With films like Sparsh (1980) and 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981), the early 1980s proved influential vis-à-vis the advent of women filmmakers. Though Indian cinema has had stars like Devika Rani, Fearless Nadia and Durga Khote in the 1930s, there have been few women behind the camera for the longest time. This is as true of technical aspects like editing, cinematography and music as it is of direction. The only fields that women seem to have ventured into in cinema were make-up and costumes.
In the first few decades of cinema in India, one can count these technicians on one’s fingertips – Fatma Begum (director and screenwriter), Saraswati Devi, Jaddan Bai and Usha Khanna (composers) were among these. In fact, it is surprising for a cinema steeped in music that one can recall almost no women lyricist of note till about the 1990s and the new millennium.
Bengal has been at the forefront of the advent of cinema in India. However, when it comes to technicians and behind-the-scenes operators, the situation has been no different. It is only with the 1980s and the arrival of Aparna Sen that the scenario changed. And even then, for almost close to 30 years since her debut, Aparna Sen ploughed a lonely furrow. However, stalwarts like Kanan Devi, Arundhati Devi and Manju Dey were among the early pioneers.
Kanan Devi: One of the first women to set up a production house
One of the earliest women stars and singers of Bengali cinema, Kanan Devi was among the first women in the industry to set up a production house. In 1949, she created her own banner, Shrimati Pictures. Though she never directed a film, she played an important role in promoting young filmmakers like Ajoy Kar and Tarun Majumdar through the Sabyasachi Collective – a phenomenon unique to Bengali cinema where a group of filmmakers signed off collectively on a film – she founded in 1949. The collective’s first film was Ananya and it made some of the most successful Bengali films of the decade, most of them based on the works of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay. Between 1949 and 1965, when it made its last film, Abhaya O Sreekanto, Shrimati Pictures produced close to a dozen films, including Mej Didi (1950), Andhare Alo (1957) and the Uttam Kumar-Suchitra Sen-starrer Rajlakshmi O Sreekanto (1958), perhaps the biggest hit of the banner. Andhare Alo won the All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature Film at the fifth National Awards. It also won the President’s Silver Medal for the Best Feature Film in Bengali and was the inaugural film at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Arundhati Devi: A true precursor to Aparna Sen
If anyone can be considered the true precursor to Aparna Sen in terms of the intellectual and cinematic rigour she brought to her films, it is Arundhati Devi. A student of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, where she trained in Rabindrasangeet, Arundhati Devi is better known as an actress for films like Chalachal (1956), which was remade as Safar in Hindi, and in three films made by her husband Tapan Sinha – Kshudita Pashan (1960), Jhinder Bandi (1961) and Jatugriha (1964).
In 1959, she debuted as a producer with Bicharak, based on a novel by Jnanpith Award winner Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay. It bagged a Certificate of Merit as the third Best Feature film at the National Awards in 1960 and is counted among one of the greatest performances of Uttam Kumar. A complex psychological study of guilt, responsibility and redemption, Bicharak cast the mahanayak as a judge supremely confident of his ability to deliver justice who comes face-to-face with an ethical crisis when asked to judge a case that has echoes from his past and a choice he has made. Even as he decides on the fate of the defendant, he has to confront his own moral culpability.
Arundhati Devi ventured into direction with Chhuti (1967), for which she also wrote the script and music. The film won a Certificate of Merit at the 1967 National Awards. This was followed by Megh O Roudra (1969), based on a story by Rabindranath Tagore, and a film for children, Padi Pishir Bormi Baksho (1972). Then came Deepar Prem in 1983, and Gokul, a telefilm, in 1985.
Manju Dey: The one who directed a Byomkesh Bakshi film
Another actor who took to direction, albeit not with the kind of success that Arundhati Devi had, was Manju Dey. She was a leading character actor right through the 1950s and ’60s, with telling performances in films like Jighansa (1951), Kabuliwala (1958) and Neel Akasher Niche (1958), among others. She made her debut as director with the musical comedy Swargo Hotey Bidaye in 1954. In 1967, she adapted Tarun Bhaduri’s novel for her second film as director, Abhishopto Chambal (1967). She also produced the film.
And much before Byomkesh Bakshi became a huge film franchise in Bengal after 2010, Manju Dey directed Sajarur Kanta (1974), a thriller based on a Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay novel featuring the fictional detective. It provides an interesting case of a woman filmmaker directing a detective film. Another film she directed and acted in is Putlibai, based on the life of a woman-outlaw. Unfortunately, none of these films are available online or on any OTT platform, thus depriving viewers of the works of an early woman filmmaker.
Aparna Sen: One of India’s most feted filmmakers with her first film
It is Aparna Sen who proved a gamechanger in the directorial stakes for women. Starting out as an actor in 1955, with Mejo Bou, she came into the limelight with her performance in Samapti (part of Satyajit Ray’s triptych Teen Kanya, 1961). She remained a popular actor in mainstream Bengali cinema for over 25 years, starring in influential films like Akash Kusum (1965), Baksa Badal (1965), Aparichito (1969), Memsaheb (1972), Basanta Bilap (1973) and Shwet Patharer Thala (1991).
She emerged as one of India’s most feted filmmakers with her first film, 36 Chowringhee Lane. The film, made in English, won major awards at the 1981 National Film Awards, including the Golden Lotus Award for Best Director, the citation for which read: ‘For effectively orchestrating the creative and technical elements in her first film, for a poignant portrayal of loneliness in old age and for bringing to the screen a true-to-life situation in post-Independence India.’ Aparna followed it up with Paroma (1985), which too won accolades for the way it dealt with the identity of a woman confined to her household duties.
These two films set the template for all her future works, films rooted in contemporary reality, yet walking the fine line between artistic integrity and commercial feasibility. Above all, her films show a rare understanding of the feminine psyche. As she says, ‘My films mainly revolve around loneliness, individuals, friendship and sisterhood. I do not make experimental films. Nor do I make formula films. I make films that are true to my artistic vision. I think it is important to make films that do not alienate the audience. I think a director can induce the viewer to come to the theatres by making films that are both entertaining and realistic. Every filmmaker wants to see their film succeed at the box office. We cannot only screen films at festivals. It is equally important for the films to make money.’
One of the few Indian filmmakers to have been feted at major international film festivals, her important works, spanning various genres, include the English films Mr and Mrs Iyer (2002) and 15 Park Avenue (2005); Paromitar Ek Din (2000), the adaptation of Kunal Basu’s novel The Japanese Wife (2010); the whimsical comedy-horror Goynar Baksho (2013); Arshinagar (2015), a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set in contemporary times; and Ghawre Baire Aaj (2019), a present-day retelling of Tagore’s novel Ghare Baire.
The Rapist (2021) premiered at the 26th Busan International Film Festival, under ‘A Window on Asian Cinema’ section, and has won international critical acclaim. Calling it ‘one of the best works directed by veteran filmmaker-actor Aparna Sen’, Variety magazine wrote, ‘The Rapist is a deeply affecting portrait of personal trauma and an intelligent examination of social and cultural factors fueling the horrifying prevalence of sexual violence in India.’
(Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri is a film and music buff, editor, publisher, film critic and writer)
