Since its inception in 1931, Mahishasuramardini has been one of the most popular programmes in Bengali radio, and is currently the longest running radio programme in India, narrated by Birendra Krishna Bhadra. This film is a truthful account of what unfolded in 1976, after Aakashvani decided to...
Yahoodi Ki Ladki (The Jew's Daughter) is a Hindi drama film directed by S.D. Narang, starring Madhubala and Pradeep Kumar as leads. The film became a silver jubilee hit on its release in January 1957.
Raikamal narrates the story of Rai Kamal, a devotee of Lord Krishna. Rai Kamal and Ranjan are childhood sweethearts. When Ranjan grows up he wishes his desire to marry Rai but his parents are against this match as they are Brahmins and Rai Kamal was a low caste Vaishnav.
Ajay is a musician by hobby and also runs a business. His younger brother Arun wants to become a doctor. After his mother’s death, Ajay becomes the head of the family however, he falls into debt. He decides to take singing lessons to earn money. Bandana is a good singer and she starts taking...
An early example of social realism that reached its height with 'Udayer Pathey' and more memorably with 'Chhinnamul', 'Doctor' was meant as a stringent critique of practices that were beginning to be deemed as persistant evils that plague society, namely superstitions, religious dogma and...
The poor but educated Mahim and his childhood friend, the rich but conservative Suresh, both fall in love with the same woman, the liberated Achala. Mahim marries her and they move to a village but she cannot forget Suresh. Her smoldering unhappiness takes the form of resentment towards the...
A wife rejected by her in-laws following her abduction is given shelter by the husband's friend. The storyline follows the wife's ambivalent feelings for her savior when she's accepted back into the family.
Melodrama about lineage and property questions. Nikhilesh (Barua) loves heiress Indira (Jamuna). A poor orphan girl, Radha (Menaka Devi), arrives claiming to be Indira's stepsister and therefore part inheritor of the family estate. Indira agrees to share her inheritance but then Radha makes a play...
Set against the backdrop of WW II in Calcutta, "Meri Bahen" is the story of a schoolteacher and his young sister. The film followed his rise to fame as a singer and the changes in his relationships following a bomb-raid.
Suren, prevented by his family from pursuing a university career, leaves home and becomes a tutor to Pramila. He falls in love with her widowed elder sister Madhavi who, although returning his love, has him sacked to save the situation.
One of the early films of Chhabi Biswas featuring him as a leading man, before he came to be associated with the dominating patriarch roles that have become iconic in Bengali cinema, the film is a tale of the love, relationships and ideals of two generations. Nutubihari is an idealist who has given...
Badi Bahen aka President is a 1937 Hindi social romantic drama film (the Bengali version was called Didi and starred several different actors). The story according to the credit roll of the film is "A tale of love and greater love" developed on an idea by M. M. Begg. It was a love triangle with a...
Maya (Jamuna) is the poor cousin of rich socialite Shanta (Azoorie). Shanta is supposed to marry the equally rich Pratap (P. Sanyal), but he falls in love with Maya and fathers her child before going abroad. Shanta causes a seperation by intercepting Pratap's letters to Maya. When he returns, a...
A famous radio singer Mohan (Saigal) is in love with Geeta (Leela Desai). When he goes to his friend a doctor, TB Specialist, Bijoy (Bhanu) for a check-up, he is found to be in an advance stage of TB. Meanwhile Leela's dominant mother and aunt (Nibhanani and Manorama) had been against the poor...
This classic adultery story tells of an artist, Prasanta (Barua) presented in the stereotypically romantic image: dedicated to his vocation, paying no heed to his scandalous reputation (he paints nude models) and with a cavalier attitude to his conservative father-in-law's (Choudhury) demands for a...
Dikshul is a 1943 Bengali film produced by New Theatres Ltd. Directed by Premankur Atorthy, the film featured music by Pankaj Mullick and cinematography by Rabi Dhar. Notably, the film's lyrics were penned by the renowned poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, and it marked the playback singing debut of actress...
A famous Saigal musical narrating a strange love story set against 1930s industrialization and worker-management relations. The 16-year-old Prabhavati inherits a mill and turns it into an extremely profitable enterprise. Prakash is a worker who designs a more efficient machine for the factory for...
