Ajoy Kar (

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 ...

:অজয় কর; 27 March 1914 – 25 January 1985) was an Indian

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

who is known for his Classic film,''

Saptapadi Saptapadi () or ''saat phere'' (), is regarded to be the most important rite (Sanskrit: ) of a Hindu wedding ceremony. In this rite, the bride and the groom tie a knot and take seven steps together, or complete seven rounds around a sacred fir ...

'' (1960). He directed 26 films between 1949 and 1983. His 1961 film ''Saptapadi'' was entered into the

3rd Moscow International Film Festival The 3rd Moscow International Film Festival was held from 7 to 21 July 1963. The Grand Prix was awarded to the Italian film ''8½'' directed by Federico Fellini. Jury * Grigori Chukhrai (USSR - President of the Jury) * Shaken Ajmanov (USSR) * Se ...

. Ajoy Kar provided a whole new expression to Bengali cinema. He was a Pioneer of Bengali

Romantic Drama Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

retrospectively at the

45th International Film Festival of India The 45th International Film Festival of India was held on 20 to 30 November 2014 in Goa. China is the focus country for the festival. Winners * Golden Peacock (Best Film): "Leviathan" by " Andrey Zvyagintsev" * Silver Peacock (Best Film): " Ek H ...

in the "homage section" of Indian panorama. His 1971 film '' Malyadan'' won the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali The National Film Award for Best Bengali Feature Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Ka ...

. Kar made Harano Sur which film was based on 1942 Oscar nominated film Random Harvest which itself based on the novel of same name written by James Hilton.His contemporary filmmakers are

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

Tapan Sinha Tapan Sinha (2 October 1924 – 15 January 2009) was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both ...

, Asit Sen,

Tarun Majumdar Tarun Majumdar (or Mazumdar, 8 January 1931 – 4 July 2022) was an Indian film director, documentary filmmaker, author, illustrator and screenwriter who is known for his work in Bengali cinema. He received five National Awards, seven BFJA Aw ...

. Alongside,

Guru Dutt Guru Dutt (born Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone; 9 July 1925 – 10 October 1964; also known as Gurudatta Padukone) was an Indian film actor, director, producer, choreographer, and writer.Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. 9941998 ...

in Bollywood.

Early life

Ajoy Kar was born on 27 March 1914, in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He left college in 1931 to become a professional photographer, and took up cinematography a few years later.

Career

After initially working as an assistant to Jatin Das, Kar became a cinematographer at

Indrapuri Studio Indrapuri Studios is a film and television studio located in 4, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road, Tollygunge, Kolkata. History This is one of the oldest and busiest Bengali film studios of Kolkata. Indrapuri Studios was established in 1935 a ...

s, Calcutta, in 1938. Over the next four decades, he shot more than 80 feature films. He also shot a number of documentary films. Kar's first film as director was ''Ananya'' (1949), made by the Sabyasachi collective launched by

Kanan Devi Kanan Devi (22 April 1916 – 17 July 1992) was an Indian actress and singer. She was among the early singing stars of Indian cinema, and is credited popularly as the first star of Bengali cinema. Her singing style, usually in rapid tempo, was ...

. The first film for which he received individual directorial credit was ''Bamuner Meye'' (1949). During the 1950s and early 1960s, he emerged as a key figure in mainstream Bengali cinema, with a string of commercially successful films such as '' Shyamali'' (1956), (1957), ''

'' (1961) and ''

Saat Pake Bandha ''Saat Pake Bandha'' is a Bengali romantic film starring Soumitra Chatterjee, Suchitra Sen, Pahari Sanyal and Tarun Kumar. Directed by Ajoy Kar, it was a box office success upon its release. The movie was remade in 1963 in Telugu as ''Vivaha ...

'' (1963). Of these, and ''Saptapadi'' involved the popular romantic pair of

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar (born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), widely known as Mahanayak (), was an Indian film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, composer, and playback singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema ...

and

Suchitra Sen Suchitra Sen, widely known as the Mahanayika (), was an Indian actress who worked in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali and Hindi cinema. The movies in which she was paired opposite actor Uttam Kumar became classics in the history of Cinema of Wes ...

. These films also received critical acclaim.

Filmmaking style

From the late 1960s onwards, he made a number of films which were adaptations of well-known literary works, especially those by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

and

Sarat Chandra Chatterjee Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (anglicised as Sarat Chandra Chatterjee; 15 September 1876 – 16 January 1938) was a Bengali novelist and short story writer of the early 20th century. He generally wrote about the lives of Bengali family and socie ...

. Some of these are '' Parineeta'' (1969), '' Malyadan'', ''Datta'' (1976) and ''Naukadubi'' (1979). In all, he directed 26 films, the last being ''Bishabriksha'' (1983). He was influenced by western literature and western Movie. His spectacular camera work created him a Different Personality than other Bengali Filmmakers.

Legacy

'' Malyadan'' and

has been restored and digitised by the National Film Archives of India. Goutam Ghose says that Mrinal Sen was compelled to write scripts for directors like Ajay Kar’s Kanch Kata Heera.His works impact and influence on South Indian filmmakers like

C. V. Sridhar Chithamur Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar (22 July 1933 – 20 October 2008) was an Indian screenwriter and film director. He has directed nearly 60 films in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu languages. Career Entry In 1951, 18-year-old Sridhar went to A ...

and P. S. Ramakrishna Rao. and Bollywood filmmaker like

Anil Ganguly Anil Ganguly (26 January 1933 – 15 January 2016) was an Indian film director and screenwriter, who worked in Hindi cinema from 1970s to 2001. He is best known for Jaya Bhaduri starrer, '' Kora Kagaz'' (1974) and the Raakhee starrer '' Ta ...

and Partially influence on Bengali Filmmaker like

Awards and honours

* 18th National Film Awards – '' Malyadan'' won the

. * 5th National Film Awards – received a Certificate of Merit for 3rd best film in Bengali * 9th National Film Awards – ''

'' received a Certificate of Merit for 2nd best film in Bengali * Saptapadi was homage at

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

, 2022 * 11th National Film Awards – ''

'' received a Certificate of Merit for 2nd best film in Bengali *BFJA Awards 1972—Best Indian Films for '' Malyadan''. *Silver Prize for Best Actress:

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (, Transliteration, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to ...

for

. * Grand Prix omineefor Ajoy Kar at

, (1963) for Saptapadi.

Selected filmography

* ''Ananya'' (1949) * ''Bamuner Meye'' (1949) * '' Jighansa'' (1951) * '' Darpachurna '' (1952) * '' Grihapravesh'' (1954) * ''Sajghar'' (1955) * ''Paresh'' (1955) * '' Shyamali'' (1956) * (1957) * '' Bardidi'' (1957) * ''Khelaghar'' (1959) * ''Suno Baranari'' (1960) * ''

'' (1961) * '' Atal Jaler Ahwan'' (1962) * ''Barnali '' (1963) * ''

'' (1963) * ''Prabhater Rang'' (1964) *'' Kanch Kata Hirey'' (1965) * '' Parineeta'' (1969) * '' Malyadan'' (1971) * ''Kaya Hiner Kahini'' (1973) * '' Datta'' (1976) * ''Naukadubi'' (1979) * ''Madhuban'' (1983) * ''Bishabriksha'' (1983)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kar, Ajoy 1914 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Indian people Film directors from Kolkata Bengali film directors