Tulsi Chakraborty

Tulsi Chakraborty ( Bengali : তুলসী চক্রবর্তী , Tulsī Cakrabartī ; born March 3, 1899 in the village of Goari, Bengal ; † December 11, 1961 in Haora , West Bengal ) was an Indian actor of Bengali film and theater. He is best known for his roles as a character actor and comedian.

Career

theatre

Through his paternal uncle, who was employed by the Star Theater - a well-known Bengali theater company at the time - Chakraborty came into contact with stage play. In 1916 the actor, director and head of the theater company Aparesh Chandra Mukhopadhyay took him on for training. He developed into a singer, actor and dancer and also learned to play instruments like tabla and pakhawaj . In 1920 he made his stage debut at Star Theater in Durgeshnandini , a melodrama based on the novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay . He stayed with the company until 1927 and then moved to Manmohan Theaters. Later, from 1944 to 1951, he worked for various companies such as Rangmahal, Sriranagam and Minerva Theaters. In the 1950s, Chakraborty had to reduce his stage appearances for health reasons, his last stage role he had in Shreyashi (1960).

Movie

Chakraborty's film debut was a small role in Premankur Atorthy's Punarjanmo (1932) for the dominant Kolkata film company New Theaters . After other small roles, he first gained attention in 1934 with Sachidulal by Prafulla Roy . His next successful film was the comedy Manmoyi Girls' School (1935), in which he starred alongside Kanan Devi and was directed by Jyotish Bannerjee . With this commercially successful adaptation of a stage play, Chakraborty's film career as a comedian began. He then played under many other well-known Bengali directors such as Phani Burma , Hemchandra Chunder , Pramathesh Chandra Barua , Kartick Chattopadhyay , Debaki Bose , Niren Lahiri , Ajoy Kar or Nirmal Dey . Tulsi Chakraborty often stood in front of the camera with the actor Chhabi Biswas .

In Bimal Roy's first two feature films as a director - Udayer Pathey / Hamrahi (1944) and Anjangarh (1948), which were shot in a Bengali and a Hindi version, he had a leading role as a middle-class Bengali citizen. In Sankha Sindoor (1948) based on a screenplay by Pratap Chandra Chunder , who later became Indian Minister of Education, Chakraborty played an East Pakistani refugee in one of the first films about the partition of Bengal in 1947 . He was able to prove his musical skills in Debaki Bose's film Kavi (1949), when he sang his own compositions. In the first Uttam Kumar - Suchitra Sen film, Sharey Chuattar (1953), the bald actor Chakraborty played the landlord.

After a small role as a village school teacher in Satyajit Rays Pather Panchali (1955), he played under this director two years later in Parash Pathar the role of the bank clerk Paresh Dutta, who accidentally finds a small stone that turns everything into gold. This is now considered to be his most famous role and the highlight of his career.

Tulsi Chakraborty died of a heart attack. His last film, Ami Ratan by Ajit Bannerjee , was shot in 1961 but was not released until 1977.

Films (selection)

• 1933: Shri Gouranga
• 1934: Sachidulal
• 1935: Manmoyee Girls School
• 1942: Meenakshi
• 1942: Shesh Uttar (Bengali) / Jawab (Hindi)
• 1942: Garmil
• 1943: Jogajog (Bengali) / Hospital (Hindi)
• 1943: Wapas
• 1944: Meri Bahen
• 1944: Udayer Pathey (Bengali) / Hamrahi (Hindi)
• 1945: Mane Na Mana
• 1947: Ramer Sumati (Bengali) / Chhota Bhai (Hindi)
• 1948: Anjangarh
• 1948: Bhuli Naai
• 1948: Sankha Sindoor
• 1949: Kavi
• 1950: Radha Rani
• 1951: Ratnadeep
• 1951: Babla
• 1952: Mahaprashthan Pathey
• 1952: Yatrik
• 1953: Sharey Chuattar
• 1954: Champadangar Bou
• 1954: Naukri
• 1955: Pather Panchali
• 1955: Upahar
• 1957: Adarsha Hindu Hotel
• 1957: Parash Pathar
• 1957: Ajantrik
• 1959: Deep Jweley Jai
• 1961: Saptapadi

Web links

• Tulsi Chakraborty in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• biography