WEST BENGAL: BENGALI CINEMA

Bengalis take food for their stomach as well as brain. Cinema belongs to the second category of food. It runs in the veins & arteries of Bengalis.

Bengali or Bangla cinema started its journey in 1919 with the release of Bilwamangal. In 1931 released Jamai Sashthi, the first Bengali talkie. Noted writers, musicians, singers started working in Bangla cinema. Rabindranath Tagore filmed Notir Puja. Cinema received huge support from Bengali literature. With the help of Bengali intelligentsia Kolkata became the capital of cinema. The city catered to the movie-lovers of Bengal as well as undivided India. Pramathesh Baruah,Pankaj Mallik, Kanan Devi, Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Soumitra Chatterjee, Satyajit Ray are some of the legends Bangla cinema gave birth to.

Kanan Debi in her childhood was looked down upon as she was born to unwed mother. She went on to become a superstar of Indian cinema & represent the elite class of the society. Uttam Kumar & Suchitra Sen set the standard of onscreen pairing so high that no other actors in the country to date could scale that. Uttam-Suchitra has been synonymous with romance. According to some,even Hollywood hadn't experienced such a magic of an onscreen romantic pair. The first Indian who won Best Actress award in global arena was a Bengali, our own Suchitra Sen. Uttam Kumar was an actor who bagged the National Award for best actor for his performance in two movies in the same year ! Satyajit Ray established Bangla cinema in the durbar of world cinema. Bengali film industry teaches us to march towards excellence.

Bengali filmmakers are famous for depicting various forms of life. Refugees,flat chested woman, dwarf people, a woman feeding on live animals have become protagonists of our films. Same-sex relationship has been dealt with such a sensitivity that whole nation was moved.

Bengali viewers' love for cinema has no match. Advance booking would open before one month of the release date of any Uttam-Suchitra starrer. Police posting was a must. During film festivals, people of all ages queue up for tickets at 9 in the morning ! A commoner can analyze a movie as a critic does. In Bengal, married heroines rule the industry which is unthinkable even today in other parts of country. Bengali viewers are both crazy & sensible. This happens when there's deep love.