Krishna Chandra Dey Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Krishna Chandra Dey
Acting
Biography
Krishna Chandra Dey (Bengali: কৃষ্ণ চন্দ্র দে)), better known as K.C. Dey, was a Bengali music director, music composer, musician, singer, actor and music teacher born in Calcutta (now Kolkata). In 1906, at the age of thirteen, he lost his eyesight and became completely blind. He worked for various theatre groups and finally went on to work for New Theatres in Kolkata until 1940. He is best remembered for his Kirtan songs.He was patronized by many elite families of Calcutta at that time. He often sings in jalsa of Rajbari of Sovabazar, Mitra House of Beadon Street and many others. K.C. Dey recorded around 600 songs, mostly in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Gujurati and 8 Naats (Muslim religious songs). Dey sang and composed music for movies from 1932 till 1946. He also acted in movies in the same period. Dey used to travel from Calcutta to Bombay (Mumbai) to take part in movies. In 1942 he moved to Bombay. Dey quit movies in 1946 after the quality of both his music and singing started going down.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Maya
Maya (Jamuna) is the poor cousin of rich socialite Shanta (Azoorie). Shanta is supposed to marry the equally rich Pratap (P. Sanyal), but he falls in love with Maya and fathers her child before going abroad. Shanta causes a seperation by intercepting Pratap's letters to Maya. When he returns, a successful lawyer, he us unable to trace her, while her efforts to meet him are foiled.
Grihadaha
The poor but educated Mahim and his childhood friend, the rich but conservative Suresh, both fall in love with the same woman, the liberated Achala. Mahim marries her and they move to a village but she cannot forget Suresh. Her smoldering unhappiness takes the form of resentment towards the orphaned Mrinal, raised by Mahim's father, and receives a dramatic visual embodiment when their house burns down. Mahim falls ill, is rescued by Suresh, and nursed back to health by Achala. On a train (a metaphor for the irreversibly linear course of life) to a health resort where Mahim is supposed to convalesce, Suresh on a rainswept night gives in to temptation and elopes with Achala. At the end of the film, there is a dubious reconciliation as Achala is shown following Mahim's 'good' traditionalism with Sharatchandra's barely concealed hostility towards Achala's liberated Brahmo Samaj upbringing.
Inquilab
A drama set amid an earthquake in Bihar. Miss Renee (Khote) looks after the victims while her lover, the businessman Sardar (Mohanned), wants to make money from the disaster.
The Devoted
The legend of Prince Puran, born under King Silwan of Sialkot's curse which binds his parents never to set eyes on him until he is 16. Accused of leading a debauched life by an evil general and by the king's second wife, Puran is sentenced to death. Rescued by the mystic Gorakhnath, he becomes an ascetic. When the king is overthrown, Purna rises from his meditations to depose the general who has seized power, before returning to his life of renunciation.
Devdas
Devdas, the son of a zamindar, and Parvati, his neighbour's daughter, are childhood sweethearts. However, class and caste differences prevent their marriage. Devdas is sent off to Calcutta, while Paro is married off to an aged rich widower. In Calcutta, as remorse drives him to alcohol, Devdas meets Chandramukhi, a tawaif.
Chaitanya : devotee of Krishna
The story of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu .
Sapera
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.
Chandidas
This film is about Chandidas, a legendary 15th-C. Bengali Vaishnavite poet whose biography remains obscure but was an influence on the better documented Chaitanya (1486-1533), a school teacher who promoted the Vaishnavite ideology in Bengal, mostly through hymns about the Radha-Krishna legend.
Dhoop Chhaon
A remake of the Bengali film Bhagya Chakra, it was the first Hindi film to use playback singing. It was director Nitin Bose who came up with the idea of playback singing.
Vidyapati
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.
Production
Devdas
Devdas, the son of a zamindar, and Parvati, his neighbour's daughter, are childhood sweethearts. However, class and caste differences prevent their marriage. Devdas is sent off to Calcutta, while Paro is married off to an aged rich widower. In Calcutta, as remorse drives him to alcohol, Devdas meets Chandramukhi, a prostitute. All Indian prints of this Bengali version were destroyed in a fire that ravaged New Theatre’s studios. Today, only one copy of the film survives which belongs to the Bangladesh Film Archives. Of that copy almost forty percent is destroyed.
Grihadaha
The poor but educated Mahim and his childhood friend, the rich but conservative Suresh, both fall in love with the same woman, the liberated Achala. Mahim marries her and they move to a village but she cannot forget Suresh. Her smoldering unhappiness takes the form of resentment towards the orphaned Mrinal, raised by Mahim's father, and receives a dramatic visual embodiment when their house burns down. Mahim falls ill, is rescued by Suresh, and nursed back to health by Achala. On a train (a metaphor for the irreversibly linear course of life) to a health resort where Mahim is supposed to convalesce, Suresh on a rainswept night gives in to temptation and elopes with Achala. At the end of the film, there is a dubious reconciliation as Achala is shown following Mahim's 'good' traditionalism with Sharatchandra's barely concealed hostility towards Achala's liberated Brahmo Samaj upbringing.
Milap
A social drama by A. R. Kardar, was a hit for Rampyari and Moti Mahal Pictures. It's famous for introducing Indian cinema's first "vamp" prototype, with Rampyari seducing Prithviraj Kapoor in an off-shoulder dress and using a cigarette-holder. Music by K. C. Dey.
The Lure of the City
Sundarlal abandons his wife, Lalita, and children to pursue a living in the city, where he succumbs to a life of depravity. After their son dies, their daughter, Saju, defends her virtue and supports her mother in extreme poverty. Disguised as a man, she searches the city for her father with the help of a blind man, Baldev. Saju falls in love with a drunken millionaire she rescues, who mistakes her for a boy.
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