Shoma A Chatterji
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Article Hindi Kannada
MS Sathyu, filmmaker who scaled a peak in his very first attempt
Garm Hava, the directorial debut of MS Sathyu, who turned 90 earlier this month, became both a milestone and a millstone for him.
Article Marathi
Sumitra Bhave: Our films have won several awards, but most Indians haven't seen any of them
Award-winning filmmaker Sumitra Bhave talks about her early years as a social scientist and teacher and her journey from there to cinema with a social purpose.
Article Bengali
Tribute: Nemai Ghosh, chronicler of Satyajit Ray, Bengali theatre and much more
Nemai Ghosh chanced upon photography only accidentally. But when the actor Rabi Ghosh introduced him to master filmmaker Satyajit Ray, he found his raison d'être.
Article Bangladeshi Bengali
East and West Bengal filmmakers come together for restoration of Ray, Sen, Ghatak ancestral homes
The ancestral homes of the three masters of Indian cinema are in a worsening state of decay in different parts of present-day Bangladesh, where all of them were born.
Article Bengali Hindi
Acting is more or less a hobby for me, not related to publicity or glamour: Arpita Pal Chatterjee
Actress Arpita Pal, wife of Prosenjit Chatterjee, speaks about her return to Bengali cinema with a spate of interesting projects, though she insists this is not a 'comeback'.
Article Bengali
When I failed my first screen test, I was really happy, recalls Soumitra Chatterjee: 85th birthday special
Actor Soumitra Chatterjee, star of many a masterpiece by Satyajit Ray, reminisces about his early days in cinema, his love for theatre and why he believes there are no rules in acting, in this compilation interview.
Article Hindi
Bimal Roy, the making of a legend: Anniversary special
Bimal Roy's leanings towards the poor and the downtrodden stemmed from his basic humanism rather than from any dogmatic leftism. On the celebrated filmmaker's 54th death anniversary, author and film critic Shoma A Chatterji assesses his work.
Article Assam Bengali 1 more
Asit Sen, creative artiste par excellence
Asit Sen, who was born on this day (24 September) in 1922 in Dhaka, was one of the early filmmakers in Bengali and Hindi to use strong female characters even though the stories were rooted in the prevailing patriarchy of the times.
Article Hindi
Guru Dutt, the light that burned twice as brightly: Birth anniversary special
When Guru Dutt died, allegedly of an overdose of sleeping pills, in 1964, few would have guessed the critical and international acclaim the 39-year-old filmmaker's works would draw in course of time.
Article Hindi
Mrinal Sen's Khandhar and the ruins of human lives and relationships
Through Khandhar, which completed 35 years earlier this month (on 8 June), Mrinal Sen offered an insight into the fluctuating values of citybred folk against the constant values of small-town and village people.
Article Hindi
Shyam Benegal's Mammo: A humane document on the fallout of Partition
Mammo, which was released on this day 25 years ago, took the bold step of questioning Partition and its decimation of the Indian family and dwelt more on the psychological impact of the cataclysm than on the event itself.
Article Hindi
Nutan, the best and most versatile of them all: Birth anniversary special
Nutan was a bona fide movie star, but she wore her stardom lightly and never shied away from trying different genres or taking up and excelling at some challenging roles.
Article Hindi
Nargis, nostalgia and then some: Birth anniversary special
Nargis was beautiful, but more than that it was her dignified personality that awed all those who came in contact with her.
Article Hindi
Bhuvan Shome: When Mrinal Sen broke into Hindi cinema with a simple tale and a medley of techniques
Bhuvan Shome, which was released on 12 May half a century ago, was a path-breaking film in many ways for Indian cinema and for Mrinal Sen.
Article Bengali
Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne: Satyajit Ray's multi-genre masterpiece
In Satyajit Ray's Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, which completes half a century today, fantasy is the form of the film as well as its subject and also serves to get several messages across.
Article Bengali Hindi
Memories of Manna Dey: Birth centenary special
Manna Dey never became the 'voice' of any star, but that gave him the opportunity to lend his voice to almost all the top actors of his era under the baton of almost all leading music directors.
Article Bengali
Satyajit Ray, a portrait of the master: Birth anniversary special
The Creative Person – Satyajit Ray, a little-seen documentary film on the master at work, made over half a century ago by Canadian filmmaker James Beveridge, comes across as a beautiful, objective and emotionally rich statement.
Review Bengali
Charulata review: Satyajit Ray's interpretation adds meaning to Tagore's creation
Charulata stands out as the finest blend of the ideal and the pragmatic, the radical and the traditional, among all of Ray’s women. Tagore’s Charu was a woman ‘born’ much ahead of her time. Ray’s Charu reasserted this ‘reality’ decades after Tagore created her in Nastaneerh.
Article Hindi
The unforgettable voice of Shamshad Begum: Birth centenary special
Almost every song that Shamshad Begum, with her distinctive voice, sang as a solo or in a duet or as the lead singer in a qawwali was a hit, from 'Milte Hi Aankhen Dil Hua Deewana Kisika' to the ever popular 'Kajra Mohabbatwala'.
Article Hindi
Jaddanbai, singer, actress, composer, filmmaker: 70th death anniversary special
Jaddanbai, who died on this day in 1949, was a woman of artistic talent, wise business sense, and entrepreneurship and deserved greater recognition than the history of Indian cinema has given her.