Mala Sinha and Uttam Kumar complimented each other in Shaharer Itikatha.

Mala Sinha and Uttam Kumar complimented each other in Shaharer Itikatha.

Mala Sinha and Uttam Kumar complimented each other in the film Shaharer Itikatha. Director Bishu Dasupta directed the film. It was released in the year 1960.

In the film Jiben Bose was send abroad by Pahari Sanyal, the father of Mala Sinha. The marriage between Jiben Bose and Mala Sinha had been fixed from the beginning. Mala Sinha used to live in the village near Kolkata, with father Pahari Sanyal and mother Chaya Debi.

When Jiben Bose came back from England, Pahari Sanyal asked him about the marriage, his uncle Ajit Banerjee outwardly rejected the proposal. The reason was that Mala Sinha had hardly any education, so being a village girl she was unfit to marry Jiben Bose. Pahari Sanyal was the diwan of the zamindar Uttam Kumar. He reported the matter to Uttam Kumar.

Uttam Kumar brought Mala Sinha to his house in Kolkata. A trainer played by Kajri Guha was kept in the house to train Mala Sinha. She learned English, Dance, the lifestyle of the elite section of Kolkata. Uttam Kumar asked his friend Tarun Kumar to throw a party where Mala Sinha danced with Jiben Bose. Jiben Bose got attracted to Mala Sinha. But one day when he took her for a drive, he misbehaved, Mala Sinha slapped him and returned back to her village.

Uttam Kumar convinced Jiben Bose to marry Mala Sinha, but Mala Sinha refused to marry him. One day when Mala Sinha argued with Uttam Kumar, she discovered that he made a statue of Mala Sinha. So being convinced about Uttam Kumar’s attachment, she married him.

Composer Robin Chatterjee composed excellent music in the film, with impressive songs of Shyamal Mitra namely “koto faguner”, “ei shaharer itikatha” and impressive songs of Sandhya Mukherjee. The film did excellent business. The film should be preserved and restored.

Sagarika was Agragami's masterpiece.

Sagarika was Agragami’s masterpiece.

Sagarika was one of the early films of Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen, which cemented their position in Tollygunge film industry and also displayed the directorial skills of Agragami. Agragami was mainly constituted by a number of directors, among whom Saroj Dey was the leading director.
The film was directed and released in 1956. In the film Uttam Kumar was a doctor who required the recommendation of Principal of Medical College played by Kamal Mitra to get scholarship to furnish post-graduate degree abroad. His poetry relating to Suchitra Sen, was copied by Namita Sinha. She showed it to Suchitra Sen who was also a medical student, who complained before Kamal Mitra and Uttam Kumar lost the recommendation.

He managed the passage money from Jahar Ganguly, who payed his uncle Pahari Sanyal the money and made arrangement to marry his daughter Jamuna Singha with Uttam Kumar after he returned back from abroad.

Namita Sinha later confessed to Suchitra Sen about her mischief and she repented about it. Jahar Ganguly brought Jamuna Singha to Suchitra Sen’s house to learn the city culture of Kolkata. Uttam Kumar while staying abroad, met with an accident and became partially blind before returning back to Kolkata.

His friend Jiben Bose who was a wealthy doctor gave him stay in his house during his treatment. Suchitra Sen treated him. At the end of the film when Uttam Kumar got his vision back through operation by an International doctor, Jamuna Singha was send to him. He recognized it was not Suchitra Sen and accepted Suchitra Sen as his wife.

The music composed by Robin Chatterjee played a great role in the success of the film. All the songs composed by Robin Chatterji in the film became super hit including Sandhya Mukherjee’s song “ei to amar prothomo faguna bela”, Shyamal Mitra’s song “amar sapne dekha rajkonya thake”, Alpona Banerjee’s song “hridoy amar sundoro tobo pay” to mention a few.

The film should be preserved and restored for the excellent direction of Agragami, and powerful performances of Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen, Jiben Bose, Jahar Ganguly, Pahari Sanyal and others.