Madhabi Mukherjee
Encyclopedia
Madhabi Mukherjee née Chakraborty (born 10 February 1942) is a reputed Bengali
actress who has acted in some of the most critically acclaimed films in Bengali cinema.
Her major role was the title role of Charu in Satyajit Ray
's masterpiece Charulata
. Her impact was such that Madhabi Mukherjee is still considered among the all time greats of Bengali cinema.
, in what was then Bengal
, India
. As a young girl, she became involved in the theater.
She worked on stage with doyens like Sisir Bhaduri
, Ahindra Choudhury, Nirmalendu Lahiri and the great Chhabi Biswas
. Some of the plays she acted in included Naa and Kalarah. She made her film debut as a child artist in Premendra Mitra
's Kankantala Light Railway (1950).
's Baishey Shravan (Wedding Day) in 1960. The film is set in a Bengal village just before and during the horrific famine of 1943 in Bengal that saw over 5 million die. Madhabi plays a 16 year old girl who marries a middle-aged man. Initially she brightens up his life but then World War II and the Bengal Famine hits them. The couple's marriage disintegrates. In the end the wife hangs herself.
Her next major film was Ritwik Ghatak's Subarnarekha
(The Golden Thread ) made in 1962 but released in 1965 - the last in a trilogy examining the socio-economic implications of partition, the other two being Meghe Dhaka Tara
(The Cloud-Capped Star) (1960) and Komal Gandhar
(E-Flat) (1961). It is also perhaps Ritwik Ghatak's most complex film. In the film Ghatak depicts the great economic and socio-political crisis eating up the very entrails of the existence of Bengal from 1948 to 1962 ; how the crisis has first and foremost left one bereft of one's conscience, one's moral sense. Madhabi gives a wonderful performance as Sita, the younger sister of Ishwar (Abhi Bhattacharya) who kills herself when as a prostitute waiting for her first customer, she finds out the customer is none other than her estranged brother.
to portray the role of Arati in the 1963 film, Mahanagar
(The Big City).
Recalling her meeting with Ray, Madhabi wrote:
In Mahanagar, Madhabi Mukherjee plays Arati who takes a job as a saleswoman due to financial constraints in the family. The large joint family is horrified at the thought of a working woman. For Arati, going door to door selling knitting machines opens up a whole new world and new friends and acquaintances including an Anglo-Indian friend, Edith. Earning money also uppens Arati's status in the family especially when her husband (Anil Chatterjee
) loses his job. When Edith is sacked unfairly, Arati resigns in protest...Madhabi's towering performance as Arati dominates the film.
Quoting Film critic Roger Ebert: " it might be useful to see the performance of Madhabi Mukherjee in this film. She is a beautiful deep, wonderful actress who simply surpasses all ordinary standards of judgment."
This film was soon followed by her portrayals of Charu in Charulata
(The Lonely Wife), the 1964 film based on Rabindranath Tagore
's novella Nashtanir (The Broken nest, 1901). Mukherjee's stunning portrayal of Charulata,a bored and neglected housewife of Calcutta in the 19th century, is undoubtedly a towering performance in the history of Indian cinema.
Without doubt Madhabi reached the peak of her career with this film, possibly Ray's greatest film as well, the Apu trilogy
notwithstanding. As the bored and neglected housewife in Victorian Calcutta of the 1870s who gets attracted to her husband's cousin Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), Madhabi makes the central role of Charu her own. It is without doubt one of the greatest performances of Indian cinema. She lives the role. She is Charulata. Till date Madhabi in Charulata remains the benchmark for what an ideal Tagore heroine should be and it is said that when Ray returned to Tagore with Ghare Baire (1984) (The Home and the World), he stylised Swatilekha Chatterjee in a manner similar to Madhabi in Charulata.
Madhabi's third and last film with Ray was Kapurush
(The Coward) in 1965.. The films looks at Amitabha Roy (Soumitra Chatterjee
), a screenwriter whose car breaks down in a small town. He lodges with a local resident, Bimal Gupta (Haradhan Bannerjee). Bimal is married to Karuna (Madhabi Mukherjee), who was a past girlfriend of Amitabha, a fact which Bimal is unaware of. Despite playing out predictably, Kapurush still has a great deal of charm, most notably in the wordless acting prowess demonstrated by Soumitra and Madhabi. Through their subtle eye movements and small body gestures, we are able to discern their unspoken turmoil especially Madhabi's who behaves totally indifferently to Soumitra even as he tries to re-connect to her.
again.
Her major films post Kapurush include Calcutta 71
in 1972 by Mrinal Sen
, Biraj Bou in 1972 by Manu Sen, Streer Patra in 1972 by Purnendu Patri
, Ganadevata in 1978 by Tarun Majumdar
, Bancharamer Bagan in 1980 by Tapan Sinha
, Chokh in 1982 then Chhandaneer in 1989 by Utpalendu Chakrabarty and Utsab in 2000 by Rituparno Ghosh
.
She wrote her autobiography Ami Madhabi in 1995.
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
actress who has acted in some of the most critically acclaimed films in Bengali cinema.
Her major role was the title role of Charu in 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...
's masterpiece Charulata
Charulata
Charulata is a 1964 film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, based upon the novella Nastanirh by Rabindranath Tagore...
. Her impact was such that Madhabi Mukherjee is still considered among the all time greats of Bengali cinema.
Early life
Madhabi Mukherjee was born in 1943, originally Madhuri Mukherjee. She was raised with her sister Manjari by their mother in KolkataKolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, in what was then Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, India
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...
. As a young girl, she became involved in the theater.
She worked on stage with doyens like Sisir Bhaduri
Sisir Bhaduri
Shishir Kumar Bhaduri or Sisir Kumar Bhaduri stage actor and theatre founder, was born on at Ramrajatala in Howrah district in West Bengal. He passed the Entrance examination in 1905 from Bangabashi School, graduated in arts from Scottish Church College in 1910, and did his MA in English...
, Ahindra Choudhury, Nirmalendu Lahiri and the great Chhabi Biswas
Chhabi Biswas
Chhabi Biswas was a much revered Bengali character actor, primarily known for his performances in Tapan Sinha's Kabuliwala and Satyajit Ray's films Jalshaghar , Devi and Kanchenjungha .He is the best remembered for his numerous roles as the quintessential aristocratic patriarch, was himself the...
. Some of the plays she acted in included Naa and Kalarah. She made her film debut as a child artist in Premendra Mitra
Premendra Mitra
Premendra Mitra was a renowned Bengali poet, novelist, short story writer and film director. He was also an author of Bangla science fiction and thrillers.-Life:...
's Kankantala Light Railway (1950).
First films
Madhabi first made a major impact with Mrinal SenMrinal 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...
's Baishey Shravan (Wedding Day) in 1960. The film is set in a Bengal village just before and during the horrific famine of 1943 in Bengal that saw over 5 million die. Madhabi plays a 16 year old girl who marries a middle-aged man. Initially she brightens up his life but then World War II and the Bengal Famine hits them. The couple's marriage disintegrates. In the end the wife hangs herself.
Her next major film was Ritwik Ghatak's Subarnarekha
Subarnarekha
The name "Subarnarekha" may refer to one of the following:*Subarnarekha Bengali film directed by Ritwik Ghatak*Subarnarekha River, a river in West Bengal, India...
(The Golden Thread ) made in 1962 but released in 1965 - the last in a trilogy examining the socio-economic implications of partition, the other two being Meghe Dhaka Tara
Meghe Dhaka Tara
Meghe Dhaka Tara is a 1960 film by written and director Ritwik Ghatak, based on a novel Shaktipada Rajguru. It stars Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee, Gita Dey, Bijan Bhattacharya, Niranjan Roy, and Gyanesh Mukherjee...
(The Cloud-Capped Star) (1960) and Komal Gandhar
Komal Gandhar
Kamol Gandhar is a 1961 Bengali film written and directed by noted film maker Ritwik Ghatak...
(E-Flat) (1961). It is also perhaps Ritwik Ghatak's most complex film. In the film Ghatak depicts the great economic and socio-political crisis eating up the very entrails of the existence of Bengal from 1948 to 1962 ; how the crisis has first and foremost left one bereft of one's conscience, one's moral sense. Madhabi gives a wonderful performance as Sita, the younger sister of Ishwar (Abhi Bhattacharya) who kills herself when as a prostitute waiting for her first customer, she finds out the customer is none other than her estranged brother.
Working with Satyajit Ray
In the early 1960s, she was recruited by Satyajit RaySatyajit 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...
to portray the role of Arati in the 1963 film, Mahanagar
Mahanagar
Mahanagar 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...
(The Big City).
Recalling her meeting with Ray, Madhabi wrote:
In Mahanagar, Madhabi Mukherjee plays Arati who takes a job as a saleswoman due to financial constraints in the family. The large joint family is horrified at the thought of a working woman. For Arati, going door to door selling knitting machines opens up a whole new world and new friends and acquaintances including an Anglo-Indian friend, Edith. Earning money also uppens Arati's status in the family especially when her husband (Anil Chatterjee
Anil Chatterjee
Anil Chatterjee was a Bengali actor in the Bengali cinema during the early fifties through to the late eighties and was mostly remembered as a character actor. He acted in about 45 movies, both as a character actor and in leading roles with the limited opportunities he received during his time...
) loses his job. When Edith is sacked unfairly, Arati resigns in protest...Madhabi's towering performance as Arati dominates the film.
Quoting Film critic Roger Ebert: " it might be useful to see the performance of Madhabi Mukherjee in this film. She is a beautiful deep, wonderful actress who simply surpasses all ordinary standards of judgment."
This film was soon followed by her portrayals of Charu in Charulata
Charulata
Charulata is a 1964 film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, based upon the novella Nastanirh by Rabindranath Tagore...
(The Lonely Wife), the 1964 film based on Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
's novella Nashtanir (The Broken nest, 1901). Mukherjee's stunning portrayal of Charulata,a bored and neglected housewife of Calcutta in the 19th century, is undoubtedly a towering performance in the history of Indian cinema.
Without doubt Madhabi reached the peak of her career with this film, possibly Ray's greatest film as well, the Apu trilogy
Apu trilogy
The Apu Trilogy is a trilogy consisting of three Bengali films directed by Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali , Aparajito and Apur Sansar . The films — completed 1955-1959 — were based on two Bengali novels written by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay: Pather Panchali and Aparajito...
notwithstanding. As the bored and neglected housewife in Victorian Calcutta of the 1870s who gets attracted to her husband's cousin Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), Madhabi makes the central role of Charu her own. It is without doubt one of the greatest performances of Indian cinema. She lives the role. She is Charulata. Till date Madhabi in Charulata remains the benchmark for what an ideal Tagore heroine should be and it is said that when Ray returned to Tagore with Ghare Baire (1984) (The Home and the World), he stylised Swatilekha Chatterjee in a manner similar to Madhabi in Charulata.
Madhabi's third and last film with Ray was Kapurush
Kapurush
-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...
(The Coward) in 1965.. The films looks at Amitabha Roy (Soumitra Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an iconic Bengali actor from India, known among other things for his frequent collaborations with the great Bengali film director Satyajit Ray and his constant comparison with the Bengali screen idol Uttam Kumar.-Background:Soumitra graduated from...
), a screenwriter whose car breaks down in a small town. He lodges with a local resident, Bimal Gupta (Haradhan Bannerjee). Bimal is married to Karuna (Madhabi Mukherjee), who was a past girlfriend of Amitabha, a fact which Bimal is unaware of. Despite playing out predictably, Kapurush still has a great deal of charm, most notably in the wordless acting prowess demonstrated by Soumitra and Madhabi. Through their subtle eye movements and small body gestures, we are able to discern their unspoken turmoil especially Madhabi's who behaves totally indifferently to Soumitra even as he tries to re-connect to her.
After Satyajit Ray
Though she remained a big star in the Bengali commercial film industry, after Kapurush Madhabi failed to reach such critical heights as her films with Ritwik Ghatak and Satyajit RaySatyajit 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...
again.
Her major films post Kapurush include Calcutta 71
Calcutta 71
Calcutta 71 iss a 1972 Bengali film directed by noted Indian art film director Mrinal Sen. This film is considered to be the second film of Mrinal Sen's Calcutta trilogy, the others being Interview, and Padatik.-External links:**...
in 1972 by 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...
, Biraj Bou in 1972 by Manu Sen, Streer Patra in 1972 by Purnendu Patri
Purnendu Patri
Purnendu Patri was an Indian poet of Bengali origin. He was born in Howrah in West Bengal. He was a noted short-story writer and a critic. One of his story collection is known as 'Staliner Raaa' and a book on Rabindranath is titled 'Amar Rabindranath'. Patri was also known as an illustrator and...
, Ganadevata in 1978 by Tarun Majumdar
Tarun Majumdar
Tarun Majumdar is a renowned Bengali Indian film director who makes films in Bengali and is notable for his depiction of Bengali culture and society. Many of his films are literature-based...
, Bancharamer Bagan in 1980 by Tapan Sinha
Tapan Sinha
Tapan Sinha , was a Indian film director. He was arguably the most uncompromising filmmaker outside the orbit of Parallel Cinema.-Personal life and background:...
, Chokh in 1982 then Chhandaneer in 1989 by Utpalendu Chakrabarty and Utsab in 2000 by Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh is a Bengali film director. He has won 8 National Film Awards in India and several awards at international film festivals abroad.- Early life and background :...
.
Personal life
Madhabi is married to Bengali film actor Nirmal Kumar. They have two daughters but are currently separated.She wrote her autobiography Ami Madhabi in 1995.