Tarun Majumdar


Tarun Majumdar is a Bengali Indian film director who is known for his work in Bengali cinema. He is notable for his depiction of Bengali culture and society. Many of his films are literature-based. He has recreated classics written by Bimal Kar, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, and Tarashankar Bandopadhyay on celluloid. Another feature of many of his films is the ample use of songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore to convey a range of emotions. Although often lacking in critical acclaim as some of his peers like Tapan Sinha, Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen, he has consistently produced box-office hits for over forty years.

Early years

Majumdar was born in Bogra, Bengal, now in Bangladesh. His father Birendranath Majumdar was a freedom fighter. He studied at the Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta. He married fellow Bengali actress Sandhya Roy.

Career

His early films were credited to Yatrik. Yatrik was the screen-name of the trio of directors Tarun Majumdar, Sachin Mukherji, and Dilip Mukherji until 1963 after which each began to be credited separately. As Yatrik, the trio created well-known classics such as Chaowa Paowa in 1959, starring matinee idol Uttam Kumar and screen-diva Suchitra Sen, and Palatak and Kancher Swarga, both in 1963.
In 1965, Tarun Majumdar made two films: Ektuku basha with Soumitra Chatterjee and Alor pipasha with Basanta Choudhury. The films featured Sandhya Roy, a popular actress whom he married. In 1967, he made one of the top-grossing films of the year, Balika Badhu, an adaptation of story written by Bimal Kar, in which a teenage Moushumi Chatterjee made her debut. He would remake it in Hindi in 1976, where it was a moderate success. He would make quite a few box-office blockbusters through the years including Shriman Prithviraj, Ganadevata, Dadar kirti, Bhalobasa Bhalobasa, Poroshmoni, and Apon amar apon. Apart from being a major success in 1980, Dadar kirti, based on a short story by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, introduced Tapas Paul. Both would go on to dominate the Bengali film screen for over a decade. In many films after Dadar kirti, Tapas Paul found himself typecast in similar roles to Kedar.

Awards

National Awards