Basu Bhattacharya

Basu Bhattacharya
Born1934
Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died19 June 1997(1997-06-19) (aged 62–63)[1]
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1961; div. 1990)​
Children3; including Aditya Bhattacharya
Awards1972: National Film Award for Second Best Feature Film (Anubhav)
1985 Filmfare Best Movie Award (Sparsh)

Basu Bhattacharya (1934 – 19 June 1997) was an Indian film director of Hindi films.[2][3] He is perhaps best known for his 1966 film Teesri Kasam, starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman (based on the short story "Maare Gaye Gulfam" by Phanishwar Nath 'Renu'), which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1967. The most popular and critically acclaimed film which he directed remains Avishkaar, starring Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore, which received five stars in Bollywood Guide Collections[4] and for which Khanna received the Filmfare Best Actor Award in 1975.

In 1979, he produced Sparsh, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and the film also won the Filmfare Best Movie Award.[5] He served as president of the Indian Film Directors' Association from 1976 to 1979.[6] In 1981 he was a member of the jury at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival.[7] None of his works were successful after 1983.

He started his career in 1958 by assisting Bimal Roy in films like Madhumati and Sujata and later married Bimal Roy's daughter, Rinki Bhattacharya, much to Bimal Roy's disapproval. This created a rift between him and his mentor.[8][9] The couple had a son, the director Aditya Bhattacharya, and two daughters: Chimmu and Anwesha Arya, a writer. Later after much domestic abuse, his wife Rinki moved out in 1983, and the couple formally divorced in 1990. Rinki went on to edit an anthology on domestic violence in India, titled, Behind Closed Doors – Domestic Violence in India and became a successful writer, columnist and documentary filmmaker.[10]

  1. ^ "Film-maker Basu Bhattacharya dead". Rediff.com. 20 June 1997. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  2. ^ "Basuda, auteur of "sensitive" films dies at 62". The Indian Express. 21 June 1997. Archived from the original on 16 August 2010.
  3. ^ Gulzar; Govind Nihalani; Saibal Chatterjee (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi cinema. (Encyclopædia Britannica (India) Pvt. Ltd), Popular Prakashan. p. 532. ISBN 81-7991-066-0.
  4. ^ Collections. Update Video Publication. 1991.
  5. ^ "National Film Awards (1979)". Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  6. ^ Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul (2014). Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Routledge. p. 64. ISBN 978-1135943189. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "12th Moscow International Film Festival (1981)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  8. ^ "A Homage to Basu Bhattacharya". Archived from the original on 29 January 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ^ Father’s pictures The Tribune, 26 August 2001.
  10. ^ Can you beat that? Telegraph, 30 May 2004.