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Bengal's first
feature film was Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra, which was made by
J.F.Madan in March 1917. Soon many good films were produced, which include Madan
Theatre's Nala Damayanti (1921), Dhruva Charitra, Shivratri
and a comedy called Tehmuras and Tehmuljee and Dhiren Ganguli's
Bilat Ferat and Yashoda Nandan. Madan's Jamai Sasthi
(1931) was the first talkie in Bengali. New Theatre's Chandidas and
Udayer Pathey; P.C.Barua's Rupalekha, Devdas, Grihadah (1936) and
Mukti; Nitin Bose's Bhagya Chakra (1935) and Didi;
Debaki Bose's Sonar Sansar (1936) and Vidyapati and Satyen
Bose's Paribartan (1949) were some of the outstanding early films made
in Bengali.
Sharey Chuattar (1953) launched Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen in Bengali cinema.
In 1955, Satyajit Ray released his first film Pather Panchali, which
brought the Indian cinema to the international arena. This was followed by his
master creations like Aparajito, Apur Sansar, Mahanagar, Charulata,
Seemabaddha, Pratidwandi and Ashani Sanket. Ray's outstanding
success gave a great impetus to the Bengali cinema. A number of directors came
on the scene and produced splendid films like Calcutta and Bhuvan
Shome (Mrinal Sen); Meghe Dhaka Tara, Ajantrik and
Subarnarekha (Ritwik Ghatak); Chalachal (Asit Sen) and Ganga
and Antariksha (Rajan Tarafdar).
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