Sourav Ganguly is back with Dadagiri.

Sourav Ganguly is back with Dadagiri.

Indian ex-captain Sourav Ganguly is back with Dadagiri in Zee Bangla Television Channel. His followers who had seen him conduct the program in 2009 are very happy to find him again as anchor for the season 2010.

Other than qualities like leading the country in cricket matches within India and abroad, Sourav Ganguly had interests in the cultural sphere and that had helped him a lot in conducting a knowledgeable program like Dadagiri. There had been a number of rounds in which the participants and shown their intelligence and knowledge and competed against each other in 2009, among which the googly round was exceptional.

In 2009, Sourav Ganguly, had brought many celebrities in the program. The episodes relating to them were unforgettable. From the film world he brought Mithun Chakravarty, Mamata Shankar, Rituparna Sengupta on screen. He brought actors who played the roles relating to Feluda series directed by Satyajit Ray and Sandip Ray, namely Soumitra Chatterji, Sabyasachi Chakravarty, Siddharta Chatterji, Saswata Chatterji, and others.

He had brought many sports personalities like Kishore Bhimani, Shyam Thapa, and others. They had highlighted about the history of Indian cricket and football. He brought the eminent chefs all across India including Sanjeev Kapoor to highlight about the best menus in leading hotels and restaurants in Indian cities.

He brought his own colleages like Irfan Pathan and S. Sreesanth in the program. Lastly he brought his IPL friend Shahrukh Khan and the episode relating to him had questions relating to his film career.

Sourav Ganguly had rightly said that viewers had heard about the term Dhoom 2 and Don 2. This new series of Dadagiri will be termed Dadagiri 2.

The viewers look forward to exciting episodes of Dadagiri all the way from 2nd September, 2010, and wish their best to master entertainer Sourav Ganguly.

Ghare Baire was a bold project of Satyajit Ray.

Ghare Baire was a bold project of Satyajit Ray.

The film Ghare Baire had been a bold project of the director Satyajit Ray. The literature was classic in nature and the work of Nobel winner Rabindranath Tagore. Ray wanted to make the film in the early 50s, but changed his mind and made it in 1984.

Victor Banerjee played the role of the zamindar Nikhilesh in the film. He married Sathilekha Sengupta, (the wife renowned theatre personality Rudraprasad Sengupta) in the film. Victor Banerjee taught his wife English music and gave all the luxuries of life. She learned music from British singer played by Jennifer Kapoor.

But Soumitra Chatterjee came to their house and disturbed the peace in the family. He was a freedom fighter in the wrong sense. He believed in swadeshi, yet could not live without English cigarettes. He was characterless in the truest sense of the term. His only intention to stay in the house of Victor Banerjee was to come close to his wife during a period when Indian women generally remained indoors.

Victor Banerjee’s villagers were poor muslims, who sold foreign products in the local market called haat, and could not afford to sell Indian products which were costly. Soumitra deliberately bribed few local people to extort the products and burn them. Victor Banerjee on the other hand, made swadeshi factories, where the employees made soap, towel, and other products. He never wanted publicity for his sacrifices.

Manoj Mitra, his teacher and resident in the same village, countered Soumitra for his hypocrisy and failture of his freedom movement. At the end of the film Soumitra was successful to create riot in the village which was previously peaceful. He kissed Sathilekha Sengupta and continued with his extra-marital affair. While Victor Banerjee went on horseback to prevent the riot and got killed in the process, Soumitra escaped from the place and went to Kolkata after taking the money for the journey from Sathilekha Sengupta. Even the career of the scholarly student of the village was also ruined by Soumitra, who joined the movement and left studies.

Rabindranath Tagore was very bold enough to show the lack of commitment of certain section of freedom fighters who made the movement weak. Satyajit Ray was bold enough to show whenever over-independence was given to household women, they abused it. Besides kissing scenes were not very common in Bengali cinema of the early 80s, in that perspective also the depiction of Soumitra’s extra-marital affair was very bold approach of Ray.

Victor Banerjee was brilliant in his individual role. Sathilekha did a fair job. Soumitra Chatterjee showed the adulterous scenes in style. The film should be preserved and restored.

Aranyer Dinratri was Ray's masterpiece.

Aranyer Dinratri was Ray’s masterpiece.

Satyajit Ray experimented with classic literature of Sunil Ganguly to make the film Aranyer Dinratri in 1969. The film was based on the life of tribals of forest area in the region of Palamou and Daltongunge in Bihar.

It was Ray’s masterpiece. The film was related to the experience of four Bengali friends who went for a travelling experience in Palamou for few days. Soumitra Chatterji, Subhendu Chatterji, Samit Bhanja and Robi Ghosh were the four friends.

They met the family Pahari Sanyal who had a house in the forest region. The life of the tribals and the solitude attracted the friends and they started staying in the forest bunglow without the permission of the forest ranger. Pahari Sanyal’s daughter Sharmila Tagore fell in love with Soumitra Chatterji, while his daughter-in-law Kaberi Bose liked Subhendu Chatterji.

Samit Bhanja, a cricket player in the film was depressed about his girlfriend Aparna Sen in Kolkata and mixed with Simmi Garewal, a tribal girl. In fact it was the only film of Satyajit Ray where Simmi Garewal acted. He was beaten up by a local tribal, who he accused about stealing his purse. In fact his purse fell down in the house of Pahari Sanyal where he was playing badminton with Kaberi Bose, Subhendu Chatterji and Robi Ghosh.

They returned back after staying for few days. It was pity that Satyajit Ray could not make a coloured film in 1969, otherwise, the weird landscape of Daltongunge would have haunted the viewers. The nightlife in the tribal forest was very unique with the native people drinking a kind of desi alcohol and sleeping.

Goutam Ghosh got attracted with the film and made a sequel of it with the title Abar Aranye, few years back. He had to change the team, because although Soumitra Chatterji, Subhendu Chatterji and Samit Bhanja was alive, Robi Ghosh had died. Kaberi Bose also died in the late 70s. The film won a number of awards both nationally and internationally. The film Aranyer Dinratri should be preserved and restored.

Feluda Team in Dadagiri

Feluda Team in Dadagiri

The different teams of Satyajit Ray's immortal creation Feluda series appeared in Sourav Ganguly's program Dadagiri in Zee Bangla. The team included old Feluda team like Soumitra Chatterji (Feluda), Siddharta Chatterji (Topse) and Kushal Chakravarty (Mukul). The new Feluda team included Sabyasachi Chakravarty (Feluda), Saswata Chatterji (Topse) and Bibhu Bhattacharya (Jatayu).

While quiz questions were asked the nostalgia relating to Satyajit Ray's immortal creation Sonar Kella and Joy Baba Felunath reflected across everybody's mind. Soumitra admitted the classic shooting in the romantic landscapes of Rajasthan in Sonar Kella gave a new dimension to the film.

It was mentioned that after the death of Santosh Dutta who had previously played the role of Jatayu, Satyajit Ray declined to make any other film on the Feluda series. Jatayu's daughter was called in the program to share her experience.

Sabyasachi Chakravarty reflected about the fact when Satyajit Ray made the films on Feluda within one year of writing the story the picture of Kolkata did not change. But When Sandip Ray made the same films after 20 years of creation of the literature he had to make alterations in the film considering the change of lifestyle of people in Kolkata. During Ray's time Green Ambassador of Jatayu showed status. During Sandip Ray's time BMW cars are common in Kolkata.

Sourav Ganguly conducted the program with brilliance. The viewers expect Sandip Ray to make more films relating to Feluda Series written by Satyajit Ray.

Manna Dey and Sudhin Dasgupta.

Manna Dey and Sudhin Dasgupta.

Manna Dey had a very sweet relationship with Sudhin Dasgupta. He was used by almost all the leading composers of Bengal namely Anil Bagchi, Nochiketa Ghosh, Salil Choudhury and others. But probably his westernized andaz was used to the limit by Sudhin Dasgupta.

Sudhin Dasgupta used Manna Dey in Uttam Kumar’s film Goli Theke Rajpoth with the song “lag lag lag lag bhelkir khela”. Manna Dey’s songs “ami agantuk” and “ke prothom kache esechi” composed by Sudhin Dasgupta in Uttam Kumar’s film Shankhabela created sensation in Bengali celluloid in 1966. Manna Dey’s songs “ami kon pothe je choli” and “bachao ke acho” in Uttam Kumar’s film Choddobeshi became super hit as well.

In the 70s, Manna Dey’s songs “esechi ami esechi”, “lekha porata shikhe phele” and “paye paye joriye rakho” in Uttam Kumar’s film Har Mana Har created sensation as well. Uttam Kumar gave the lips of his lifetime in the film Har Mana Har. While major success of Sudhin Dasgupta came in Uttam Kumar’s films, he made major contribution in Soumitra Chatterji’s films as well. The songs “ei shohor theke aro anek dure”, “hoyto tomari jonyo”, “jibone ki pabona” in the film Teen Bhubaner Pare, composed by Sudhin Dasgupta and sung by Manna Dey showed the westernized orchestration of the giant composer.

Sudhin Dasupta’s songs in Soumitra’s films Prothom Kodom Phul and Bosonto Bilaap were equally successful. Manna Dey’s all round musical skills were used to perfection in these films. Even the song “ogo tomar sesh bichare asay” sung by Manna Dey in bayul andaz in Kali Banerjee’s legendary film Dak Horkora, and composed by Sudhin Dasgupta made the viewers speechless.

Manna Dey sang many numbers of solo numbers as basic discs under the compositions of Sudhin Dasgupta. One of the notable songs included “ami taar thikana rakhini”. The songs of Sudhin Dasgupta and Manna Dey combination should be preserved and restored.

Satyajit Ray and Soumitra Chatterji

Satyajit Ray and Soumitra Chatterji

Satyajit Ray had brought a new dimension in realistic films in India. Satyajit Ray had used different types of character actors in his films including Soumitra Chatterji. Soumitra had started his career in Ray's film Apur Sangsar, which was the last part of the Apu Trilogy. The film was based on the story of Bibhutibhushan Banerjee which showed Apu's journey from village to Kolkata and the related experiences. Mainly the incidents were tragic, as he lost his wife Sharmila in the film and for that reason left his son and went to work in a coal mine in Bihar. Later his love for the son had brought him back to the village in Khulna. Soumitra did justice to the character of Apu.

In Abhijan, Ray gave Soumitra, the role of a Punjabi driver who had tried to create his destiny by driving different vehicles. He got asociated with Wahida Rehman and learned to settle down as his previous life became absolutely uncertain. Ray had expermented with a number of characters who made an impression in Soumitra's mind.

Ray gaev Soumitra the role of his life in Sonar Kella, in 1974, wheer he played the role of a private detective who travelled from Kolkata to the different cities of Rajasthan, including Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, etc., and saved a little child named Mukul from two bandits who thought Mukul new the information relating to treasure lying in golden fortress. Ray used excellent storytelling which made the audience absolutely spellbound. Soumitra understood the character very well, which involved intelligence, sharpness and bravery. Soumitra also did well in Joy Baba Felunath direcetd by Ray.


In the late 80s and 90s, Ray made less number of films of films as he was sick, even during that period he gave an important role to Soumitra in the film Ganashatru. It was a film related to a doctor plyed by Soumitra who found the bacteria for causing jaundice in the test report and wanted to make the villagers of Chandipur aware that the drinking water used near a temple was not safe for drinking. As his brother playedby Dhritiman was the Chairman of the Municipal Board, he never wanted any information which affected the popular image of the temple. He waged a war of words against Soumitra and made him the enemy of the people. At the end of the film Soumitra got people's support for his noble cause.

Ray had given character roles to Soumitra in films like Shakha Prashaka, Charulata, Ghare Baire, etc., and made the best use of him. These films should be restored for the excellent treatment by Ray and also powerful performance from al the actors including Soumitra Chatterji.