Suman Ghosh (born 1972) is a film director, and a professor of economics at

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. The university is a member of the State University System of Florida and has s ...

.Suman's notable films include

Nobel Chor ''Nobel Chor'' () () is a 2012 Bengali-language Indian film directed by Suman Ghosh, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Soumitra Chatterjee, Roopa Ganguly and Saswata Chatterjee. The film was officially selected for the BFI London Film Festival. Pl ...

(2012),

Kadambari (2015 film) ''Kadambari'' (2015) is a Bengali language, Bengali film directed by Suman Ghosh (director), Suman Ghosh and produced by Rakesh Singh. The music of the film was composed by Bickram Ghosh. This is a biopic of Kadambari Devi, the sister-in-law of ...

, Kabuliwala (2023 film)

Education

Suman Ghosh gained his B.Sc. in economics from

Presidency College, Calcutta Presidency University, formerly Presidency College, is a public state university located in College Street, Kolkata. Established in 1817 as the ''Hindoo College'', it was later renamed ''Presidency College'' in 1855 and functioned as a leadi ...

and his M.A. in economics from the

Delhi School of Economics Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as D School, is an institution of higher learning within the Delhi University. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establishe ...

. He completed his Ph.D. in economics at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 2002. His research interests are public economics, personnel economics, and development economics.

Career

Suman Ghosh is a National Award-winning Indian filmmaker who has made Eleven feature films and two documentary film. He had his film training at Cornell University in New York. His first feature film ''Footsteps'', starring Soumitra Chatterjee and Nandita Das, won 2 National Awards in 2008. It was shown at numerous film festivals, including Vancouver, Karlovy Vary and IAAC New York. His second feature film ''Dwando'', also starring Soumitra Chatterjee, was a part of the Indian Panorama at IFFI Goa in 2009. His next feature film ''Nobel Thief'', starring the Indian megastar Mithun Chakraborty, was world premiered at the Busan IFF and was an official selection at the BFI, London Film festival. The film received the "Best Indian Film" award at the Bengaluru International Film Festival in 2012. His latest feature film ''Shyamal Uncle Turns off the Lights'' has had a warm reception from critics and audiences all over the world. It was world premiered at the Busan Film Festival in South Korea and had its North American Premiere at the MoMA, NY. It has been shown at a number of international film festivals, including BUSAN IFF, Mumbai FF, Santa Barbara IFF, ReelWorld Film Festival (Toronto), Delhi 010 Digital Film Festival, Freiburger Film Forum (Germany), Indian Film Festival in Stuttgart, Germany and 10th Green Film Festival (Seoul). It won the "Outstanding International Feature Award" at the ReelWorld Film festival in Toronto. The film, based on a true incident, traces the journey of Shyamal Uncle, an eighty-year-old retiree, as he wades through an apathetic system with a seemingly trivial goal – turn off the street lights near his home which are left on even during the day. Colin Burrows is the executive producer and it is being distributed in North America by Global Film Initiative. Vincent Malausa at Cahiers du Cinéma calls it "extraordinary magic …..leads to one of the most beautiful happy endings we have ever seen" and "The impeccable rhythm and the art with which the director deals with new twists….invite the audience to understand that a true epic is told in the small adventure." Another reviewer notes that "With echoes of Kurosawa’s ‘

Ikiru is a 1952 Japanese tragedy film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. The film examines the struggles of a terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat (played by Takashi Shimura) and his final quest ...

,’ the great 1952 Japanese film about a low level bureaucrat who gets a playground for a neighborhood, and solidly in the tradition of the Indian realism of

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

—

Pather Panchali (, ) is a 1955 Indian Bengali language, Bengali-language Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali Pather Panchali ...

and the

Apu Trilogy ''The Apu Trilogy'' is a celebrated series of three Indian Bengali-language drama films directed by Satyajit Ray: ''Pather Panchali'' (1955), '' Aparajito'' (1956) and '' The World of Apu'' (1959). The trilogy's evocative score was composed by R ...

, Suman Ghosh, the writer and director, establishes himself as an important filmmaker in the 21st century." His next film ''Kadambari'', starring

Konkona Sen Sharma Konkona Sen Sharma (; born 3 December 1979) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works primarily in Bengali and Hindi films. She has received several awards, including two National Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards. The daughter of filmm ...

and

Parambrata Chatterjee Parambrata Chattopadhyay (born 27 June 1980) is an Indian actor and director. Parambrata started his career with Bengali television and films. He has acted as the fictional character Topshe from Feluda under Sandip Ray's direction. His notable ...

, is based on the life of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

and his controversial relationship with his sister-in-law

Kadambari Devi Kadambari Devi ( born Matangini Gangopadhyay; 5 July 1859 – 21 April 1884) was the wife of Bengali playwright, musician, editor and painter Jyotirindranath Tagore, daughter-in-law of Debendranath Tagore and sister-in-law of Rabindranath Tag ...

. ''Kadambari'' was a major box office success and was also screened at several film festivals all over the world. It won the Best Film and the Best Actress award for Konkona Sensharma at the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival in 2015. His next released film ''Peace Haven'', starring

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 ...

, released in early 2016. The film had its world premier at Busan International Film Festival in Oct 2015 and was a selection at MAMI, Mumbai and New York Indian Film Festival in 2016. He has completed his next feature film in English titled ''Mi Amor'', which was entirely shot in the US. It stars

and

Raima Sen Raima Sen (born Raima Dev Varma) is an Indian actress and model, born into the royal family of Tripura to Bharat Dev Varma and Moon Moon Sen. Sen is known for her work in Hindi and Bengali films. Early life Raima Sen was born on 7 November ...

and is scheduled to release in 2017. His most recent film ''Basu Poribaar'' (The Bose Family), starring

Aparna Sen Aparna Sen (; ) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards East ...

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 ...

Jishu Sengupta Jisshu Sengupta (born Biswaroop Sengupta; 15 March 1977) is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter, who predominantly works in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu films alongside a few Kannada films. Sengupta made his debut through a Bengali ...

, Sashwata Chatterjee,

Sudipta Chakraborty Sudipta Chakraborty is an Indian film and television actress who mostly works in Bengali cinema. She received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film ''Bariwali''. Chakraborty made her debut in Television in 1989. She ...

and others, is releasing soon. He made his foray into Hindi films with ''Aadhaar''. The film is produced by Drishyam Films and Reliance. The film is awaiting a theatrical release. His next film is "Searching for Happiness..." which world premiered at the Miami International Film Festival in March 2021. It is playing in film festivals currently and is scheduled to release in India this year. It stars 4 year old Shahida Neera and

Filmography

* ''

Podokkhep ''Podokkhep'' ( "Footstep") is a 2006 Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali film directed by Suman Ghosh (director), Suman Ghosh. Plot In the end, the only love which lasts is the love that has accepted everything, every disappointment, every failure an ...

'' ''(2006)'' * '' Dwando'' ''(2009)'' * ''

'' (2012) * '' Shyamal Uncle Turns off the Lights'' ''(2013)'' * '' Kadambari (2015)'' * '' Peace Haven'' ''(2016)'' * ''Mi Amor'' ''(2017)'' * '' The Argumentative Indian'' ''(2017)'' ocumentary* '' Basu Poribar'' ''(2018)'' * ''

Aadhaar Aadhaar (Hindi: आधार, ) is a twelve-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by all residents of India, based on their biometrics and demography, demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification ...

'' ''(2019)'' * '' Searching for Happiness...'' ''(2021)'' * '' Kabuliwala'' (2023) *'' Parama: A Journey with Aparna Sen'' (2024) ocumentary* ''The Scavenger of Dreams'' (2024), world premiere at BIFF on 5 October. * '' Puratawn'' (2025) * '' Srirampur mission Diaries'' ( 2026)

Awards

* National Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali for the film ''

'' (2008) * Official Selected at

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF; ), formerly the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), held annually in Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held fro ...

for ''

'', 2011 * Best Indian Film Award at Bengaluru Film Festival for the film ''

'' (2012) * Best International Film Award at Reel World Film Festival Toronto '' Shyamal Uncle Turns off the Lights'' (2012) * Best Film Award at Washington DC South Asian Film Festival for the film '' Kadambari'' (2015) * Official Selected at kolkata International Film festival for Kadambari, 2014 * Best Film Award (Critics Choice) at the Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival for the film '' Peace Haven'' (2017) * Best Film award at Indian Film Festival of Houston for Puratwan, 2025 * Best Film award at the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival for Puratwan, 2024 *Official selection at

MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 The MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 took place between 19 and 24 October 2024 in Mumbai, India. It was the first edition of the festival under interim festival director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, following the departure of Anupama Chopra from the ...

for Puratwan, 2024

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghosh, Suman 1972 births Bengali Hindus 20th-century Bengalis 21st-century Bengalis 21st-century Bangladeshi economists Bengali film directors Cornell University alumni Delhi School of Economics alumni Feminist economists Florida Atlantic University faculty Living people Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Film directors from West Bengal Indian film directors 21st-century Indian people 20th-century Indian economists 21st-century Indian economists Indian academics Indian documentary film directors