Asitboron had impressive screen presence in Bengali films.

Asitboron had impressive screen presence in Bengali films.

Asitboron was the established Bengali star of the golden age, namely the 40s and 50s, whom Uttam Kumar surpassed and became a super star. An actor of more than 100 film, he had an impressive screen presence.

Born in 1913, he learned tabla lessons from renowned singer and composer Gyan Prokash Ghosh. He was noticed by actor Pahari Sanyal while performing in All In Radio and was given opportunity in Hemchandra Chandra’s film Pratisruti in 1941.

He played notable roles in the late 40s and early 50s. His successful films included Jaideb opposite Anubha Gupta, Kar Pape opposite Manju Dey, Nay Dondo opposite Arundhuti Debi. In Kar Pape he played the role of patient suffering from the disease of syphilis who married Manju Dey against the wishes of the doctor Chabi Biswas who advised him not to marry before he got absolutely cured. When Manju Dey got infected with syphilis and her children also died she fired Asit Boron at the end of the film when he was preparing for another marriage. The film created sensation in early 50s.

Asit Boron played the notable role of Mathur in the film Rani Rasmani. He was the son in law of Malina Debi in the film who never believed in God. But Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramhanshadeb’s appearance changed his mind set. Malina Debi and Gurudas Bandhopadhyay’s spirited performance was balanced by Asit Boron’s smart performance. In Uttam Kumar’s film Khokababur Protyaborton, Asit Boron played the role of the Judge, whose son was lost by Uttam Kumar, the servant of the house, who sacrificed his own son in the film. It was Tagore’s classic literature which moved the audience. Ex-Chief Public Prosecutor, Bankshall Court (CMM Court),(North) Chitta Ranjan Chatterji, in an interview before Ananda Bazar Patrika mentioned that Asit Boron and Manju Dey came to Birpara and BK Paul Ground to play tennis in the early 50s, aside the lake where the Metro Railway from Dum Dum Station had been build. That showed the extra-curricular talents of the romantic actors who had huge fanbase during the 50s and 60s.

Asit Boron was professional singer and tabla player and all those skills were exhibited in the role of hero in the films of 50s and 60s. He played notable roles opposite Suchitra Sen in the film Sriti Tuku Thak and Shilpi, opposite Mala Sinha in Bandhu, Sandharani in the film Brotocharini, to name a few. Besides he played landmark roles in historical films like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Antony Firingi, etc. In Antony Firingi he played the role of Bhola Moira, who contested against Uttam Kumar in the kabir larai, war between poets. He provided elegant performances in the films of other heroes, like Bosonto Choudhury’s Bodhu and Shreyasi, Nirmal Kumar’s Kono Ek Din, Uttam Kumar’s Surjo Toron, to name a few.

At the frag end of his career he showed his potentiality in Tapan Sinha’s film Harmonium. He was zamindar in the film whose harmonium was sold by his daughter and changed different hands and returned back to the daughter played by Arundhuti Debi. He commanded respect from the film community under his nickname “kaloda”. His films and songs should be preserved.

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.

Manobendra Mukherjee in the 70s.

Manobendra Mukherjee in the 70s.

Manobendra Mukherjee was considered as the greatest classical singer that Bengal had ever produced during the golden age. He had the weighty bass like Dhanonjoy Bhattacharya, classical control like Satinath Mukherjee and Akhil Bondhu Ghosh, variation and modulation like Manna Dey. To a big section of Bengali listeners he used to be considered the Neil Harvey of Bengali modern songs. Just as Neil Harvey used his wristy stroke play to establish himself as the greatest stylish batsman of all times, Manobendra Mukherjee used his classical touch, (in musical terms called harkat) in such a stylish manner that he emerged as the most romantic singer of the golden age during an era when melodious singers like Shyamal Mitra, Hemanta Mukherjee, Subir Sen, Tarun Banerjee were big names. His emergence in Bengali musical arena created a dimension which may be called romantic saga which in turn swayed the innate emotions of middleclass Bengali listeners of the golden age in the world of melody.

His song “emni kore porbe mone baki jiban dhore”, sung in the mid-50s flabbergasted the Bengali audience and brought a new expression for plutonic romance. The lyrics in interlude including “sabai bole bhalobashar moron naaki nei, proti rate tara hoye dei je dekha sei” created everlasting impact in the world of romance which listeners cherished for the last 50 years. Chitta Ranjan Chatterji, Ex-Chief Public Prosecutor, Bankshall Court, a great admirer of Manobendra Mukherjee had echoed the emotions Manobendra himself, when he interviewed the legendary singer in a musical function organized in Beerpara (Paikpara) in 1986, where Manobendra admitted that if “nai chondon lekha” created his romantic debut in Bengali musical arena, “emni kore porbe mone” was the most romantic song he had sung in his illustrious career.

While the 60s showed Manobendra’s skillful compositions both in Bengali films and Bengali modern songs, the 70s showed his jugglery in classical creations. His notable creations in the 60s included Uttam Kumar’s Mayamrigo, 1960, Biswajeet’s Godhuli Belai, 1964, Bosonto Choudhury’s Bodhu, 1962, Bosonto Choudhury’s Koshtipathor, etc. His modern songs “Jodi amake dekho tumi udashi” composed by Abhijit Banerjee, “rimjhim baje monjiro kar” composed by himself, “koto je soyechi betha” composed by Chinmoy Lahiri, “bare bare ke jeno dake” composed by Sailen Mukherjee, “mayur kanthi ratero nile” composed by Sudhin Dasgupta, “ami parini bujhite parini” composed by Salil Choudhury, “amar pather panthe” composed by Satinath Mukherjee, to name a few.

The 70s was marked by the decline of Bengali modern songs. When Manobendra saw that composers like Robin Chatterji or Anil Bagchi were no more in the 70s, he composed most of the songs himself. Quality lyricists like Shyamal Gupta, Pulak Banerjee, Pabitra Mitra provided the romantic lyrics for him during that age. His landmark songs during that period included “ei ganga ei padda”, “borosha klanto o duti nayan mele”, mone pore jay koto shriti mayabhora”, “hajar jonom dhore”, “jaak na megher araale chand”, “jolke tora jaabi jare”, “halka megher palki chore chandrakola jay”, “ami je mondo tate”, “phiria dekona mahua bonero pakhi”, to name a few. He was such a dynamic singer that 700 to 800 songs sung by him were composed by himself.

Even in the film arena Manobendra contributed in films like Uttam Kumar’s Joy joyanti (for which he won different awards including Indira Gandhi award for excellence in music composition), Soumitra Chatterji’s Sudur Niharika, Joto Mot Tato Bath, Sadhok Bamakhepa, to name a few.

One of the biggest achievements of Manobendra was bringing junior artists from grass root level and reaching them to limelight with his tunes. His landmark tunes for other singers included “kemone janabo bolo e pranero bedona” sung by Shefali Chakrabarty”, “champakali go koto name dekechi tomay” sung by Tarun Banerjee, “ami sundar bole tai to bondhu besecho bhalo amay” sung by Alpona Banerjee, “gane gane ami je khuji tomay” sung by Supriti Ghosh, “kuasha ghera neel pahare” sung by Bani Ghoshal, to name a few.

Manobendra Mukherjee showed his excellence in so many diverse fields that separate articles can be written on his nazrulgeeti, bagbajarer gaan, puratoni, ragprodhan, kirtan, bhakti geeti, shyama sangeet, etc. His death in early 90s, had brought huge loss to Akashbani Kolkata, Kolkata Doordarshan, all the record companies of Bengal and music journals where he was an indispensable figure. His songs and compositions should be restored, preserved and revisited.

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.

Bosonto Chowdhury and classic films.

Bosonto Chowdhury and classic films.

Bosonto Choudhury had acted in classic films in his illustrious career from the 50s to the 80s. He started his career with the film Mahaprashthaner Pathe with Arundhuti Debi. The film was related to literature based on experiences of traveler.

In Deep Jele Jai, he played the role of an insane person who became lost his sanity due to the ill-treatment he received from the girl he loved. Suchitra Sen played the role of the nurse who acted as the wife of Bosonto Choudhury and he recovered from the illness. At the end of the film Suchitra Sen became insane as she could not continue the acting for other patients. The legendary film was remade in hindi under the title Khamoshi where Wahida Rehman played Suchitra Sen’s character.

In Shankhabela, Bosonto Choudhury played the role of a doctor who cured Madhabi Mukherjee’s son. She was neglected by her husband Uttam Kumar who was too ambitious and for getting promotions as company executive led a fast life. The child faced the neglect and suffered. At the end of the film Bosonto Choudhury cured the child and also reunited the family.

Bosonto Choudhury played the role of Bhabani Pathak, the guru who had trained Suchitra Senas Debi Chowdhurani which was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterji. He made Debi Choudhurani, the leader of dacoits and trained her to learn warfare and have her own security. The personality of Suchitra Sen was balanced by the personality of Bosonto Choudhury.

He was known for his reserve personality and displayed it with success after the towering actor Chabi Biswas. He was elegant also and that was used by Bimal Roy in the bollywood film Parakh. His notable films also included Prothom Pratishruti.

Although he acted in limited number of films, his performance in legendary roles like the one in the historical film Raja Ram Mohan Roy is still remembered by cinematic audience of the country.

The films should be preserved for their aesthetic value.