Debaki Bose (1898–1971), also known as Debaki Kumar Bose, was an Indian director, writer, and actor who is recognized for his contribution in
Hindi as well as
Bengali cinema.[1] He was born on 25 November 1898 in Akalposh, (now East Burdwan),
Burdwan,
Bengal Presidency,
British India. He died on 17 November 1971 in
Calcutta, West Bengal, India. 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.
Early life
Debaki Bose was son of a successful advocate in Burdwan.[2] He graduated from Vidyasagar College but left the university.[3] Inspired by
Mahatma Gandhi's call for
non-co-operation movement, he walked out of an examination and started living on his own.[2] He opened a shop in local market selling towels and he was also an editor of a local weekly named Shakti.[2]Dhiren Ganguly, better known as DG, an established film director from Calcutta, was visiting Burdwan at that time. DG met Debaki and as he came know about Debaki's writing skill, he invited Debaki to come to Calcutta and to write film scripts for him. This culminated into the first film made by British Dominion Films named Kamonar Agun (or Flames of Flesh).[4]
Career highlights
Debaki Bose was a top Indian film director in his time. During this period, many of the Bengali films made by him were also released in Hindi and even in
Marathi and
Tamil.
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.[5] He was the 1st Indian director to receive any international award.[6]
Arghya (1961) was a very special documentary film, produced by the Government of West Bengal on the occasion of
Rabindranath Tagore's birth centennial.[9] It was based on four poems of Tagore: Pujarini, Puratan Bhritya, Abhisar and Dui Bigha Jami.