Remember Satyajit Ray’s cult film, Gupi Gayen Bagha Bayen, where the two protagonists are blessed with three boons—unlimited food, the ability to travel wherever, and musical prowess by the King of Ghosts? The day after they receive the King’s blessings, they feel famished while roaming aimlessly in
Ritwik lovingly called her ‘Lakshmi’ and sometimes ‘Das Kapital.’ Letters would arrive via post from Calcutta, Ranchi, Pune, Delhi… addressed to her in these names. He never stopped writing letters. Despite acute financial stress, his dreams soared in the boundless horizon and he fantasized about
Yeh to aapki marzi hai ki aap unhe bhala kahein, ya bura (it is up to you whether you call him good or bad)…’ Thus opens the voice-over description of the eponymous protagonist in Mrinal Sen’s 1969 Hindi film Bhuvan Shome, delivered by a 27-year-old man
National Theatre Some people chase their dreams. Bhubonmohan Neogi lived his. In a time when theatre was just beginning to find its voice in Bengal, Neogi gave it everything he had – not just money or time, but his entire life. But his passion led him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZn1DpJYhw During a period when society did not readily accept women in the job, when working in the film industry was considered an impossible career for women, in that era, Devika Rani played the role of a trailblazer. She chose a way that few others dared
The sun may have set on his stardom long back, but the 84-year-old Biswajit Chatterjee is still remembered for the effervescent, romantic roles he played in both Tollywood and Bollywood during 1960s. Old timers can vividly recollect Biswajit’s acting prowess as the sweet chocolate- boy
It is our misfortune that most people in India as well as abroad know Satyajit Ray almost exclusively as a brilliant world-class filmmaker. There are others who are a little more aware of the maestro’s multi-faceted talents and know him not only as a master film director
Somnath Kutty is the son of respected Bharatnatyam and Mohiattam maestro, Thankamani Kutty. At present, Somnath is associated with the Kalamandalam, Kolkata. It all began in the year 1954 when the little Thankamani (meaning Lakshmi in the native language) happened to watch a dance programme of
Ritwik Ghatak and his prized pupil Kumar Shahani used to watch the Lumières’ L’Arrivée d’un train à la Ciotat (Arrival of a Train at Ciotat Station, 1896) over and over again, and insiders say, they laughed as they found the idea of ‘one machine looking
The thought of being an actor had never occurred to him. Accidentally, Anil Chattopadhyay was present in a studio where a selected artist was not present. This gave him an opportunity to share screen space with the legendary comedian Tulsi Chakraborty in the movie Jog Biyog and