Bansi Chandragupta
Encyclopedia
Bansi Chandragupta was an India
n art director
and production designer
, regarded among the greatest of art directors of Indian film industry. He won Filmfare Best Art Direction Award thrice, for Seema
in 1972, for Do Jhoot
in 1976 and for Chakra
in 1982. He was awarded Evening Standard British Film Award posthumously for "best technical/artistic achievement" in 1983. He was born in 1924 in Sialkot
, Punjab
, British India and died on 27 June 1981 in Brookhaven, New York
, USA.
Chandragupta is most well known as art director/production designer of movies directed by Satyajit Ray
. He also worked with renowned film directors like Jean Renoir
, Mrinal Sen
, Shyam Benegal
, Basu Chatterjee
, Ismail Merchant
, James Ivory
and Aparna Sen
.
when he was a young boy. Here he met painter Shubho Tagore, on whose advice Chandragupta moved to Calcutta to pursue his ambition in painting. He spent most of his working life in this city.
commercial films, Chandragupta got a chance to work as art director in Jean Renoir
's movie The River
(1951). Here he worked closely with production designer Eugène Lourié
and learned the craft of film designing. During the shooting of this movie, he met Satyajit Ray
who asked him to join a group of film enthusiasts to form the Calcutta Film Society
.
Later, Ray asked Chandragupta to be set designer for his film Pather Panchali
. This collaboration sustained till Shatranj Ke Khilari
(1977). Some of the best examples of Chandragupta's work are from the Ray films: Pather Panchali
, Jalsaghar
and Charulata
.
Apart from Ray's films, best works of Chandragupta's works are visible in 36 Chowringhee Lane
by Aparna Sen, Umrao Jaan
by Muzzafar Ali and Chakra by Rabindra Dharamraj. All these were shot in 1981, the year Chandragupta died in a heart attack in New York.
36 Chowringhee Lane
was dedicated to Chandragupta.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
and production designer
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
, regarded among the greatest of art directors of Indian film industry. He won Filmfare Best Art Direction Award thrice, for Seema
Seema (1971 film)
Seema is a 1971 Hindi film directed by Surendra Mohan.-Cast:*Rakesh Roshan*Kabir Bedi*Simi Garewal*Padma Khanna *Chand Usmani*Abhi Bhattacharya*Sulochana*Bharathi Vishnuvardhan...
in 1972, for Do Jhoot
Do Jhoot
Do Jhoot is a 1975 Bollywood romance film directed by Jitu Thakar. The film stars Vinod Mehra and Moushumi Chatterjee .-Cast:*Vinod Mehra*Moushumi Chatterjee*Aruna Irani*Ajit*Kamini Kaushal*Pran*Prem Chopra...
in 1976 and for Chakra
Chakra (film)
Chakra is a 1981 Hindi movie directed by Rabindra Dharmaraj. The film stars Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah and Kulbhushan Kharbanda.- Plot :The story would be horrific if it were not routine - even today, 30 years later...
in 1982. He was awarded Evening Standard British Film Award posthumously for "best technical/artistic achievement" in 1983. He was born in 1924 in Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
, Punjab
Punjab (British India)
Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...
, British India and died on 27 June 1981 in Brookhaven, New York
Brookhaven, New York
The Town of Brookhaven is one of the ten towns into which Suffolk County, New York, United States, has been divided. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is located in central Suffolk County and is the only town in the county that stretches from the North Shore to the South Shore of Long...
, USA.
Chandragupta is most well known as art director/production designer of movies directed by Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
. He also worked with renowned film directors like Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
, Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen is a Bengali Indian filmmaker. He was born on 14 May 1923, in the town of Faridpur, now in Bangladesh in a Hindu family. After finishing his high school there, he left home to come to Calcutta as a student and studied physics at the well-known Scottish Church College and at the...
, Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...
, Basu Chatterjee
Basu Chatterjee
Basu Chatterjee is an Indian film director. His films are very similar to those of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Like Mukherjee, he built his plots on middle-class lives.He was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India....
, Ismail Merchant
Ismail Merchant
Ismail Merchant was an Indian-born film producer, best known for the results of his famously long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included director James Ivory as well as screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala...
, James Ivory
James Ivory (director)
James Francis Ivory is an American film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala...
and Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...
.
Early life
Chandragupta's family moved to KashmirKashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
when he was a young boy. Here he met painter Shubho Tagore, on whose advice Chandragupta moved to Calcutta to pursue his ambition in painting. He spent most of his working life in this city.
Career
After a few stints in BengaliBengali cinema
Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major film-making hubs in the region: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh .The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first...
commercial films, Chandragupta got a chance to work as art director in Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
's movie The River
The River (1951 film)
The River is a 1951 film directed by Jean Renoir. It was filmed in India and was seminal to the launching of the careers of Satyajit Ray , who assisted on the film, and Subrata Mitra, Ray's cinematographer whom he met during the filming of The River.A fairly faithful dramatization of an earlier...
(1951). Here he worked closely with production designer Eugène Lourié
Eugène Lourié
Eugène Lourié was a French film director, art director, production designer, set designer and screenwriter who was known for his collaborations with Jean Renoir and for his 1950s science fiction movies...
and learned the craft of film designing. During the shooting of this movie, he met Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
who asked him to join a group of film enthusiasts to form the Calcutta Film Society
Calcutta Film Society
Calcutta Film Society was India’s second film society in the city of Kolkata , West Bengal, India. It was founded in 1947, just after independence, by Satyajit Ray, Chidananda Dasgupta, RP Gupta, Bansi Chandragupta and others...
.
Later, Ray asked Chandragupta to be set designer for his film Pather Panchali
Pather Panchali
Pather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of the Indian state of West Bengal. Based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name, the film was the directorial debut of Ray...
. This collaboration sustained till Shatranj Ke Khilari
Shatranj Ke Khilari
Shatranj Ke Khilari is a 1977 Indian film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name. Amjad Khan plays the role of Avadh king Wajid Ali Shah, and Richard Attenborough plays the role of General James Outram...
(1977). Some of the best examples of Chandragupta's work are from the Ray films: Pather Panchali
Pather Panchali
Pather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of the Indian state of West Bengal. Based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name, the film was the directorial debut of Ray...
, Jalsaghar
Jalsaghar
Jalsaghar is the fourth feature film directed by Satyajit Ray. Jalsaghar is a narration of the end days of a Zamindar in Bengal. The landlord, Roy , is a just but other-worldly man who loves to spend time listening to music and putting up spectacles rather than managing his fields ravaged by...
and Charulata
Charulata
Charulata is a 1964 film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, based upon the novella Nastanirh by Rabindranath Tagore...
.
Apart from Ray's films, best works of Chandragupta's works are visible in 36 Chowringhee Lane
36 Chowringhee Lane
36 Chowringee Lane is a 1981 film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by Shashi Kapoor. The film was very well received upon release. It stars Jennifer Kendal in a critically acclaimed role and Debashree Roy.-Plot:...
by Aparna Sen, Umrao Jaan
Umrao Jaan
Umrao Jaan is a 1981 Bollywood film, directed by Muzaffar Ali. It is based on the Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada , written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa based on the famous Lucknow courtesan...
by Muzzafar Ali and Chakra by Rabindra Dharamraj. All these were shot in 1981, the year Chandragupta died in a heart attack in New York.
36 Chowringhee Lane
36 Chowringhee Lane
36 Chowringee Lane is a 1981 film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by Shashi Kapoor. The film was very well received upon release. It stars Jennifer Kendal in a critically acclaimed role and Debashree Roy.-Plot:...
was dedicated to Chandragupta.
Production Designer
- Akaler SandhaneAkaler SandhaneAkaler Sandhane is a 1980 Indian Bengali film directed by Mrinal Sen.- Plot :In September 1980, a film crew comes to a village to make a film about a famine, which killed five million Bengalees in 1943. It was a man made famine, a side- product of the war, and the film crew will create the tragedy...
(1980) directed by Mrinal SenMrinal SenMrinal Sen is a Bengali Indian filmmaker. He was born on 14 May 1923, in the town of Faridpur, now in Bangladesh in a Hindu family. After finishing his high school there, he left home to come to Calcutta as a student and studied physics at the well-known Scottish Church College and at the... - Manzil (1979) directed by Basu ChatterjeeBasu ChatterjeeBasu Chatterjee is an Indian film director. His films are very similar to those of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Like Mukherjee, he built his plots on middle-class lives.He was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India....
- Mahatma and the Mad Boy (1974) directed by Ismail MerchantIsmail MerchantIsmail Merchant was an Indian-born film producer, best known for the results of his famously long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included director James Ivory as well as screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala...
- 27 Down27 Down27 Down is a 1974 Bollywood drama film directed by Awtar Krishna Kaul.-Cast:*Sudhir Dalvi as Sanjay's friend*Rakhee Gulzar as Shalini*Sadhu Meher*M.K. Raina as Sanjay*Rekha as Sanjay's Wife*Om Shivpuri as Anna *Nilesh Vennani...
(1974) - PratidwandiPratidwandiPratidwandi or Pratidandi is a 1971 Indian Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray based on the novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay. It is the first part of the Calcutta trilogy...
(1972) directed by Satyajit RaySatyajit RaySatyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature... - SeemabaddhaSeemabaddhaSeemabaddha is a 1971 film by Satyajit Ray. It also known as Company Limited.-Plot:Shyamal is an ambitious Sales manager in a British fan manufacturing firm in Calcutta, where he is expecting a promotion shortly. He is married to Dolan, and lives in a company flat...
(1971) directed by Satyajit Ray - Aranyer Din RatriAranyer Din RatriAranyer Din Ratri , is an Indian Bengali film released in 1970 and directed by Satyajit Ray. It is based upon the Bengali novel of the same name by Sunil Gangopadhyay. It was one of the earliest films to employ the literary technique of the carnivalesque...
(1970) directed by Satyajit Ray - The GuruThe Guru (1969 film)The Guru is a film by Merchant Ivory Productions, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and James Ivory.-Plot synopsis:A rock star, Tom Pickle , travels to India to learn to play the sitar with the great musician Ustad Zafar Khan...
(1969) directed by James IvoryJames Ivory (director)James Francis Ivory is an American film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala... - Goopy Gyne Bagha ByneGoopy Gyne Bagha ByneGoopy Gyne Bagha Byne , directed by the late Satyajit Ray and based on a story by his grandfather Upendra Kishore Ray, is a popular Bengali children's film. It is sometimes released in the English-speaking world as The Adventures Of Goopy And Bagha...
(1968) directed by Satyajit Ray - ChiriyakhanaChiriyakhanaChiriakhana or Chiriyakhana is a 1967 Bengali film by Satyajit Ray. It is a whodunit suspense thriller, starring Uttam Kumar as Byomkesh Bakshi. The title means "The Zoo". The screenplay is by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay.- Plot :...
(1967) directed by Satyajit Ray - Nayak (1966) directed by Satyajit Ray
- Akash KusumAkash KusumAkash Kusum was a 1965 Bengali film directed by noted Indian art film director Mrinal Sen.-Plot:It is the story of the longings of a middle class executive to rise in stature and greater social acceptability. The young man still trying to find a place in the corporate world puts up an innocent...
(1965) directed by Mrinal Sen - KapurushKapurush-Plot:Amitabha Roy is a Calcutta based scriptwriter who is driving around in the country to collect material for a film. His vehicle breaks down in a small town. A tea planter, Bimal Gupta, offers hospitality for the night. Amitabha is forced to accept the offer as he has no alternative.At Gupta's...
(1965) directed by Satyajit Ray - MahapurushMahapurushMahapurush is a 1965 film directed by Satyajit Ray. It is the film version of the short story Birinchibaba by bengali writer Rajshekhar Basu, under the pen name Parashuram.- Plot :...
(1965) directed by Satyajit Ray - CharulataCharulataCharulata is a 1964 film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, based upon the novella Nastanirh by Rabindranath Tagore...
(1964) directed by Satyajit Ray - MahanagarMahanagarMahanagar is a 1963 film directed by Satyajit Ray. It is sometimes released as The Big City in the English-speaking world. Based on a short story, Abataranika written by Narendranath Mitra, it tells the story of a housewife who disconcerts her traditionalist family by getting a job as a salesperson...
(1963) directed by Satyajit Ray - AbhijanAbhijanAbhijan is a 1962 Bengali film directed by the Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray.-Introduction:The filming of Abhijan began by the first half of 1961 when Bijoy Chatterjee asked Satyajit Ray to write a script on a popular Bengali novel of the same name by Tarashankar Bandopadhyay...
(1962) directed by Satyajit Ray - KanchenjunghaKanchenjunghaKanchenjungha is a 1962 Bengali film by Bengali film director Satyajit Ray. It was Ray's first original screenplay and his first colour film....
(1962) directed by Satyajit Ray - Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore (film)Rabindranath Tagore is a 1961 documentary on the life and works of noted Bengali author Rabindranath Tagore. It was made on the anniversary of his hundredth birthday and was written and directed by Satyajit Ray. According to the official website:...
(1961) directed by Satyajit Ray - Teen KanyaTeen KanyaTeen Kanya is a 1961 film directed by Satyajit Ray, and based upon short stories by Rabindranath Tagore.The title means "Three Daughters", and the film's original Indian release contained three stories. However, the international release of the film contained only two stories, missing out the second...
(1961) directed by Satyajit Ray - Baishey Shravana (1960) directed by Mrinal Sen
- Devi (1960) directed by Satyajit Ray
- Apur SansarApur SansarApur Sansar , also known as The World of Apu, is a Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray. It is the third part of The Apu Trilogy, about the childhood and early adulthood of a young Bengali named Apu in the early twentieth century Indian subcontinent...
(1959) directed by Satyajit Ray - JalsagharJalsagharJalsaghar is the fourth feature film directed by Satyajit Ray. Jalsaghar is a narration of the end days of a Zamindar in Bengal. The landlord, Roy , is a just but other-worldly man who loves to spend time listening to music and putting up spectacles rather than managing his fields ravaged by...
(1958) directed by Satyajit Ray - Maya Bazaar (1958)
- Parash PatharParash PatharParash Pathar was Satyajit Ray's first film apart from the Apu Trilogy. It was also his first comedy and first magical realist film...
(1958) directed by Satyajit Ray - AparajitoAparajitoAparajito is a 1956 Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray, and is the second part of The Apu Trilogy. It is adapted from the last one-fifth of Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee's novel Pather Panchali and the first one-third of its sequel Aparajito. It focuses on the life of Apu from childhood to college...
(1956) directed by Satyajit Ray - Pather PanchaliPather PanchaliPather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of the Indian state of West Bengal. Based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name, the film was the directorial debut of Ray...
(1955) directed by Satyajit Ray
Art Director
- TarangTarang-External links:*...
(1984) directed by Kumar Sahani - 36 Chowringhee Lane36 Chowringhee Lane36 Chowringee Lane is a 1981 film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by Shashi Kapoor. The film was very well received upon release. It stars Jennifer Kendal in a critically acclaimed role and Debashree Roy.-Plot:...
(1981) directed by Aparna SenAparna SenAparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:... - ChakraChakra (film)Chakra is a 1981 Hindi movie directed by Rabindra Dharmaraj. The film stars Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah and Kulbhushan Kharbanda.- Plot :The story would be horrific if it were not routine - even today, 30 years later...
(1981) directed by Rabindra Dharmaraj - Kalyug (1981) directed by Shyam BenegalShyam BenegalShyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...
- Umrao JaanUmrao JaanUmrao Jaan is a 1981 Bollywood film, directed by Muzaffar Ali. It is based on the Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada , written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa based on the famous Lucknow courtesan...
(1981) directed by Muzaffar AliMuzaffar AliRajah Muzaffar Ali is an Indian film-maker, a fashion designer, a poet, an artist, a music-lover, a revivalist, and a social worker.He belongs to a Royal Muslim Rajput family of Kotwara. He is not to be confused with the famous 16th century Persian artist of the Persian miniature.Muzaffar Ali was... - Tumhari Kassam (1978)
- Mukti (1977)
- Shatranj Ke KhilariShatranj Ke KhilariShatranj Ke Khilari is a 1977 Indian film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name. Amjad Khan plays the role of Avadh king Wajid Ali Shah, and Richard Attenborough plays the role of General James Outram...
(1977) - Trimurti (1974)
- Aaj Ki Taaza KhabarAaj Ki Taaza KhabarAaj Ki Taaza Khabar is a 1973 Bollywood comedy film directed by Rajendra Bhatia.-Cast:...
(1973) - Jangal Mein Mangal (1972)
- Piya Ka GharPiya Ka GharPiya Ka Ghar is a Hindi comedy set in Mumbai in the 1970s. It is a remake of Raja Thakur's Marathi film Mumbaicha Javai. It portrays the difficulties of life in India's biggest city during the 70s in the form of a comic family drama.-Plot:The two main characters are Ram and Malti...
(1972) directed by Basu Chatterjee - Paraya DhanParaya DhanParaya Dhan is a film directed by Rajendra Bhatia. The film starred Balraj Sahni, Hema Malini, Rakesh Roshan and Ajit Khan.-Synopsis:...
(1971) - Balika Badhu (1967)
- ChiriyakhanaChiriyakhanaChiriakhana or Chiriyakhana is a 1967 Bengali film by Satyajit Ray. It is a whodunit suspense thriller, starring Uttam Kumar as Byomkesh Bakshi. The title means "The Zoo". The screenplay is by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay.- Plot :...
(1967) directed by Satyajit Ray - Pather PanchaliPather PanchaliPather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of the Indian state of West Bengal. Based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name, the film was the directorial debut of Ray...
(1955) directed by Satyajit Ray - The River (1951 film)The River (1951 film)The River is a 1951 film directed by Jean Renoir. It was filmed in India and was seminal to the launching of the careers of Satyajit Ray , who assisted on the film, and Subrata Mitra, Ray's cinematographer whom he met during the filming of The River.A fairly faithful dramatization of an earlier...
(1951) directed by Jean RenoirJean RenoirJean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...