Hire Manik was a noble venture.

Hire Manik was a noble venture.

Director Salil Dutta made a noble venture with the film Hire Manik in the late 70s. The film was related to the story of two small children Hire and Manik and released in 1979.

Their father Asim Kumar and mother were on a drive when a lorry collided with their car and both were spot dead leaving the two children as orphans. But Asim Kumar’s Fixed Deposits earned a lot of interest and his lawyer Ajitesh Banerjee asked his brother Bikash Roy to take care of the two children and use the money.

Bikash Roy’s brother in law Chinmoy Roy hammered the children and their life was in misery. At that point they escaped from the house and went to a Dhaba. The owner of the Dhaba gave them work of washing dishes. But Chinmoy Roy chased them up with his assistant, a dog named Bruno and a car. The two children got on Satya Banerjee’s lorry and escaped into a forest.

They reached the house of Anil Chatterjee and Sabitri Chatterjee. Sabitri Chatterjee lost her own son and loved the two children and treated them when they were sick. But just because she suspected that they stole a toy from a shop she asked them to leave. They were confronted with an elephant in the forest who was looking for the young one. At the end of the film, they were rescued by Anil Chatterjee, Ajitesh and Sabitri and brought back to their house.

Mrinal Banerjee, the music composer composed impressive tunes including “aaj amader jatra shuru” sung by Arati Mukherjee, “jongol er naam jongol” sung by Manna Dey and other songs. The performances of the two children Hire and Manik were excellent along with the effort of Chinmoy Roy, Anil Chatterjee, Sabitri Chatterjee and others.

Salil Dutta made a fruitful venture in the late 70s and the film still remains one of the popular Bengali films made only for children.

Chinmoy Roy's interview on Jahar Roy.

Chinmoy Roy’s interview on Jahar Roy. Veteran comedian Chinmoy Roy gave an interview on his experience with legendary comedian Jahar Roy, in The Statesman, reported on 19th December, 2010. Priyanka Dasgupta had covered that interview. Chinmoy Roy said that he first met Jahar Roy while he worked in the famous Bengali play Ulka. Jahar Roy played the role of a Chinese steward in the play and did the role with perfection. Ulka stormed Bengal in the mid-50s. Based on the story the bollywood film Meri Surat Teri Ankhen was made. Jahar Roy was famous for his brilliant performance in award winning films like Satyajit Ray’s Gupi Gyne Bagha Byne, Haridas Bhattacharya’s Abhaya Srikanto, Rajlakshi Srikanto, Nirmal Dey’s Sare Chuattor, etc. Chinmoy Roy said that Jahar Roy was very kind hearted person. He said that while doing a film for director Mangal Chakravarty Chinmoy Roy was not paid. Jahar Roy paid him 100 rupees understanding his situation. Due to his charitable work, people remember his mess in College Street in Kolkata where he stayed for a long time. He worked in Patna for some time, that was the reason why Jahar Roy’s hindi intonation was also very good. Chinmoy Roy had highlighted another incident, when Jahar Roy was acting in stage his small son saw him crying and shouted that why father you were crying. When the audience got irritated and shouted at the child, Jahar Roy said that the child was a pigling and asked them to forgive him. Chinmoy Roy was astonished at the level of professionalism of Jahar Roy who was prepared to call himself a pig for the sake of the audience. Due to acute diabetes, Jahar Roy did not survive for long time. When Chinmoy Roy met Jahar Roy for the last time in Rajgir, he said “e Jahar se Jahar noy”, the words which mentioned the title of one of his hit films. The films and works of Jahar Roy should be preserved.