George Baker (born 28 October 1946) is an Anglo-Indian

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He is primarily known for his works in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and Assamese language films. He is one of the two Members of Parliament appointed by the president under Article 331 (Anglo-Indian) of the Indian Constitution. He joined the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

in 2014 and contested and lost the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

elections from the Howrah constituency during the 2014 Indian general election.

Biography

Early life and education

George Baker was born in a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

family. His parents migrated to India via Britain shortly before he was born. His initial education was in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

La Martiniere College LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

. He was a National level junior in Boxing and Swimming during this period. He later joined the

Assam Engineering College Assam Engineering College ( Assamese: অসম অভিযান্ত্ৰিক মহাবিদ্যালয়), established in 1955, is located in Guwahati. It is the first engineering college of Assam and is affiliated to Assam S ...

but had to leave midway since his father died. He completed a two-year course in Permanent Way Engineering and joined the

Northeast Frontier Railway zone The Northeast Frontier Railway (abbreviated NFR) is one of the 19 railway zones of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam, and responsible for operation and expansion of rail network all across No ...

in the Engineering Department. He served here for two years and then quit to start his own business.

Acting career (Early 1970s – present)

Baker made his first foray into

Assamese cinema Assamese cinema, also known as Jollywood, is an Indian film industry of Assamese-language motion pictures. It is based in Assam, India. The industry was born in 1935 when Jyoti Prasad Agarwala released his movie '' Joymoti''. Since then the A ...

in 1974. He played the protagonist in the Assamese film '' Chameli Memsaab''. This film went on to win the

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

at the

23rd National Film Awards The 23rd National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1975. At 23rd National Film Aw ...

. He played the role of Berkeley, a British planter who falls for a native girl, Chameli, (played by Binita Borgohain) and is later accused for her murder. Baker later played the same role in the Bengali version of the same movie. He went on to act in numerous

movies, Jatra, television films, serials mostly playing parts of British Expatriates. He has also been part of roving theatre groups. Over the years he has acted in films of five languages – Assamese,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

& Santhali. More recently he played the role of Sir William Eckhardt in '' Parineeta'' and Mr. Ramsey in '' Bhooter Bhabishyat''.

Political career (2014)

On 27 February 2014, the

announced Baker as their candidate for the 2014 Indian general election from the

Howrah (Lok Sabha constituency) Howrah Lok Sabha constituency ( bn, হাওড়া লোকসভা কেন্দ্র) is one of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in India. The constituency centres on Howrah in West Bengal. All the seven assembly segments of No. 2 ...

. On 23 July 2015, he was appointed to the

16th Lok Sabha Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 M ...

as one of the two appointed members representing the Anglo-Indian community along with Richard Hay. On 24 June 2017, he was attacked by a mob, allegedly of Trinamool Congress members, and then hospitalised.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, George 1946 births Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from West Bengal Bengali male actors Living people Male actors in Bengali cinema Assamese-language actors Assamese actors National Democratic Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election Nominated members of the Lok Sabha People from Tezpur Anglo-Indian people India MPs 2014–2019 Indian people of Greek descent Indian actor-politicians Male actors in Assamese cinema