Radhu Karmakar ( bn, রাধু কর্মকার; 1919 - 5 October 1993) was a noted Indian cinematographer and director in

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

from the 1940s to 1990s. He worked extensively with director-actor

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: �aːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ born Shrishti Nath Kapoor; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered one of th ...

's film and his

R. K. Studio R. or r. may refer to: * ''Reign'', the period of time during which an Emperor, king, queen, etc., is ruler. * '' Rex'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning King * ''Regina'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning Queen * or , abbrevia ...

. Starting with '' Awaara'' (1951), he shot all of his subsequent films for four decades, till his last, '' Ram Teri Ganga Maili'' (1985). He even directed a film, ''

Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai ''Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai'' () is a 1960 List of Bollywood films of 1960 Indian film directed by Radhu Karmakar and produced by Raj Kapoor. The film stars Padmini, Raj Kapoor and Pran in lead roles. This was the first directorial ventur ...

'' (1960) which was produced by Raj Kapoor, and with Kapoor himself and Padmini as leads. The film won

Filmfare Award for Best Film The Filmfare Award for Best Film is given by the '' Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. The award was first given in 1954. Here is a list of the award winners and the nominees of the respective years. Ea ...

while Karmakar won a nomination for Best Director Award at the

9th Filmfare Awards The 9th Filmfare Awards were held on 20 May 1962, at Bombay, honoring the best films in Hindi Cinema in 1961. ''Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai'' led the ceremony with 10 nominations, followed by ''Gunga Jumna'' with 7 nominations. ''Jis Desh Mein ...

. At the

8th National Film Awards The 8th National Film Awards, then known as State Awards for Films, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in 1960. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 31 ...

the film also won Certificate of Merit in the Best Feature Film in Hindi category. At the

18th National Film Awards The 18th National Film Awards were held in Chennai, India in November 1971 by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for Indian films released in 1970. The awards were presented by then President of India, V. V. Giri. Juries T ...

, he won the award for National Film Award for Best Cinematography for ''

Mera Naam Joker ''Mera Naam Joker'' () is a 1970 Indian Hindi romance drama film, directed, edited and produced by Raj Kapoor under his banner R. K. Films, and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. The film stars Raj Kapoor as the eponymous character, with his son ...

''. He won the

Filmfare Award for Best Cinematographer The Filmfare Best Cinematography Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. The category was first awarded in 1954. Superlatives Most Awards Kamal Bose – 5 Radhu Karmakar – 4 Jal M ...

four times, '' Shree 420'' (1957), ''

'' (1972), '' Satyam Shivam Sundaram'' (1979) and ''

Henna Henna is a dye prepared from the plant ''Lawsonia inermis'', also known as the henna tree, the mignonette tree, and the Egyptian privet, the sole species of the genus ''Lawsonia''. ''Henna'' can also refer to the temporary body art resulting fr ...

'' (1992).

Career

Karmakar started his film career 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 ...

with ''Kismat ki Dhani'' (1945) followed by ''Milan'' (1946) directed by Nitin Bose for

Bombay Talkies Bombay Talkies was a movie studio founded in 1934. During its period of operation, Bombay Talkies produced 40 movies in Malad, a suburb of the Indian city of Bombay. The studio was established in 1934 by Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani. After R ...

. Though the film didn't perform at box office, his night sequence photography and high contrast lighting got him acclaim. Soon was chosen to shoot, Raj Kapoor's '' Awaara'' (1951). This started a career long association, which lasted four decades. Working on films like '' Shree 420'' (1955), '' Sangam'' (1964), ''

'' (1970), '' Bobby'' (1973), '' Satyam Shivam Sundaram'' (1978), '' Prem Rog'' (1982) and '' Ram Teri Ganga Maili'' (1985). After Raj Kapoor's death in 1988, he continued working with R. K. Studio and shot ''

'' (1991), a project he started shooting and which was later completed by his son

Randhir Kapoor Randhir Raj Kapoor (born 15 February 1947) is an Indian actor, film producer and director who worked in Hindi cinema. He was an established actor of the 1970s and received two Filmfare Award nominations. However, his career declined in the ea ...

Early life

Born in Bikrampur, now in

Munshiganj District Munshiganj ( bn, মুন্সীগঞ্জ), also historically known as Bikrampur, is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division and borders Dhaka District. Geography Total land area is 235974 acres (954 km2), ...

, near present-day

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

in a

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 ...

Karmakar family of

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

s, the profession which did not interest him much apart from his

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is emplo ...

. Karmakar married Baani Rai, the daughter of businessman Brojendrolal Rai, and moved to Calcutta. Baani Karmakar was the youngest among her seven siblings. Radhu Karmakar and his family resided in Calcutta until in (1951) when he started working with

in his film ''Awaara''.

found Karmakar's work commendable when he saw his night sequence photography and high contrast lighting in his last film ''Milan''(1946). Karmakar's family soon moved to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

Family

Wife - Late Mrs Baani Karmakar Sons - Krishna Gopal Karmakar and Brojo Gopal Karmakar Daughters - Sudevi Karmakar, Radha Banerjee, Meera Choudhuri Grandchildren - Shomita Pandey, Rinky Karmakar, Siddharth Karmakar, Shubhankar Banerjee, Gaurang Karmakar, Anuradha Karmakar, Priyanka Choudhuri, Keshub Karmakar, Rudraraj Karmakar

Death

Karmakar died in a car accident in the Bombay Pune Road while driving back to

. He died on 5 October 1993. At the

42nd National Film Awards The 42nd 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 1994. Ceremony took place in 199 ...

of 1995, he was posthumously given a Special Jury Award for '' Param Vir Chakra'' and "In appreciation of a lifetime achievement in creating some of the most memorable moments in Indian film history." His autobiography, ''Radhu Karmakar: The Painter of Lights'', was published posthumously in 2005.

Filmography

Director

* ''

'' (1960)

Cinematographer

* ''Kismat Ki Dhani'' (1945) * '' Jwar Bhata'' (1944) * ''Milan'' (1946) * ''Naukadubi'' (1947) * ''Mashal'' (1950) * ''Samar'' (1950) * '' Awaara'' (1951) * ''

Jagte Raho ''Jagte Raho'' () is a 1956 Bollywood/ Bengali film, directed by Amit Maitra and Sombhu Mitra, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and produced by and starring Raj Kapoor. The film centers on the trials of a poor villager (Kapoor) who comes to a cit ...

'' (1956) * '' Shree 420'' (1955) * '' Sangam'' (1964) * ''Aman'' (1967) * ''

Sapnon Ka Saudagar ''Sapno Ka Saudagar'' () is a 1968 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Mahesh Kaul and produced by B. Ananthaswami. The film stars Raj Kapoor, Hema Malini, Tanuja and Nadira. The film's music was composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Plot Th ...

'' (1968) * ''

'' (1970) * '' Be-Imaan'' (1972) * '' Bobby'' (1973) * '' Sanyasi'' (1975) * ''Dhoop Chhaon'' (1977) * '' Satyam Shivam Sundaram'' (1978) * ''

Love Story Love Story or A Love Story may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres * Romance (love) ** Romance film ** Romance novel Films * ''Love Story'' (1925 film), German silent film * ''Love Story'' (1942 film), Italian drama film * ''Love ...

'' (1981) * '' Prem Rog'' (1982) * '' Ram Teri Ganga Maili'' (1985) * ''

Adventures of Tarzan ''Adventures of Tarzan'' is a 1985 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Babbar Subhash, starring Hemant Birje, Dalip Tahil, Kimi Katkar and Om Shivpuri. The film was much talked about in its time, mainly due to the steamy scenes between ...

'' (1985) * '' Dance Dance'' (1987) * ''

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'' (1988) * ''

'' (1991) * '' Param Vir Chakra'' (1995)

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karmakar, Radhu 1919 births 1993 deaths Hindi film cinematographers Bengali people Filmfare Awards winners Best Cinematography National Film Award winners Hindi-language film directors Film directors from Kolkata Road incident deaths in India 20th-century Indian film directors Cinematographers from West Bengal 20th-century Indian photographers Special Jury Award (feature film) National Film Award winners