Debaki Bose (1898 1971), also known as Debaki Kumar Bose, was a top director, writer, actor of Bengali cinema

Bengali cinema

Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major film-making hubs in the region: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh .The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first...

/Indian cinema. He was born on 25 November 1898 in Akalpoush, Burdwan, Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

, British India. He died on 17 November 1971 in Calcutta, West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He is known for his innovative use of sound and music in Indian Cinema. He worked first under the banner of British Dominion Films of Dhiren Ganguly

Dhirendra Nath Ganguly

Dhirendra Nath Ganguly , better known as Dhiren Ganguly or D.G , was a Dadasaheb Phalke Award winning and Padma Bhushan recipient film enterpreneur/actor/director of Bengali Cinema. He had set up a number of film production companies: Indo British Film company, British Dominion Films, Lotus Film...

 and later with Pramathesh Barua

Pramathesh Barua

Pramathesh Chandra Barua was a famous actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era.-Early life:...

's Barua Pictures and finally he joined New Theatres banner in 1932. He started his own production company, Debaki Productions, in 1945.

Early life

Debaki Bose was son of a successful advocate in Burdwan. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...

's call for non-cooperation movement

Non-cooperation movement

The non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule which lasted for years. This movement, which lasted from September 1920 to February 1922 and was led by Mohandas Gandhi, and supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist...

, he walked out of an examination and started living on his own. He opened a shop in local market selling towels and he was also an editor of a local weekly named Shakti. Dhiren Ganguly

Dhirendra Nath Ganguly

Dhirendra Nath Ganguly , better known as Dhiren Ganguly or D.G , was a Dadasaheb Phalke Award winning and Padma Bhushan recipient film enterpreneur/actor/director of Bengali Cinema. He had set up a number of film production companies: Indo British Film company, British Dominion Films, Lotus Film...

, better known as DG, an established film director from Calcutta, was visiting Burdwan at that time. DG met Debaki and as he came know about Deabki's writing skill, he invited Debaki to come to Calcutta and to write film scripts for him. This culminated into the first film made by British Dominion Films named Kamonar Agun (or Flames of Flesh).

Career highlights

• Debaki Bose was a top Indian film director in his time. During this period, many of the Bengali fims made by him were also released in Hindi and even in Marathi
  Marathi language
  Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
  
   and Tamil
  Tamil language
  Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
  
  .
• Chandidas(1932), directed by him, contained background Music for the first time in Indian Cinema. Music Director was Raichand Boral
  Raichand Boral
  Rai Chand Boral was an Indian composer, considered by music conoisseurs to be the father of Bollywood film music.-Life and career:...
  
  , also known as R.C. Boral.
• Seeta (1934), made under the banner of East India Film Company
  East India Film Company
  The East India Film Company was the first Indian film company to screen a movie at an International Film Festival. Started in 1932 in Calcutta by R. L...
  
  , was the first Indian talkie shown in any international film festival. It was shown in Venice Film Festival
  Venice Film Festival
  The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
  
  , where it won an Honorary Diploma. He was the 1st Indian director to receive any international award.
• Sagar Sangamey
  The Holy Island
  The Holy Island is a 1959 Bengali film directed by Debaki Bose. It was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:*Jahar Roy*Nitish Mukhopadhyay*Sailen Gangopadhyay*Tulsi Lahiri*Bharati Debi*Manorama Debi*Nibhanani Debi...
  
  (1959) was nominated for Golden Bear at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival
  9th Berlin International Film Festival
  The 9th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 26 to July 7, 1959.-Jury:* Robert Aldrich * Johan Jacobsen* Charles Ford* John Bryan* Ignazio Tranquilli* Shigueo Miyata* Wali Eddine Sameh* O. E...
  
   (1959). This film got National Film Award for Best Film
  National Film Award for Best Film
  The National Award for Best Feature film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, India, and was constituted in the year 1954. This is one of the Golden Lotus Awards given among National Film Awards...
  
   in 1959.
• Arghya (1961) was a very special documentary film, produced by the Government of West Bengal on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore
  Rabindranath Tagore
  Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
  
  's birth centennial. It was based on four poems of Tagore: Pujarini, Puratan Bhritya, Abhisar and Dui Bigha Jami.
• He received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
  Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
  Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. The award consists since 2003 of Rs. 50,000, a citation, an angavastram , and a tamrapatra...
  
   for Film Direction in 1957.
• He received Padma Shri
  Padma Shri
  Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
  
   in Arts in 1958.

Director

• Panchasar (1930)
• Shadows of the Dead (1931)
• Aparadhi (1931) (Hindi Title: Aparadhi Abla, English Title: The Culprit)
• Nishir Dak (1932)
• Chandidas (1932)
• Rajrani Meera (1933)
• Puran Bhagat (1933) (English title: The Devoted)
• Meerabai (1933)
• Dulari Bibi (1933)
• Seeta (1934)
• Jeevan Natak (1935)
• Inquilab (1935)
• Sonar Sansar (1936) (Hindi Title: Sunhera Sansar)
• Bidyapati (1937) (Hindi Title: Vidyapati)
• Sapera (1939) (English Title: The Snake-Charmer, Bengali Title: Sapurey)
• Nartaki (1940) (Hindi Title: Nartaki)
• Abhinava (1940)
• Apna Ghar (1942) (Marathi Title: Apule Ghar)
• Shri Ramanuja (1943)
• Swarg Se Sundar Desh Hamara (1945)
• Meghdoot (1945)
• Krishna Leela (1946)
• Alakananda (1947)
• Chandrashekhar (1947)
• Sir Sankarnath (1948)
• Kavi (1949)
• Ratnadeep (1951) (Tamil title: Ratnadeepam)
• Pathik (1953)
• Kavi (1954)
• Bhagaban Shrikrishna Chaitanya (1954) (Hindi Title: Bhagaban Shrikrishna Chaitanya or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu)
• Bhalobasa (1955)
• Nabajanma (1956)
• Chirakumar Sabha (1956)
• Sonar Kathi (1958)
• Sagar Sangamey
  The Holy Island
  The Holy Island is a 1959 Bengali film directed by Debaki Bose. It was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:*Jahar Roy*Nitish Mukhopadhyay*Sailen Gangopadhyay*Tulsi Lahiri*Bharati Debi*Manorama Debi*Nibhanani Debi...
  
  (1959) (English Title: Holy Island)
• Arghya (1961)

Writer

• Flames of Flesh (1930) (screenplay) (Bengali title: Kamonar Agun)
• Aparadhi/Aparadhi Abla/The Culprit (1931) (story)
• Chandidas (1932) (writer)
• Meerabai/Rajrani Meera (1933) (screenplay) (story)
• Jeevan Natak (1935) (screenplay) (story)
• Inquilab (1935) (screenplay) (story)
• Sonar Sansar /Sunehra Sansar (1936) (writer)
• Bidyapati (1937) (writer + screenplay)
• Sapurey/Sapera (1939) (writer)
• Nartaki (1940) (story + screenplay)
• Chandrashekhar (1947) (screenplay)
• Sagar Sangamey (1959) (English Title: Holy Island)

Actor

• Flames of Flesh (1930) (Bengali title: Kamonar Agun)
• Panchasar (1930)
• Charitraheen (1931)

External links

• A page on Debaki Bose in abasar.net