Bengali cinema
From Free net encyclopedia
There are two Bengali film industries: Dhaka(called Dhallywood) and Kolkata (called Tollywood, a portmanteau of Tollygunge, the area of South Kolkata where this industry is based, and Hollywood)
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Dhallywood
Based in Dhaka, it's the Bangladeshi film industry, with about 60 films produced each year.
Tollywood
Bengali cinema, or the Bengali film industry, is one of the earliest film industries in India. The contribution of Bengali film industry to Indian film is quite important. It is based in Tollygunge, an area of South Kolkata, West Bengal and is more elite and artistically-inclined than the usual musical cinema fare in India. It enjoys large, even disproportionate, representation in Indian cinema, and has produced an Academy Award winner, Satyajit Ray, an acknowledged great of world film and recipient of India and France's greatest honours, the Bharat Ratna and Legion of Honor. (The only other Indian Oscar winner is Bhanu Athaiya, who won for costume design in 'Gandhi').
Other prominent film makers in the Bengali film industry are Bimal Roy, Ritwik Ghatak, and Mrinal Sen. The Bengali film industry has produced classics like 'Pather Panchali', 'Devi', 'Jalsaghar', 'Devdas', 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' etc.
The most well known Bengali filmstar till date has been Uttam Kumar; he and costar Suchitra Sen were known as The Eternal Pair.
Pioneers in Bengali film music include Raichand Boral, Pankaj Mullick and K. C. Dey, all associated with New Theatres Calcutta [1].
Tollygunge is the home of many noted Bengali actors and directors.
Early History
The early beginnings of the "talking film" industry go back to the early 1930's, when it came to British India at its capital, Calcutta. The movies were originally done in Urdu or Farsi as to accommodate a specific elite market. One of the earliest known studios was the East India Film Company.