Tarun Majumdarm born in1931 was a Bengali Indian film director who directed films mostly in his mother tongue Bengali. The films made by this talented director are notable for the depiction of Bengali culture and society. Majority of his films are literature-based. He has recreated classics written by great writers like Bimal Kar, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay and Tarashankar Bandopadhyay on celluloid. He uses songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore in his films to communicate a range of emotions. This brilliant director was best known for his consistent productions of hits at the box-office for more than forty years.
Career of Tarun Majumdar
Tarun Majumdar`s early films were credited to `Yatrik`, phonetically `Jatrik` in Bangla. Yatrik was adopted as the screen-name of the trio of directors Tarun Majumdar, Sachin Mukherji, and Dilip Mukherji until 1963. As Yatrik, the trio created distinguished classics such as `Chaowa Paowa` in 1959, starring the Bengai film idol Uttam Kumar and screen-diva Suchitra Sen, and films like `Palatak` and `Kancher Swarga`, both released in 1963. In 1965, Tarun Majumdar made two films `Ektuku basha`, featuring Soumitra Chatterjee and `Alor Pipasha` with Basanta Choudhury. In 1967, Tarun Majumdar came up with one of the top grossing films of the year, `Balika Badhu`, an adaptation of a classic by Bimal Kar. This film featured the teenage artist Moushumi Chatterji as her debut film. He made the film again in Hindi in the year 1976, where it was a moderate success.
Tarun Majumdar went forward to make quite a few box-office blockbusters across the span of years including `Shriman Prithviraj`, `Poroshmoni`, `Ganadevata`, `Bhalobasha Bhalobasha`, `Dadar Kirti` and `Apon Amar Apon`. `Dadar Kirti` was a major success in 1980, based on a short story by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay and featured Debashree Roy and Tapas Pal as debut performers. Both these actors went on to dominate the Bengali film screen for over a decade.
In the middle of the 1990s, Tarun Majumdar retired from filmmaking. For almost a decade he was not seen in the arena of filmmaking. In 2003, Tarun Majumdar came back with the outstanding film `Alo` that was based on a story written by Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay. This film received both critical and popular acclaim and proved to be one of the hits in the year. Alike most of Tarun Majumdar`s films, the soundtrack featured songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore. In 2006, Tarun Majumdar directed another film casting Uttam Kumar`s grandson Gaurav and Hemanta Mukherjee`s granddaughter or Maushumi`s daughter as lead actors. The film also featured acting divas like Soumitra Chatterjee, Moushumi Chatterjee, Tapas Pal, Paran Banerjee but the film experienced medium popularity.
Awards and Recognitions of Tarun Majumdar
Tarun Majumdar was honored with the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment for the film Ganadevata, (1979). He is also the recipient of Padma Shri in 1990. He has also won multiple national awards, BFJA awards, and Filmfare Awards east for his remarkable films. In 2004 he was awarded the Anandalok Puraskar for the movie “Alo.â€
Selected Filmography of Tarun Majumdar
Chaowa Pawa 1959
Smriti Tuku Thaak 1960
Kancher Swarga 1961
Palatak 1963
Alor Pipasa 1965
Ektuku Basa 1965
Balika Badhu 1967
Rahgir 1969
Nimantran 1971
Shriman Prithviraj 1973
Thagini 1974
Phuleshwari 1974
Sansar Simante 1975
Balika Badhu (1976)
Ganadevata 1978
Dadar Kirti 1980
Shahar Theke Dure 1981
Meghmukti 1981
Khelar Putul 1982
Aranya Aamar 1984
Amar Geeti 1984
Bhalobasa Bhalobasa 1985
Pathbhola 1986
Agaman 1988
Parasmoni 1988
Apan Aamar Apan 1990
Path-O-Prasad 1991
Sajani Go Sajani 1991
Katha Chhilo 1994
Alo 2003
Chander Bari 2007
Bhalobashar Bari 2018
Personal life of Tarun Majumdar
Tarun Majumdar married Tollywood actress Sandhya Roy but the couple later got divorced. Tarun Majumdar died at the age of 91 due to heart attack. He breathed his last on 4 July, 2022.
