''Malyadan'' (also ''Malyadaan''; English: ''The Garlanding'', also ''The Wedding Garland'') is a 1971 Bengali film directed by Ajoy Kar, based on a short story by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

, and starring

Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...

Sabitri Chatterjee Sabitri Chatterjee (born 22 February 1937) is an Indian actress who is known for her work in Bengali theatre and cinema. Her career spans more than 60 years. She is the recipient of BFJA Awards for two times. In 1999, she was conferred with ...

and Nandini Maliya in the lead roles. Tagore's story tells a tragic tale of innocent love. At the 18th National Film Awards, the film won the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of severa ...

Synopsis

The story as well as the film take their title from the Indian custom of exchanging garlands as part of wedding rituals. Jatin (

), a young doctor, visits his sister during his vacation. On his way, he glanced a girl adoring a rabbit. At home, Jatin is constantly nagged by his cousin Patal (

) to get married. She introduces him to a teenage girl, Kurani (Nandini Maliya), who happens to be the same girl Jatin previously came across. Kurani is an orphan who survived the famine and was rescued and cured by Patal and Harakumarbabu (Patal's husband) and since then is raised by this childless couple. Kurani is innocent and lacking in worldly senses. When Patal playfully asks her if she likes Jatin and if she will marry him, Kurani replies in the affirmative. Jatin is embarrassed and intends to keep himself away from this childliness. He refuses to accept a garland offered by Kurani and becomes angry with Patal, who believes that there is nothing wrong, because Kurani is like a doe of the woods. Jatin leaves with a note to her sister, leaving behind the garland too. This leaves Kurani heartbroken and she breaks into deep tears. Patal is struck with remorse when she realises that Kurani has actually fallen in love with Jatin. Next morning, it is discovered that Kurani has disappeared, leaving behind all ornaments and dresses she has had and only with the garland of dry flowers with her. They search for Kurani in all likely places, but she is nowhere to be found. Subsequently, Jatin while working in his Plague hospital, finds that Kurani is admitted there as an unknown patient in an extremely weak and emaciated condition. Jatin's heart feels the love finally and he caresses the girl. He takes her to his home and informs Patal. In the climax, Jatin confesses his love to Kurani and asks a dying Kurani to put her garland around his neck, in presence of Patal. Patal dresses Kurani as bride and Kurani's neverspoken dream comes true at least before her departure from this material world.

Cast

as Jatin * Nandini Maliya as Kurani *

as Patal * Sailen Gangopadhyay as Harakumarbabu *

Bhanu Bannerjee Bhanu Bandyopadhyay, also known as Bhanu Banerjee (born as Samyamoy Bandyopadhyay; 26 August 1920 – 4 March 1983), was an Indian actor, known for his work in Bengali cinema. He acted in over 300 movies, in numerous plays and performed freque ...

as Dhana Malee *

Gita Dey Gita Dey (5 August 1931 – 17 January 2011) was an Indian actress in Bengali cinema, theatre and Bengali folk theater. She became a stage artist at the age of 6 years. She came to the film industry in 1943. Her first film release was '' Ahut ...

as Dhana's wife *

Bikash Roy Bikash Roy (16 May 1916 – 16 April 1987) was an Indian actor and filmmaker who is known for his work in Bengali cinema. He is well known for his character roles and for his own style of acting in Bengali films from the late 1940s until the mi ...

as Senior Doctor in hospital

Crew

* Direction—Ajoy Kar * Production—Ajoy Kar and Bimal Dey * Music --

Hemanta Mukhopadhyay Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989), known professionally as Hemant Kumar and Hemanta Mukherjee, was a legendary Indian music composer and playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, as well as other India ...

Reception

The film was well received when released, both commercially and critically. Apart from the National Award, it won two BFJA Awards. Subsequently. it seems to have been almost forgotten, although a track containing a Tagore song, sung by

Hemanta Mukherjee Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989), known professionally as Hemant Kumar and Hemanta Mukherjee, was a legendary Indian music composer and playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, as well as other Indian ...

, still endures. The film must be remembered for its beautiful portrayal of the characters, a successful thematic representation of the essence of the story. This is evidently one of the best movie adaptions of Tagore stories. Though the dialogues which are taken from the story are kept in ditto without any necessary modifications needed to turn a written form into a colloquial form, but on the other hand the added and extended part, especially the portion of 'Dhana Malee and his wife' has been very compassionately drawn and very excellently presented by legendary actors

Bhanu Bandopadhyay Bhanu Bandyopadhyay, also known as Bhanu Banerjee (born as Samyamoy Bandyopadhyay; 26 August 1920 – 4 March 1983), was an Indian actor, known for his work in Bengali cinema. He acted in over 300 movies, in numerous plays and performed freque ...

and

, not only with her dialogues but altogether with her acting skill did proper justification to the role of Patal while

is perfect also as Jatin. But words need to be spoken about Nandini Maliya. Her large eyes, innocent looks and expressions are just too good and it never reminds one that Kurani actually has the least dialogues of all.

's music creates the tone- romantic, haunting and melancholic. The 'dream sequence' should be perhaps one of the best dream sequences, which reminds of 'Chitrangada' and the associated background score is indeed a masterpiece. In two scenes, the character of Kurani merges with two other Tagore characters- 'Pupedidi' (where she feeds the rabbits the cauliflower-leaves) and 'Mini' (where she says to Dhana- 'tumi kicchu jano na').

Preservation

''Malyadan'' has been restored and digitised by the National Film Archives of India.

Awards

* 18th National Film Awards --

* BFJA Awards 1972—Best Indian Films * BFJA Awards 1972—Best Supporting Actress

References

External links

{{National Film Award Best Feature Film Bengali 1971 films Bengali-language Indian films Films based on works by Rabindranath Tagore Indian black-and-white films Best Bengali Feature Film National Film Award winners Films directed by Ajoy Kar 1970s Bengali-language films