Basanta Choudhury (also Chowdhury; 5 May 1928 – 20 June 2000) was an Indian actor 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 ...

and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

films. He worked with directors Asit Sen,

Rajen Tarafdar Rajen Tarafdar (7 July 1917 – 23 November 1987) was an Indian film director, actor, and screenwriter. He was the recipient of two National Awards and two BFJA Awards. He graduated from the Government College of Art & Craft in Calcutta in 194 ...

, Ajay Kar and Bijay Bose, often in leading roles. He is a former

Sheriff of Kolkata The Sheriff of Kolkata is an apolitical titular position of authority bestowed for one year on a prominent citizen of Kolkata (Calcutta). The Sheriff has an office and staff in Calcutta High Court but does not have executive powers. Mumbai (Bo ...

. Choudhury's collection of

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, their language People with the name * Kashmiri Saikia Barua ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

shawl A shawl (from fa, شال ''shāl'',) is a simple item of clothing from Kashmir, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular or square piece of cloth, which is often fold ...

s were enviable. Director

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs o ...

admired those collections and used for his masterpieces.

Birth and childhood

Basanta Chowdhury was born into an affluent Datta Chowdhury family of Andul,

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is t ...

. In the circa year of 1886 AD, his great-great forefather Apurba Krishna Dutta Chaudhuri discontinued with the surname 'Dutta' and moved from his ancestral place Andul to Nagpur to practice Law. He later became the Law Lecturer in the Morris College (the present-day Vasantrao Naik Government Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (VNGIASS)). His son was Phani Bhusan Chaudhuri, whose son Shiddhish Chandra Chowdhury. Shiddhish and Kamala Devi had two sons - Basanta & Prashanta. Both of them grew up in Nagpur. Basanta graduated from Morris college. In 1945 AD he completed his Matriculation Examination from Deena Nath High School

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

.After shifting to

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

, Chowdhury used to stay at Ranikuthi in

Tollygunge Tollygunge (Bengali: টালিগঞ্জ; nicknamed 'Mini Mumbai' or 'Mini Bombay') is a locality of South Kolkata, in West Bengal, India. It is famed as the centre of the Indian film industry, known as Tollywood, Marathi Cinema, South In ...

. He was a

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

i.e. an expert collector of

Ganesha Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu ...

idols, rare coins, paper currency and was a collector of Kashmiri and Persian shawls.

Career

His first film was ''Mahaprasthaner Pathe'' by director Kartik Chattopadhay in 1952. Some of his memorable films are, ''Bhagaban Shri Krishna Chaitanya'', ''Jadu Bhatta'', ''Andhare Alo'', ''

Deep Jwele Jaai ''Deep Jwele jai'' () is a 1959 Indian Bengali-language film directed by Asit Sen. The film is based on Bengali short story titled ''Nurse Mitra'' by Ashutosh Mukherjee. It was remade in Hindi in 1969 by Sen himself as '' Khamoshi''. Before th ...

'' with

Suchitra Sen Suchitra Sen ( ; born as Roma Dasgupta (; 6 April 1931 – 17 January 2014) was an Indian actress who worked in Bengali and Hindi cinema. The movies in which she was paired opposite Uttam Kumar became classics in the history of Bengali cinem ...

, ''Anushtoop Chhanda'', ''Abhaya O Srikanta'', ''

Raja Rammohan Roy Raja Ram Mohan Roy ( bn, রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform m ...

'', ''Diba Ratrir Kabya'', ''

Devi Chaudhurani ''Devi Chaudhurani'' ( bn, দেবী চৌধুরানী) is a Bengali novel written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and published in 1884. It was later translated to English by Subodh Chunder Mitter.

''. He was also involved with amateur theater and radio.

Filmography

*1952- Mahaprasthaner Pathey *1953: Nabin Jatra Safar; Bhagwan Shri Krishna Chaitanya *1954: Jadubhatta; Bokul *1955: Aparadhi; Pather Sheshey; Bhalobasha; Du-Janay; Devimalini *1956: Shubharatri; Shankar Narayan Bank; Chhaya Sangini;

Govindadas Govindadasa (1535–1613, bn, গোবিন্দদাস) was a Bengali Vaishnava poet known for his body of devotional songs addressed to Krishna. Living in an atmosphere of Krishna-bhakti preached by Sri Chaitanya (1486–1533), he compose ...

;

Rajpath Rajpath, officially named Kartavya Path, and formerly known as Kingsway, is a ceremonial boulevard in New Delhi, India, that runs from Rashtrapati Bhavan on Raisina Hill through Vijay Chowk and India Gate, National War Memorial to Natio ...

*1957: Shesh Parichay; Madhumalati; Andhare Alo; Basanta Bahar; Haar Jeet; Khela Bhangar Khela *1958: Jogajog *1959:

;

Shashi Babur Sansar Shashi may refer to: Places and jurisdictions China *Shashi City (), Hubei from 1949 to 1994 * Shashi District (), Jingzhou, Hubei (historically, Shashi City) since 1994 ** Apostolic Prefecture of Shashi ** Jingmen–Shashi railway, single-tr ...

*1960: Khudha; Parakh *1962: Sancharini; Agnisikha; Bodhu; Nabadiganta *1963: Shreyasi *1964: Kashtipathar;Anustup Chhanda *1965:

Alor Pipasa ''Alor Pipasa'' is a Bengali drama film directed by Tarun Majumder and produced by Debesh Ghosh based on a same name novel of Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay. This film was released on 15 January 1965 under the banner of D.R. Productions. Music of the ...

;

Raja Rammohun ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...

; Abhoya-o-Srikanta; Eki Ange Eto Rup; Gulmohar *1966: Sankha Bela;

Susanta Sha Susanta is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Susanta Chakraborty (born 1940), Indian politician * Susanta Ghosh, Indian politician * Susanta Ghosh (politician), Indian politician * Susanta Singh (born 1973), Indian politician ...

;

Uttar Purush ''Uttar Purush'' is a 1966 Bengali-language film directed by Chitrakar. The film was remade as '' Uyarndha Manithan'' (1968) in Tamil, and '' Anubandham'' (1984) in Telugu. Cast * Vasant Choudhury * Rabi Ghosh * Anup Kumar * Amar Mullick Sound ...

*1970: Diba Ratrir Kabya;Megh Kalo *1971:

Pratham Pratisruti Pratham is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India. It was co-founded by Madhav Chavan anFarida Lambay. It works towards the provision of quality education to the underprivileged children in India. Established in Mumbai ...

; Sansar;

Grahan ''Grahan'' (English language, English: ''Eclipse'') is a 2001 film directed by Shashilal K. Nair, starring Jackie Shroff, Manisha Koirala and Raghuvaran. The film follows the story of Parvati, a rape victim who quests for justice, and learns t ...

*1973: Pranta Rekha * Basanta Chowdhury

1974: Debi Chaudhrani; Jadi Jantem; Sangini *1975: Nishi Mrigaya *1976: Sankhabish *1977:

Babu Moshai ''Anand'' is a 1971 Indian Hindi-language drama film co-written and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, with dialogues written by Gulzar. It stars Rajesh Khanna in the lead role, with a supporting cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Sumita Sanyal, ...

*1978: Parichay;

Mayuri Mayuri may refer to: * ''Mayuri'' (film), a 1984 Telugu film produced by Ramoji Rao * ''Maya'' (2015 Tamil film), released as ''Mayuri'' in Telugu * Mayoori (actress) (1983–2005), a South Indian actress in Malayalam film industry * Mayuri Upa ...

*1979: Chirantan;

Jiban Je Rakam is a Japanese tokusatsu television series which serves as the 8th entry in the '' Metal Hero Series'' franchise, and the first entry in the Heisei period. Produced by Toei and aired by TV Asahi in Japan from January 29, 1989, to January 28, 199 ...

*1980:

Bhagya Chakra ''Bhagya Chakra'' (''Wheel of Fate'') is a 1935 Indian Bengali-language film directed by Nitin Bose. The film was remade in Hindi in the same year, titled '' Dhoop Chhaon''. Cast * Biswanath Bhadhuri as Shamlal * Haricharan Bandyopadhyay as Hi ...

*1981: Kalankini *1982: Sonar Bangla *1983:

Indira __NOTOC__ Indira may refer to: People * Indira (name) Films and books * ''Indira'', an 1873 novella by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee * ''Indira'' (film), directed by Suhasini Manirathnam * ''Indira'' (1989 film), a Hindi film (Hema malini as Indir ...

; Deepar Prem *1985:

Baidurya Rahasya ''Baidurya Rahasya'' (Mystery of the Electric Gem) is a Bengali thriller movie directed by Tapan Sinha. This movie was released on 8 May 1985 under the banner of Saraswati Chitram. Storylining and music direction was also done by Tapan Sinha. ...

; Putulghar *1987:

Antarjali Jatra ''Antarjali Jatra'' ( bn, অন্তর্জলী যাত্রা), also known as ''Antarjali Yatra'', is a 1987 film directed by Kolkata based Indian film director Goutam Ghose based on a novel, ''Mahayatra'' by Kamal Kumar Majumdar. It ...

*1988: Antaranga; Sankhachur *1990: Raktorin;

Ek Doctor Ki Maut ''Ek Doctor Ki Maut'' () is a 1990 Indian Hindi-language drama film by Tapan Sinha, which depicts the ostracism, bureaucratic negligence, reprimand and insult of a doctor and his research, instead of recognition. The film is based on the story " ...

*1990:

Sankranti Sankranti ( sa, संक्रान्ति ''saṁkrānti or saṅkramaṇa'') means transmigration of the Sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. Each Sankranti is marked as the beginning of a month in the sidereal solar calen ...

*1991:

Raj Nartaki ''Raj Nartaki'' is a 1941 Indian Hindi-language film directed by Modhu Bose under the Wadia Movietone banner. It starred the famous dancer Sadhana Bose (written as Sadhona in the title) with Prithviraj Kapoor, Jal Khambata, Nayampalli and Pro ...

*1992:

Hirer Angti ''Hirer Angti'' ( bn, হীরের আংটি) is a 1992 Bengali film by Rituporno Ghosh based on a story of the same name by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. Plot Gandharva Kumar's arrival disrupts the festive mood of Durga Puja at Ratanlal Babu' ...

; Apon Ghar; Satya Mithya *1993: Kacher Prithvi *1994: Tabu Mane Rekho, Dhusar Godhuli Basanta Chowdhury & Uttam Kumar

Awards

In 1965, actor Chowdhury was awarded the Best Actor Prize for his film "Raja Rammohan" by B.F.J.A. In 1996, he also received Bangla Stage Centenary Star Theater award from

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

. He had also acted in several Hindi films. The actor had been the

. He was also appointed the Chairman of Nandan-West Bengal Film Centre in Kolkata.

Death

The actor suffered from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

for quite some time. He died on 20 June 2000 in Kolkata.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Basanta Indian male film actors 20th-century Indian male actors Male actors in Bengali cinema Male actors in Hindi cinema 1928 births 2000 deaths Bengali Hindus Sheriffs of Kolkata