Cinema of West Bengal

Not to be confused with Telugu cinema, also called Tollywood.
This article is about Cinema of West Bengal in India. For Bangla cinema in Bangladesh, see Cinema of Bangladesh.

Cinema of West Bengal
No. of screens381 screens in West Bengal and Tripura states of India (2023)[1]
Main distributorsSVF
Eskay Movies
Surinder Films
Grassroot Entertainment
Dev Entertainment Ventures
Windows Production
Bengal Talkies
Friends Communication
Camellia Productions
Patras Glam Entertainment
Produced feature films (2022)[2]
Total145 (Theatrical)
Gross box office (2023)[3]
Total₹66 crore (US$7.9 million)
Indian cinema

Cinema of West Bengal, also known as Tollywood or Bengali cinema, is the segment of Indian cinema, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Bengali language widely spoken in the state of West Bengal. It is based in the Tollygunge region of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The origins of the nickname Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge and Hollywood, dates back to 1932.[4] It was a historically important film industry, at one time the centre of Indian film production.[4] The Bengali film industry is known for producing many of Indian cinema's most critically acclaimed global Parallel Cinema and art films, with several of its filmmakers gaining prominence at the Indian National Film Awards as well as international acclaim.

Ever since Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali (1955) was awarded Best Human Document at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, Bengali films frequently appeared in international fora and film festivals for the next several decades.[5] This allowed Bengali filmmakers to reach a global audience. The most influential among them was Satyajit Ray, whose films became successful among European, American and Asian audiences.[6] His work subsequently had a worldwide impact, with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese,[7] James Ivory,[8] Abbas Kiarostami, Elia Kazan, François Truffaut,[9] Carlos Saura,[10] Isao Takahata,[11] Wes Anderson[12] and Danny Boyle[13] being influenced by his cinematic style, and many others such as Akira Kurosawa praising his work.[14]

The "youthful coming-of-age dramas that have flooded art houses since the mid-fifties owe a tremendous debt to the Apu trilogy".[15] Kanchenjungha (1962) introduced a narrative structure that resembles later hyperlink cinema.[16] Ray's 1967 script for a film to be called The Alien, which was eventually cancelled, is widely believed to have been the inspiration for Steven Spielberg's E.T. (1982).[17][18][19] Ira Sachs' Forty Shades of Blue (2005) was a loose remake of Charulata (1964), and in Gregory Nava's My Family (1995), the final scene is duplicated from the final scene of The World of Apu. Similar references to Ray films are found in recent works such as Sacred Evil (2006),[20] the Elements trilogy of Deepa Mehta, and in films of Jean-Luc Godard.[21]

Another prominent Bengali filmmaker is Mrinal Sen, whose films have been well known for their Marxist views. During his career, Mrinal Sen's films have received awards from major film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Montreal, Chicago, and Cairo. Retrospectives of his films have been shown in major cities of the world.[22] Bengali filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak began reaching a global audience long after his death; beginning in the 1990s, a project to restore Ghatak's films was undertaken, and international exhibitions (and subsequent DVD releases) have belatedly generated an increasingly global audience. Some of his films have strong similarities to later famous international films, such as Ajantrik (1958) resembled the Herbie films (1967–2005) and Bari Theke Paliye (1958) resembled François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959). Other eminent Bengali filmmakers included the trio of Tapan Sinha, Ajoy Kar and Tarun Majumdar, collectively referred as "TAT". Their films have been well known for Best Literature Adaptation and displaying larger than life perspectives. Ajoy Kar directorial numerous films created many new milestones and broke existing box office records in the Golden Era.

The cinematographer Subrata Mitra, who made his debut with Ray's The Apu Trilogy, also had an important influence on cinematography across the world. One of his most important techniques was bounce lighting, to recreate the effect of daylight on sets. He pioneered the technique while filming Aparajito (1956), the second part of The Apu Trilogy.[23] Some of the experimental techniques which Satyajit Ray pioneered include photo-negative flashbacks and X-ray digressions while filming Pratidwandi (1972).[24]

Following Kerela's Hema committee, similar proposal for setting up a committee in West Bengal's Tollywood has been proposed to the Chief Minister.[25]

  1. ^ Vinayak, A. J. (28 September 2022). "Why films from the South set the box office on fire". The Hindu Business Line. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  2. ^ "List of feature films certified in 2022" (PDF). cbfcindia.gov.in. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Box Office 2023: Punjabi films grossed Rs. 235 crores, Marathi films grossed Rs. 201 crores, Bengali films grossed Rs. 66 crores in 2023". Bollywood Hungama. Hungama Digital Media Entertainment. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Sarkar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Desai, Jigna (2004), Beyond Bollywood: The Cultural Politics of South Asian Diasporic Film, p. 38, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-96684-1
  6. ^ Arthur J Pais (14 April 2009). "Why we admire Satyajit Ray so much". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  7. ^ Chris Ingui. "Martin Scorsese hits DC, hangs with the Hachet". Hatchet. Archived from the original on 26 August 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2006.
  8. ^ Sheldon Hall. "Ivory, James (1928-)". Screen Online. Archived from the original on 30 December 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  9. ^ Dave Kehr (5 May 1995). "THE 'WORLD' OF SATYAJIT RAY: LEGACY OF INDIA'S PREMIER FILM MAKER ON DISPLAY". Daily News. Archived from the original on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  10. ^ Suchetana Ray (11 March 2008). "Satyajit Ray is this Spanish director's inspiration". CNN-IBN. Archived from the original on 15 September 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  11. ^ Daniel Thomas (20 January 2003). "Film Reviews: Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no Haka)". Archived from the original on 6 February 2003. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
  12. ^ "On Ray's Trail". The Statesman. Archived from the original on 3 January 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
  13. ^ Alkarim Jivani (February 2009). "Mumbai rising". Sight & Sound. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  14. ^ Robinson, A (2003). Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker. I. B. Tauris. p. 96. ISBN 1-86064-965-3.
  15. ^ Sragow, Michael (1994). "An Art Wedded to Truth". The Atlantic Monthly. University of California, Santa Cruz. Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
  16. ^ "An Interview with Satyajit Ray". 1982. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2009.
  17. ^ Ray, Satyajit. "Ordeals of the Alien". The Unmade Ray. Satyajit Ray Society. Archived from the original on 27 April 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
  18. ^ Neumann P. "Biography for Satyajit Ray". Internet Movie Database Inc. Archived from the original on 13 March 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2006.
  19. ^ Newman J (17 September 2001). "Satyajit Ray Collection receives Packard grant and lecture endowment". UC Santa Cruz Currents online. Archived from the original on 4 November 2005. Retrieved 29 April 2006.
  20. ^ SK Jha. "Sacred Ray". Telegraph India. Archived from the original on 18 June 2006. Retrieved 29 June 2006.
  21. ^ André Habib. "Before and After: Origins and Death in the Work of Jean-Luc Godard". Senses of Cinema. Archived from the original on 14 June 2006. Retrieved 29 June 2006.
  22. ^ "Mrinal Sen". Archived from the original on 27 May 2009. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
  23. ^ "Subrata Mitra". Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers. Archived from the original on 2 June 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  24. ^ Nick Pinkerton (14 April 2009). "First Light: Satyajit Ray From the Apu Trilogy to the Calcutta Trilogy". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
  25. ^ "Actor Ritabhari: Mamata Banerjee responded to our request for Hema Committee-like body". India Today. 11 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.