''Damu'' () is a 1996 Indian

Bengali-language Bengali, also known by its endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is native to the Bengal region (Bangladesh, India's West Bengal and Tripura) of South ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Raja Sen Raja Sen (born 10 November 1955) is an Indian film and television director and the winner of three National Film Awards from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is the father of Subhasree Sen and Sreyoshi Sen. Career Raja Sen first received reco ...

and produced by the

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal, also known as the West Bengal Government, is the Administrative division, principal administrative authority of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal, created by the Constitution ...

. It is based on

Narayan Gangopadhyay Narayan Gangopadhyay (born Taraknath Gangopadhyay; 4 February 1918 – 8 November 1970) was an Indian writer and academic, noted for his contributions to modern Bengali literature. He wrote novels, short stories, essays, plays, and children's l ...

's novel ''Ponchanoner Haati'' () and is Sen's directorial debut. The film was released on 26 October 1996 and won

National Film Award for Best Children's Film The National Film Award for Best Children's 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 Golden Lotus ...

Plot

Damu is an innocent orphan who lives in the village with an old man Panchanan. He develops a friendship with Panchanan's granddaughter Runku. One day he carelessly promises her an elephant ride through the village. But it is impossible to manage an elephant in the village, hence Runku is disappointed. To fulfill the promise, Damu sets out in search of an elephant. In his journey, he faces humiliation, taunting, harassment but does not lose hope. Finally, Damu comes across a circus but the manager refuses to meet him. Circumstances arise where Damu saves the circus from a gang of a robbers. Out of gratitude, the circus manager allows Damu to borrow an elephant and Runku gets her elephant ride in the village.

Cast

Raghuvir Yadav Raghubir Yadav is an Indian actor, music composer, singer and set designer who works in Hindi films. He made his film debut with '' Massey Sahib'' (1985), in which he played the title role. He has won two International Awards as Best Actor for ...

as Damu *

Sabyasachi Chakraborty Sabyasachi Chakrabarty ( is an Indian actor known for his work in theatre, films and television. He is best known for portraying iconic Bengali detective characters, Feluda, and Kakababu. Personal life His parents, Jagadish Chandra Chakrabarty ...

as Potai Chor *

Manoj Mitra Manoj Mitra (22 December 1938 – 12 November 2024) was an Indian theatre, film and television actor, director, and playwright. Early life Mitra was born on 22 December 1938 in Dhulihar village of Satkhira District, Khulna division. Initiall ...

as Daroga *

Gyanesh Mukherjee Gyanesh Mukherjee (5 July 1926 – 8 May 2008) was a Bengali actor, director and theater personality. Career He was involved with Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). In his film career, Mukherjee worked with number of famous directors ...

as Owner of Circus *

Satya Bandyopadhyay Satya Bandyopadhyay (1925 – 28 July 1997) was an Indian actor, known for his work in Bengali cinema and theatre. He acted in over 300 movies, in numerous plays and performed frequently on the radio. Early life He was born at Kolkata in ...

as Panchanan *

Tarun Kumar Chatterjee Tarun Kumar Chatterjee (24 February 1931 – 27 October 2003) was an Indian actor who is known for his exclusive work in Bengali cinema. In most of his films, his role as a supporting actor gave him huge appreciation from critics and audience. ...

as Jagai Ghosh *

Rimi RIMI was a grocery store chain in Norway. The discount supermarket is best known for its slogan, "Consistently low prices" (''Faste lave priser''). The supermarket business can trace itself back to 1977. It was founded as the discount grocery st ...

as Runku *

Dulal Lahiri Dulal Lahiri is an Indian actor and director. He has appeared in numerous Bengali films and TV series. He was critically appreciated for his directorial venture ''Cinemawalla'' (1993) a Bengali TV series starring Rituparna Sengupta. He introduce ...

as Bhatu * Ajit Bandyopadhyay as Nibaran Chakraborty *

Anamika Saha Anamika Saha is an Indian actress who predominantly worked in Bengali film industry. Early life Saha was born in Jessore, Khulna, Bangladesh, Bangladesh as Usha. In 1961, she passed Higher Secondary examination from Deshbandhu Balika Vidyalaya ...

as Badan's wife *

Monu Mukherjee Sourendra Mohan Mukherjee (1 March 1930 – 6 December 2020), known as Monu Mukherjee, was an Indian actor who worked in Bengali language films and television serials. In 1958, he became a prompter. His first acting assignment was in the play '' ...

as Kalim Sheikh * Smita Sinha as Runku's Grandmother * Dhiman Chakraborty as Badan * Gautam Dey as Nitai, Runku's father

Accolades

References

External links

* 1996 drama films 1996 films 1996 directorial debut films 1990s Bengali-language films Indian drama films Bengali-language Indian films Films set in India Films based on works by Narayan Gangopadhyay Best Children's Film National Film Award winners Indian children's films {{1990s-Bengali-film-stub