Debaki Bose (1898–1971), also known as Debaki Kumar Bose, was an Indian director, writer, and actor who is recognized for his contribution in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

as well as Bengali cinema. He was born on 25 November 1898 in Akalposh, (now East Burdwan),

Burdwan Bardhaman (, ) is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an alternative name for the city, ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia an ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He died on 17 November 1971 in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

, West Bengal, India. 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 and later with

Pramathesh Barua Pramathesh Chandra Barua (24 October 1903 – 29 November 1951) was an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era, born in Gauripur, Dhubri, Assam. Early life Barua was the son of the royal family of ...

'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. He graduated from Vidyasagar College but left the university. Inspired by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

's call for non-co-operation movement, 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, 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 Debaki'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 films made by him were also released in Hindi and even in Marathi and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

. * ''Chandidas'' (1932), directed by him, contained background music for the first time in Indian Cinema.

Raichand Boral Rai Chand Boral (19 October 1903 – 25 November 1981) was an Indian composer, considered by music connoisseurs to be the Bhishma Pitamah, the father of film music in India. He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in India ...

, also known as R.C. Boral was the music director. * '' Seeta'' (1934), made under the banner of East India Film Company, was the first Indian

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

shown in any international film festival. It was shown in

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

, where it won an Honorary Diploma. He was the 1st Indian director to receive any international award. * '' Sagar Sangamey'' (1959) was nominated for Golden Bear at the

9th Berlin International Film Festival The 9th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 26 June – 7 July 1959. The festival welcomed the cinematic movement known as the New Wave and screened the work of directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda and François ...

(1959). This film got

National Film Award for Best Feature Film The National Award for Best Feature Film is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It is one of se ...

at the 6th National Film Awards ceremony 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 (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

'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 (IPA: Saṅgīta Nāṭaka Akādamī Puraskāra), also known as the Akademi Puraskar, is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recogni ...

for Film Direction in 1957. * He received

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

in Arts in 1958. * He is one of the greatest film icons to never receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Filmography

Director

* Panchasar (1930) * Shadows of the Dead (1931) * Aparadhi (1931) (Hindi Title: Aparadhi Abla, English Title: The Culprit) * Nishir Dak (1932) * Chandidas (1932) *

Puran Bhagat Puran Bhagat (later became Sri Chauranginatha) was a Punjabi Nath Saint and prince of Sialkot. As per unauthenticated history, he had been exiled and lived the last days of his life in a village located in the suburbs of Sialkot city. His temple ...

(1933) (English title: The Devoted) * Meerabai (1933) * Rajrani Meera (1933) * Dulari Bibi (1933) * Seeta (1934) * Jeevan Natak (1935) * Inquilab (1935) * Sonar Sansar (1936) (Hindi Title: Sunhera Sansar) * Bidyapati (1937) (Hindi Title:

Vidyapati Vidyapati ( – 1460), also known by the sobriquet ''Maithil Kavi Kokil'' (the poet cuckoo of Maithili), was a Maithili and Sanskrit polymath-poet-saint, playwright, composer, biographer, philosopher, law-theorist, writer, courtier ...

) * 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 (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)

Awards

;

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugosl ...

: All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film – ''Bhagavan Sri Krishna Chaitanya''

References

External links

*
A page on Debaki Bose in abasar.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bose, Debaki 1898 births 1971 deaths Bengali male actors Male actors in Bengali cinema 20th-century Indian film directors Bengali film directors Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award University of Calcutta alumni 20th-century Indian male actors 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Bengali screenwriters People from Bardhaman Male actors from West Bengal Screenwriters from West Bengal Indian silent film directors Film directors from West Bengal Directors who won the Best Feature Film National Film Award 20th-century Indian screenwriters Film directors from Kolkata