Indian Bollywood Actress
Contribution of West Bengal to Hindi Cinema / Bollywood
India is at the top in the world in film making. About 900 films are made in India every year. Bollywood (Hindi Cinema) is the most important part of Indian film Industry. It is the largest film producer in India. People from various castes and religions like Punjabis, Sindhis, Gujaratis, South Indians etc. have contributed to this industry but the contribution of West Bengal is quite significant. Film makers like Satyajit Ray, an Academy Honorary Award Winner, the recipient of India and France's greatest civilian Honors, the Bharat Ratna and Legion of Honor, apart from many Bengali films has produced a few very successful Hindi movies like Sadgati, Shatranj Ke Khiladi to name a few. Other film makers from Bengal are Bimal Roy (Do Beegha Zameen, the story of an Indian farmer), Aparna Sen (36 Chouringhee Lane, her debut film as director won national and international awards) etc. Hrishikesh Mukherjee was another great asset to Bollywood from Bengal. He was the producer and Director of many Hindi films like Guddi, Anupama, Khoobsurat and Satyakaam to name a few.
Who can forget Bengali actors and actresses like Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Anoop Kumar, Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Saumitra Chatterjee (acted in many Satyajit Ray's films), Uttpal Dutt, Pradeep Kumar, Asit Sen, Suchitra Sen, Sharmila Tagore (Pataudi), Rakhi Biswas (Gulzar), Biswajit, Jaya Bhaduri (Bachchan), Mausumi Chatterjee, Mithun Chakraborty, Rani Mukherji, Riya & Raima Sen, Bipasha Basu and Konkana Sen Sharma to name a few.
Who can forget the legendary Ashok Kumar? When he was young, he acted in films in the lead role. Later on he did remarkably well in character roles. Many of his films went on to become major hits like Achhoot Kanya, Kanoon, Mahal, Howrah Bridge, Gumrah, Aashirvad, Bahu Beti, Bahu Begam, Meherban to name just a few. He even sang in few films like Achhoot Kanya and Aashirvad. Ashok Kumar's younger brother Kishore Kumar was a great playback singer. His singing style is remembered even today. He was not only a great singer but a great Producer, Director Music Director and actor. In fact he was probably the first all rounder of the Hindi Film Industry. Who can imagine a film like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi without the three brothers namely Ashok, Kishore and Anoop or the memorable songs like "ek ladki bheegi bhagee si", "panch rupaiya baaraa aanaa" and the title song?
The contribution of Music Directors likes Sachin Dev Burman (S.D. Burman), Rahul Dev Burman (R. D. Burman, popularly known as Panchamda), Bhupen Hazarika, K.C.Dey and Pankaj Mallick from Bengal is noteworthy particularly in the world of Bollywood music world. No mention of Hindi film music can be complete without highlighting the contributions made by these stalwarts.
Playback singers like Kishore Kumar, Amit Kumar, Hemant Kumar (Mukherjee), Manna Dey, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Kumar Sanu, Shaan, etc. lent their velvety voices to Bollywood actors. Needless to say, it is impossible to imagine writing about bollywood songs, without mentioning the very significant contribution by these versatile singers. Each of these singers has a number of songs to their credit.
Thus, we have seen the huge contribution, made by West Bengal to Hindi Cinema.