included Arobindo Mukherjee’s film Dhanni Meye. Uttam Kumar played the lead role in the blockbuster released in 1971. Tapen Chatterji played the role of the brother in law of Uttam Kumar and gave able lips in Manna Dey’s song “sab khelar sera bangalir tumi football”.

Tapen Chatterji’s other notable films included Sadhu Judhisthirer karcha, Shriman Prithviraj, etc. But viewers remember the tall actor in the immortal role of Gupi Gayeen. Children all across the country mourn the death of their larger than life character gupi gayeen, who had come out of child literature and made the character immortal. Tapen Chatterji’s soul should rest in peace.

Satyajit Ray's film Mahapurush amazed the viewers.

Satyajit Ray’s film Mahapurush amazed the viewers.

Satyajit Ray made the film Mahapurush based on the literature of Raj Shekhar Basu, a renowned writer of Bengal. Previously Raj Shekhar Basu’s literature was used by Satyajit Ray in the film Parash Pathar.

Mahapurush was made along with Kapurush by Ray in the year 1965. While Kapurush did not reach the audience, Mahapurush amazed the viewers. Raj Shekhar Basu’s literature was titled Birinchibaba. Charu Prakash Ghosh played the role Birinchibaba in the film Mahapurush.

According to the story, Charu Prakash Ghosh impressed Prasad Mukherjee, an Advocate of Alipore Court, Kolkata while he was returning in train. Prasad Mukherjee lost his wife at old age, and was depressed. He was returning back with his daughter Mitali Ray.

Charu Prakash Ghosh along with his assistant played by Robi Ghosh convinced Prasad Mukherjee that Charu Prakash Ghosh was God’s messenger. Both resided in Prashad Mukherjee’s house. Satindra Bhattacharya had affair with Mitali Roy. When he saw that Mitali Roy started avoiding her due to the presence of the Sadhu, he communicated about the Sadhu before his friends, Satya Banerjee, and others.

Many God fearing people in Kolkata used to visit Charu Prakash Ghosh and listen to his words. He disclosed a lot of informations about Plato, Gautam Buddha, etc. He mentioned that there is no present. Past and future existed. One of the friends of Satindra Bhattacharya, communicated with Santosh Dutta, a famous scientist in Kolkata, to know the formula for producing smoke in the house.

While Charu Prakash Ghosh was giving his sermons in the room, smoke was produced and all the friends of Satindra Bhattacharya, shouted about smoke. Charu Prakash Ghosh tried to escape and he was threatened to live the place. He left the place with Robi Ghosh. Prasad Mukherjee’s family was saved from the false communications of Charu Prakash Ghosh.

Very significantly the satire and wit of Raj Shekhar Basu, was captured by Satyajit Ray in the film. The film did great business and the message reached the masses. The film should be preserved.

Review of Sandip Ray's Baksho Rahasya.

Review of Sandip Ray’s Baksho Rahasya.

Sandip Ray had the huge challenge of satisfying the tastes of readers of Satyajit Ray’s detective stories while making the film Baksho Rahashya based on the epic literature of Satyajit Ray. Satyajit Ray previously made films based on Feluda stories including Sonar Kella and Joy Baba Felunath in the 70s.

Sandip Ray used a different team in the film Baksho Rahasya, with Sabyasachi Chakravarty playing the role of Feluda, Saswata Chatterji playing the role of Topse and Robi Ghosh playing the role of Lalmohan Ganguly (Jatuyu). Previously the roles were played by Soumitra Chatterji, Siddharta Chatterji and Santosh Dutta.

In this film Feluda had to go to Shimla from Kolkata to bring back the suitcase of Haradhon Banerjee that got interchanged in train. He had to give the suitcase to Mr. Dhameja and take Haradhon Banerjee’s suitcase in turn. Feluda, Topse and Jatayu travelled from Kolkata to New Delhi in flight. From there they boarded Kalka Mail and reached Shimla.

After exchanging the bag in Shimla, Feluda was attacked by Pradip Mukherjee, the relative of Haradhon Banerjee. He kept a diamond in a kodak’s empty filmbox, which he coloured. He attacked Feluda to get it back. Feluda showed his daringness to manage him and get the diamond back. He was assaulted with a boomerang thrown by Jatayu.

The other complication arose out of a manuscript of a Book written by writer Shambhucharan who was famous for writing stories based on travel experiences. The manuscript was stolen by Mr. Pakrasi, who knew its value and who typed most of it in his type writer, as the book was unpublished and Mr. Shambhucharan’s copyright ended. Feluda to the book and the manuscript away and returned it to Haradhan Banerjee.

Feluda was attacked a number of times in the film, one time at Pretoria Street, the other times in hotel in New Delhi. The shooting of Sandip Ray in the hills of Shimla and Kufri was excellent. Although Rabi Ghosh could not match the expectation created by Santosh Dutta in the role of Jatayu, Sabyasachi Chakravarty did a great job in the role of Feluda.

The film should be preserved with English sub-titles to reach Satyajit Ray’s literature the international audience.

Review of Tapan Sinha's Golpo Holeo Satti.

Review of Tapan Sinha’s Golpo Holeo Sotti.

Tapan Sinha used to be considered a legendary story-teller after Satyajit Ray in the 50s and 60s. His films were related to classic literature of giant novelists. His casting was flawless. He chose actors and actresses who suited the respective role and he was an inspiration for all the directors of India.

Golpo Holeo Sotti was released in 1966, with the message given by human conscience that work was God. Idle life led to disaster. Robi Ghosh played the role of that human conscience. He worked in as servant in a joint family, where Prashad Mukherjee was the elder brother with Chaya Debi, his wife. The second brother and his wife were dead and they left a daughter who stayed in that house. Bankim Ghosh was the third brother with his wife Bharati Debi. Bhanu Banerjee the youngest brother did not marry. Besides Ajoy Ganguly and his wife was the third generation. Prashad Mukherjee’s old father was alive.

Before Robi Ghosh arrived in their house, none of the other servants stuck in their house. Chaya Debi and Bharati Debi failed to do the domestic work, while the brothers Prashad Mukherjee, Bankim Ghosh, Bhanu Banerjee, etc., did none of the household work after they returned from office. Robi Ghosh joined as a cook and taught the women of the house different varieties of dishes. He even negotiated between Partho Mukherjee, a next door neighbor who loved the daughter of the second son. He took the grandfather for morning walk.

More importantly Robi Ghosh united the brothers who were envious about one another. He taught the small son of Bankim Ghosh the song “sukh bole” which meant once this life ends no one can get back their life, so human beings should make the best use of their lives. Robi Ghosh helped the thrives gang of Chinmoy Roy to steal the trunk in the house full of money. Then he asked Partho Mukherjee to return that trunk back to the old man and the family members so that they could get impressed and ask him to marry the second son’s daughter.

The theme music used by Tapan Sinha in the film was extraordinary. All the actors and actresses of the film performed to their limit. Tapan Sinha’s script and camera work were brilliant. Hrishikesh Mukherjee made the hindi version of the film with the title Bawarchi. Although the film where Rajesh Khanna converted it into a romantic film got box-office success, the film reached nowhere near Golpo Holeo Satti in story-telling, acting performance and intellectual treatment.

Tapan Sinha’s Golpo Holeo Satti should be restored for filmic accomplishments.