''Stree'' is a 1972 Indian

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

romantic action The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

film directed by

Salil Dutta Salil Dutta (30 November 1931 – 20 September 2004) was an Indian Bengalis, Bengali director, screenwriter and actor. He is well known for his films Surya Sikha (1963), Stree (1972) and Seyi Chokh (1976). Career Dutta was born in 1931 in Britis ...

. The film is based on the novel of Bimal Mitra by the same title and the era of the plot showing during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Produced by Baby June Productions marking their second venture, it stars

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 ...

Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; ; 19 January 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 histor ...

and

Arati Bhattacharya Arati Bhattacharya (Born 8 November 1951) is an Indian Bengali actress, writer and director, who is recognized for her work in Bengali cinema. Career She is known for films like ''Preyasi'', '' Stree'' and ''Suryatrishna''. She also sang i ...

in lead roles. The soundtrack of the film was composed by

Nachiketa Ghosh Nachiketa Ghosh (28 January 1925 – 12 October 1976) was a Bengali music director in India. He mainly composed for Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia ...

, with the lyrics penned by

Gauriprasanna Mazumder Gauriprasanna Majumdar (5 December 1925 – 20 August 1986) was an Indian lyricist and writer known for his work in Indian cinema. He is most commonly associated with the black and white era of Bengali cinema, when he penned several enduring cla ...

and

Pulak Bandyopadhyay Pulak Bandyopadhyay (; 2 May 1931 – 7 September 1999) was a Bengali people, Bengali Indian lyricist and songwriter of Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. Early life He was born and brought up in Salkia, Howrah. His family had close links w ...

. The film showed Uttam's one of the best performance and clash with Soumitra. The film became a blockbuster hit at the box office. The film had dominated at the

BFJA Award 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 ...

1973 and went on to win seven awards. It was later remade in Hindi in 1982 as Ayaash starring

Sanjeev Kumar Sanjeev Kumar (born Harihar Jethalal Jariwala; 9 July 1938 – 6 November 1985) was an Indian actor. Considered as one of the greatest actors of Indian Cinema, he is well remembered for his versatility and genuine portrayal of his characters. ...

Arun Govil Arun Govil ( ; ; born 12 January 1952) is an Indian actor and politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is best known for portraying Lord Rama in the '' Ramayan'' TV series and reprising his role as Lord Rama (voice acting) in the 1993 an ...

and

Rati Agnihotri Rati Agnihotri (born 10 December 1960) is an Indian actress, known for acting in Hindi, as well as in Telugu and Tamil language films. Her roles in the cult-tragedy film '' Ek Duuje Ke Liye'' (1981) and the drama film '' Tawaif'' (1985) earne ...

in lead roles.

Plot

Sitapati (Soumitra Chatterjee), a homeless youth, comes to landlord Madhav Dutta's (Uttam Kumar) house and gets a job as his cameraman. Sitapati discovers his former girlfriend Mrinmoyee (Arati Bhattacharya) is now Madhav Dutta's wife. Madhav's polygamy and Mirnmoyee's loneliness prompt her extramarital relationship with Sitapati. Baiji dance and alcoholism, love, betrayal, hatred - Sitapati's lens captures it all. Finally, Sitapati leaves the house, Mrinmoyee dies, and gradually Madhav learns about their relationship. Madhav cannot bear the fact that his wife has committed adultery. He goes to take revenge and shoots Sitapati who is already dead, then becomes mad and shoots himself.

Cast

as Madhab Dutta (Zamindar) *

as Sitapati *

as Madhab Dutta's Wife * Bhanu Bandyopadhyay *

Jahor Roy Jahar Roy (19 September 1919 – 1 August 1977) was an Indian actor and comedian in Bengali cinema. He was known for his comedy films with Bhanu Bandyopadhyay. Early life Roy came from a Bengali Baidya family having its root in Mahilara, ...

as Gobardhan Choudhury *

Tarun Kumar Tarun Kumar (born 8 January 1983) is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema, with appearances in a few Tamil and Malayalam films. Tarun began his career as a child actor and received the National Film Award for Bes ...

as Sitapati's Brother-in-law *

Subrata Chattopadhyay Subrata Chatterjee (18 July 1940 25 February 2004) was an Indian actress, who is recognized for her work in Bengali cinema. Her on-screen pairings with actors such as Uttam Kumar, Soumitra Chatterjee, and Anil Chatterjee Anil Chatterjee ( ...

as Sitapati's Sister *

Sulata Chowdhury Sulata Chowdhury (1945 – 16 September 1997) was a Bengalis, Bengali actress and theatre personality. Chowdhury made her film debut with ''Debarshi Narader Sansar'' (1960). As a leading actress her first film was Sudhir Mukherjee's ''Shesh Pa ...

as Maid Servant *Moni Srimani *Amarnath Mukhopadhyay as Lawyer *Ashok Mitra *Rasaraj Chakraborty *Parijat Bose *Ajay Bandyopadhyay *Kalyani Ghosh *Arindam Ganguly *Jhuma Mukhopadhyay

Soundtrack

Reception

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

wrote "Stree, one of the finest works of Uttam Kumar, reminds us that icons like him are rare. Uttam Kumar stepped out of his romantic image and tried something just the opposite. A drunkard Bengali zamindar without any sense of chastity – he was unrecognizable in this negative character. Yet he bamboozled everyone with this persona. Even critics admitted only Uttam Kumar can do this. The Uttam-Soumitra movie remains a classic one and Uttam's dialogues still haunt us. The film become blockbuster at the box office and ran for 24 weeks in the theaters.

Awards

;

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 ...

(1973) * BFJA Best Actor - Uttam Kumar * BFJA Best Actor In a Supporting Role - Soumitra Chatterjee * BFJA Award Best Dialogue - Salil Dutta * BFJA Award Best Lyrics - Pulak Bandopadhyay * BFJA Award Best Music Direction -

* BFJA Award Best Playback Singer (Male) -

Manna Dey Prabodh Chandra Dey (; 1 May 1919 − 24 October 2013), known by his stage name Manna Dey, was an Indian playback singer, music director, and musician. He had a classical music background, being part of the Bhendibazaar gharana, Bhendibazaar Gh ...

Remake

The film was remade in Hindi in 1982 as '' Ayaash'' directed and produced by

Shakti Samanta Shakti Samanta (13 January 1926 – 9 April 2009) was an Indian film director and producer, who founded Shakti Films in 1957, which is most known for films such as ''Anand Ashram'' (1977), Anusandhan /''Barsaat Ki Ek Raat'' (1981), ''Anyay Abhi ...

and starring

in lead.

References

1972 films Indian black-and-white films Bengali-language Indian films Bengali films remade in other languages 1970s Bengali-language films Films directed by Salil Dutta Films based on Indian novels Films based on works by Bimal Mitra {{1970s-Bengali-film-stub