A comparitive study with respect to the Indian national film awards.
In the category of “National film award for best feature film in Bengali”, Rituparno Ghosh won it 4 times (2003, 2004, 2009, 2010), Gautam Ghose – 3 times (1988, 1994, 2001) Aparna Sen – Twice (1996, 2000) Aniruddha Roy-Chowdhury – once for his film Anuranan. They are few of the note worthies keeping aside the Oscar winner Satyajit Ray, who won it 11 times.
For the “Best film” award, Bengali films won 23 times compared to Hindi films’ 15, Malayalam films’ 11, Kannada films’ 7. Of them Oscar winner Satyajit Ray got 6 awards. Of the remaining, note worthy filmmakers are: Buddhadeb Dasgupta (5 times) Mrinal Sen (4 times) Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury (for Antaheen, 2009) Rituparo Ghosh (for Unishe April, 1995) and Gautam Ghose (for Dakhal, 1982).
For the “Best Director” award, Bengali films won 14 times compared to Malayalams’ 12, and Hindi films’ 7. Of them, Utpalendu Chakravarty got it once for his film Chokh, 1983. Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Rituparno Ghosh and Gautam Ghosh got it twice each. Satyajit Ray won it 6 times.
The Art house film making in Bengali cinema is well appreciated. Bengali films got 2 awards for “Whole some Entertainment” compared to hindi films’ 22. The Bengali films that recieved the awards were : Gana devata (1979), Kony (1985) (both way before I was born). For the “Best Childrens film” Category , Bengali films got 1 award compared to 9 of hindi film industries. “Damu” by Raja sen won the award in the year 1997. [I was a child then! I missed it :(]
“Best Actor”, 5 times for Bengali films – Mithun Chakravarty winning it twice. Stalwarts Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee recieved one each. Malayalam Film industry bagged 11 such awards. Of the other notable Bengali actors – Utpal Dutt, Ashok Kumar won it once each.
6 times for “Best Actress”, Madhabi Mukherjee being the first in 1970. Other notable Bengali actresses winning it are Konkona Sen Sharma, Seema Biswas.
“Best Cinematography”, Bengali film industry bagged 8 awards, Abhik Mukhopadhyay winning it 3 times (2009, 2004, 2003). Hindi film industry won it 21 times and Malayalam film industry won it 10 times. Other notable Bengali cinematographers, Goutam Ghose won it in 2007 for his film Yatra (hindi), Subrata Mitra for his film “New Delhi times” (1986, hindi), Soumendu Roy (1978,1975, 1974)
“Best Screenplay”, 11 times to Bengali films. Notables are : Gautam Ghose (2004) Rituparno Ghosh (1998) Buddhadeb Dasgupta (1987) Satyajit Ray (1994, 1975, 1971, 1967) Mrinal Sen (1983, 1981, 1974) Tapan Sinha (1972). Other Notable Bengalis recieving it for non-bengali films : Aparna Sen (2003).
Indranil Ghosh won the “Best art direction” for his film “Chokher Bali”.
National awards for singers has credited many note worthy singers from bengal and bengal film industry. Some of them are : Shreya Ghoshal (2009, 2008, 2006, 2003) Niranjana Sarkar (2010) Rupam Islam (2010), Jayshree Dasgupta(2000) legend Sandhya Mukherjee (1971) pandit Ajoy Chakravarty (1990) legend Hemant Kumar (1987,1972),legend Anup Ghoshal (1981) legend Manna dey (1971).
Of the notable Bengali editors, Gangadhar Naskar won the national awards for best editing for three consequetive years – 1979, 1980, 1981. Arghyakamal Mitra won it in 2010 for the film Abahomaan.
Of the other from the bengali film fraternity credited by the jury are: haridas bhattacharya (1958) Bimal Bhoumick (1970) Raja Mitra (1988) Nabayendu Chatterjee (1990) Amitabh Chakravarty (1990) Pradeep Sarkar (2006) for direction, Prasenjit Chatterjee (2007) Mamta Shankar (1992) for acting.
The Art film industry aimed for a particular genre of people, Bengali films according to me appeals to the heart of the people. The story telling methodology is unique in its class, be it Satyajit Ray’s films or the films of Rituparno Ghosh. Bengali films have mainly voiced emotions be it in Apu tri logy, introspective films by Mrinal sen or the fantasized Romanticism of Rituparno Ghosh.
The coming of age “parallal cinema” has lots to offer.
Really a very admirable post.What can I say about that?I am like a newly born baby in this field.But,as far as my thinking is concerned,you had done a great job on collecting data on that.Da your writing is good an its an eye-catching.It can hold the readers.All the best for your next post…You really rock.
You have forgotten to list the awardees in the Best Writing on Cinema section from Bengal. Why? Don’t we deserve a mention too? I have won the Best Writing on Cinema Award twice and till date, am the only woman to have won to twice.
Sorry Shoma di, this was written way back and your news was not in wikipedia !