Indrani (film)

Indrani is a Bengali romantic drama film directed by Niren Lahiri based on a story of Achintya Kumar Sengupta.[1] This film was released in 1958[2] under the banner of H.N.C. Productions. Nachiketa Ghosh was the music director of the movie.[3][4] The film starring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen in lead role. This was the first Bengali film where the legendary playback singer Mohammed Rafi was sing. Later he worked with Uttam Kumar in 1967 film Chhoti Si Mulaqat. The film become blockbuster hit at the box office and ran over 70 days in theaters.

Indrani
Bengaliইন্দ্রাণী
Directed byNiren Lahiri
Written byAchintya Kumar Sengupta
Gauriprasanna Mazumder (lyrics)
Screenplay byNripendrakrishna Chattopadhyay
Story byAchintya Kumar Sengupta
Produced byHarindranath Chattopadhyay
StarringUttam Kumar
Suchitra Sen
CinematographyBishu Chakraborty
Edited byBaidyanath Chatterjee
Music byNachiketa Ghosh
Production
company
H.N.C. Productions
Distributed byChitra Paribeshak
Release date
  • 10 October 1958 (1958-10-10) (Kolkata)
Running time
123 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali

Plot

Indrani Mukherjee the only daughter of a staunch Brahmin in a village studies at Kolkata and stays in a girls' hostel. She meets Sudarshan Dutta, who had a brilliant career as a student and is doing his PhD. They fall in love, and Indrani wants to get married with him as soon as possible. She goes back to her village and informs her father of her intention to get married, Indrani's father takes umbrage as Sudarshan is not a Brahmin and also unemployed.

Sudarshan too warns Indrani that he won't be able to provide for her. Indrani marries Sudarshan and is tormented at Sudarshan's house by his mother and sisters in law because of several emotional strains at play. To avoid further complications at home, Indrani gets a job as a teacher in Dinajpur.

Their relationship between the newly married couple becomes complicated due to miscommunication or lack of communication between themselves, conflicting egos, misunderstandings and external elements adding fuel to the fire in an already charged emotional environment. One day, after a heated exchange between two people that started their journey fiercely loving and trusting one another, Sudarshan leaves Indrani and goes in search of a job elsewhere.

He there meets a retired teacher (Chhabi Biswas) with a dream of making a change in the lives of have-nots. They understand one another's aspirations and dream and team up to make a change by working in a remote village and improving its irrigation system by digging canal from a nearby river. News about his work and devotion gets published and he becomes famous.

Indrani is delighted to see the talent realized she always knew existed in Sudarshan (which is perhaps one of the reasons she fell in love with him) and leaves everything, even her successful position at Dinajpur to join him, her love of life. Sudarshan, however, was still sore at the hurt he thought he received due to Indrani, and was slightly reluctant to accept her in his life again. It then took an accident of fire for both of them to realise how much they loved one another and how much they cared for each other.

Cast

Production

During the recording of the songs, composer Nachiketa Ghosh decided that he will include a Hindi song in the film, which he wished to be sung by Mohammed Rafi. The idea seemed improbable at first because nobody was sure whether Rafi was going to sing in a Bengali film.

Eventually Hemant Kumar took the responsibility as he was already a big name in Bombay. He took Nachiketa to Rafi's house, who liked the tune instantly upon listening to it. But when he heard that only a maximum of five hundred rupees was possible for the playback, he hesitated. Then, as the duo were about to leave empty-handed, Rafi called them back and declared that he will render the song for free![5]

Soundtrack

Indrani
Soundtrack album by
Released1958
Recorded1957
StudioH.N.C Production
Length22:08
LabelAngel Digital Pvt Ltd
ProducerHarindranath Chatterjee
Nachiketa Ghosh chronology
Harishchandra
(1957)
Indrani
(1958)
Banu Pelo Lottery
(1958)

All lyrics are written by Gouri Prasanna Majumdar; all music is composed by Robin Chatterjee

song title
No.Titlesinger(s)Length
1."Surya Dobar Pala"Hemanta Mukherjee3:06
2."Neer Choto Kshati Nei"Hemanta Mukherjee Geeta Dutt3:20
3."Durer Tumu Aaj"Geeta Dutt3:25
4."Bhangre Bhangre Bhang"Hemanta Mukherjee3:03
5."Jhanak Jhanak Kanak Knakon Baje"Geeta Dutt2:40
6."Sabh Kuch Lutakar"Mohammed Rafi3:37
7."Ogo Sundar Jano Naki"Geeta Dutt2:57
Total length:: 22:08

Reception

The Times Of India wrote It’s a film much ahead of its time breaking the stereotypes at that time. It’s one of the very few early films in Indian cinema that dealt with the ramifications of a husband-wife relationship where the wife becomes successful and the husband fails to succeed in life.[6]

References

  1. "Ten Bengali films featuring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen". The Times of India. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  2. Sharmistha Gooptu (November 2010). Bengali Cinema: 'An Other Nation'. ISBN 9781136912177. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  3. "Indrani (1958)-Bengali Movie". Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  4. Sujata Dev (October 2015). Mohammed Rafi Voice Of A Nation. ISBN 9789380070971. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  5. "আগামী পৃথিবী কান পেতে তুমি শোনো". www.anandabazar.com (in Bengali). Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  6. "'Indrani' (1958)". The Times of India. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
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