Acting
Kanan Devi was a popular singer and actress and the earliest female star of Bengali cinema
Sree Gouranga is a 1933 Indian Bengali biographical film that chronicles the life of the revered spiritual leader, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, also known as Gauranga. The film delves into the early life of Mahaprabhu, born Nimai in Mayapur in 1486, highlighting his mischievous childhood and subsequent intellectual brilliance. Despite family pressure to marry, Mahaprabhu prioritizes his spiritual journey and eventually leaves his home to become an ascetic. The film portrays his deep devotion to Lord Krishna and his eventual return to visit his mother, where he instructs his wife to worship the same deity. The film is a historical and devotional portrayal of the saint's life.
A 1935 Bengali Film directed by Jyotish Bandyopadhyay.
A comedy adapted from a successful play. The zamindar Damodar Chakraborty (Chakraborty) starts a school named after his wife and recruits a married couple as teachers. Manas (Ganguly in the role which had made him a stage star) and Niharika (Kanan Devi) pretend to be married in order to get the jobs. Their imposture, together with the fact that he is Hindu while she is Christian, produces complications.
A Bengali Drama Film directed by Sabyasachi (Ajoy Kar & Binoy Chattopadhyay).
The 1946 Indian film.
Haria, an elephant driver, loves gypsy girl Gulabi, but faces rivalry from Ajay, the tea estate owner's son. After Ajay kills Haria's elephant, Raja, Haria seeks revenge, intertwining with a family secret and inheritance dispute.
Two street urchins dream of singing and making it big in the glamorous world of theatre in Calcutta.
Classic celebration of Mithila's King Shiva Singha's (Bannerjee/Kapoor) love for his wife while chronicling the influence of the pacifist court poet Bidyapati (Sanyal). Invited to the royal court by the king, Bidyapati arrives with his faithful follower Anuradha (Kanan Devi). Queen Laxmi (Chhaya Devi) falls in love with the poet, much to the distress of the king. The king falls ill and starts neglecting his royal duties until Anuradha persuades him that true love does not need reciprocation. The queen, equally distressed by her divided loyalties, contemplates suicide, encouraged by the prime minister who is worried by the nefarious impact of Bidyapati's poetry on the king.
Adapted from a story by Kazi Nazrul Islam this film concerns love and revenge among a tribe of snake charmers led by Jahar (Nawab) who is searching for his 100th poisonous snake so as to show how he can magically cure its deadly bite.
A 1955 Bengali Drama Film directed by Haridas Bhattacharya.
This classic adultery story tells of an artist, Prasanta (Barua) presented in the stereotypically romantic image: dedicated to his vocation, paying no heed to his scandalous reputation (he paints nude models) and with a cavalier attitude to his conservative father-in-law's (Choudhury) demands for a good social behavior.
The wealthy, self-obsessed, and possibly crazed Manoj (Barua) is sent by his concerned family to the rural estate of his future father-in-law. Along the way, however, he gets lost and soon finds himself taking shelter in the abode of the railroad stationmaster whose beautiful, down-to-earth daughter, Meena (Kenan Devi), Manoj finds irresistible. When his haughty, progressive-minded fiancée gets wind of this, she freaks out and soon there is a showdown between the two women. In the aftermath, Manoj finds reason to go with his heart and marry Meena.