Debaki Bose

Biography

Debaki Kumar Bose was an Indian director, writer, and actor who is recognized for his contribution in Hindi as well as Bengali cinema. He is known for his innovative use of sound and music in Indian Cinema. He worked first under the banner of British Dominion Films of Dhiren Ganguly and later with Pramathesh Barua's Barua Pictures and finally he joined New Theatres banner in 1932. He started his own production company, Debaki Productions, in 1945. Chandidas (1932), directed by him, contained background music for the first time in Indian Cinema. Raichand Boral, also known as R.C. Boral was the music director. Seeta (1934), made under the banner of East India Film Company, was the first Indian talkie shown in any international film festival. It was shown in Venice Film Festival, where it won an Honorary Diploma. He was the 1st Indian director to receive any international award. Sagar Sangamey (1959) was nominated for Golden Bear at the 9th Berlinale International Film Festival (1959). This film got National Film Award for Best Feature Film at the 6th National Film Awards ceremony in 1959. Arghya (1961) was a very special documentary film, produced by the Government of West Bengal on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore's birth centennial. It was based on four poems of Tagore: Pujarini, Puratan Bhritya, Abhisar and Dui Bigha Jami. He received Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Film Direction in 1957. He received Padma Shri in Arts in 1958. His grandson was Kunal Mitra and great great grandson is Suvranil Singha Chowdhury.