Anjan Das (17 November 1949 – 2 June 2014) was an internationally acclaimed

National Award The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian P ...

winning film

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, screenwriter, and producer known for his contribution to Indian parallel cinema. His films were designated as 'poetry on celluloid', a descriptor used by the critics post his lyrical masterpiece 'Saanjhbatir Rupkathara'. His films won 11

BFJA awards Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as BFJA Awards, is given by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism ...

and were regularly showcased at A-list film festivals like BFI London,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, IFFI,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, etc.

Career

Das begun his film making journey in the mid-1970s, debuting with documentaries such as "The Art of Anant Malakar" and "Tripura." His inaugural feature, Sainik (Soldier), premiered at various international film festivals, including Berlinale in 1976, further expanding its reach to

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, and the San Remo Film Competition in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In 2001, Das created ''Saanjhbatir Roopkathara''. In 2006, he made the film ''

Faltu ''Faltu'' () is a 2006 Bengali film based on Syed Mustafa Siraj's story ''Ranir Ghater Brittanto''. It won the 2007 National Award. Produced by Arindam Chaudhuri (Planman Motion Pictures) and directed by Anjan Das, the movie featured Soumitra ...

'' (''The Saga of Ranirghat'', 2006), which won him the

National Film Award The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

for Best Feature Film on Family Welfare. In 2007, he made ''

Jara Bristite Bhijechhilo ''Jara Brishtite Bhijechhilo '' (, ) is a Bengali film based on Joy Goswami's story ''Jara Brishtite Bhijechhilo'', released in 2007. The film was directed by Anjan Das and stars Indrani Halder, Anjana Basu, Sudip Mukherjee, Alokananda Roy and J ...

'' (''Drenched... in the rain''), for which he won the Special Director's Award at

Almaty, Kazakhstan Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains in southern Kazakhstan, near the border with ...

, and two awards in

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

: Best Actress and Special Jury Award for the Director. This film also was an entry in the Indian Panorama of

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 ...

2007. He won 11

Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as BFJA Awards, is given by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism ...

for the last three films. He made a documentary on the rebel poet

Kazi Nazrul Islam Kazi Nazrul Islam (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengalis, Bengali poet, short story writer, journalist, lyricist and musician. He is the national poet of Bangladesh. Nazrul produced a List of works by Kazi Nazrul Islam, large body of ...

, produced by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and was inaugurated by the then External Affairs minister,

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

at a function at Habitat Center, New Delhi. Thereafter, he also made a few documentaries produced by PSBT and

Films Division The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcastin ...

, which include ''Maa Durga'' (on goddess

Durga Durga (, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic ...

) and ''Flow & Ebb'' (on the boatmen of Bengal). His feature film ''Swarger Nichey Manush'' (People under Heaven) starring

Rituparna Sengupta Rituparna Sengupta is Indian actress and producer and model who is known for her work in Bengali and Hindi cinema. One of the most successful actresses of Bengali cinema, she rode the crest of her box office success in the late 1990s. She has w ...

was showcased at

Mumbai Film Festival The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) is a public trust that organises the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in the city of Mumbai, India. Priyanka Chopra, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the chairperson of the trust while Shivendra Singh Dungarpur serves ...

Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema Osian's-Cinefan was one of Asia's leading film festivals devoted to Asian and Arab cinema, and was part of ''Osian's Film House Division''. The festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in July 2008. After a two-year break, the 12th staging of t ...

and others. but was not released commercially at that time. All the films listed above were shown at

. His film ''Achin Pakhi'' (A Love Story) had its International Premiere at

Cairo International film Festival The Cairo International Film Festival is an annual internationally accredited film festival held in Cairo Opera House. It was established in 1976 and has taken place every year since its inception, except for 2011 and 2013, when it was cancelled ...

2010 and World Premiere under Indian Panorama at

2010. His next film ''Banshiwala'' (The Flautist), based on

Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay (; born 2 November 1935) is a Bengali author from India. He has written stories for both adults and children. He is known for creating the relatively new fictional sleuths Barodacharan and Shabor Dasgupta. Life Shi ...

's novel of the same name won him two international awards - ''Golden Kahuna Award'' at Honolulu Film Awards 2011 and ''Bronze Palm Award'' at Mexico International Film Festival 2011. It was also showcased at New Jersey International Film Festival. His next film, '' Bedeni'' (The Snake-Charmer's Wife) was based on

Tarashankar Bandopadhyay Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay (23 July 1898 – 14 September 1971) was an Indian novelist who wrote in the Bengali language. He wrote 65 novels, 53-story-books, 12 plays, 4 essay-books, 4 autobiographies, 2 travel stories and composed several songs. ...

's novel and starred

. His last film was ''Ajana Batas'' (The Mystic Wind), which starred

Paoli Dam Paoli Dam (born 1980) is an Indian actress who started her career with the Bengali television serial ''Jibon Niye Khela'' (2003). She then worked in Bengali television serials such as ''Tithir Atithi'' and ''Sonar Harin''; the former ran for ...

and was based on

Joy Goswami Joy Goswami ( ; born November 10, 1954) is an Indian poet, novelist, and short story writer. Goswami writes in Bengali and is widely considered as one of the most important poets in the post- Jibanananda Das era of Bengali poetry. His work add ...

's novel. It had its premiere at

2013 (Indian Panorama). It also won him the ''Bronze Palm Award'' at Mexico International Film Festival 2014. It was officially selected (in competition) at Washington DC South Asian Film Festival 2014, Indian International Film Festival of Queensland 2014, and Fer Film Festival 2015. It competed for the Conch shell Award at Belize International Film Festival 2014. The film garnered critical acclaim and was released commercially nine months after his demise.

Filmography

Director

* ''Sainik'' (1976) * ''Saanjhbatir Roopkathara'' (2002) * ''

Iti Srikanta ''Iti Srikanta'' () is a 2004 Bengali period drama film directed by Anjan Das. This film is based on novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel, '' Srikanta'' (1917) In an interview in 2005, Das, director of the film, told about his depiction ...

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2005) * ''

'' (2007) * ''Achin Pakhi'' (2010); * ''Banshiwala'' (2010) * ''Bedeni'' (2011) * ''Ajana Batas'' (2014) *''Swarger Nichey Manush''

Producer

* ''Disarray'' (2012) (short film)

Writer

* ''

'' (2005) * ''Banshiwala'' (2010) * ''Ajana Batas'' (2014)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Anjan 2014 deaths Bengali film directors Bengali Hindus Film directors from Kolkata 1949 births 21st-century Indian people Directors who won the Best Film on Family Welfare National Film Award