With Alam Ara (1931), Indian cinema turned talkie. In just three years, it made an international mark. The film Seeta won the prestigious Gold Medal at the 3rd International Exhibition of Cinematic Art, Venice Film Festival in 1934. Kolkata’s genius writer-director Debaki Bose, made the film, revolutionizing the Indian cinema’s technical craft.
Film critics and historians agree that Indian Cinema mostly makes mythological films based on Ramayan tales.
Debaki Bose’s Exceptional Film
Debaki Bose‘s Seeta (1934) is regarded as one of the best adaptions of the Hindu epic Ramayana. The film was brilliant in many aspects; Debaki Bose selected Indian cinema’s best artists of its time to play the lead roles of Ram and Seeta.While the tall and handsome Prithviraj Kapoor played Rama and the royal and beautiful Durga Khote played Seeta. In short, both suited the character to a perfect T. Besides getting into the skin of the characters both Prithviraj Kapoor and Durga Khote were excellent actors hence they became an instant hit. The movie was a huge success and won International acclaim including Gold Medal at Venice Film Festival in 1934.
The film immortalized film director Debaki Bose as one of The First Indian Filmmakers to receive ‘First International award’ and his film Seeta as First Indian film to win First International award!!
Debaki Bose’s Early Life
Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement inspired Bose, who was born on 25 November 1898 to a successful advocate. Hence he left the luxury of his house and began living independently. To make a living he became an editor of a weekly journal, Shakti and worked for the Indian freedom struggle. Filmmaker Dhiren Ganguly, better known as DG, spotted Debaki‘s writing potential and gave him a break as a writer in Bengali films.
Debaki Bose’s film Chandidas (1932) revolutionized Indian cinema by introducing background music for the first time in a talkie film. The background music highlighted the content and took the emotions to a high level.
Debaki’s First Hindi Film
In 1933, Bose introduced playback singing with Puran Bhagat (1933), his first film in Hindi. In 1959 Bose‘s Bengali film Sagar Sangamey won National Film Award for Best Feature Film at the 6th National Film Awards ceremony and also won a nomination for Golden Bear at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival.
Debaki Bose was awarded Padam Shri. He passed away on 17 November 1971 leaving behind a legacy of 50 films and his innovations in Indian cinema.
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