Kanan Devi
Actor · 1916 – 1992 · Howra, West Bengal, India
Kanan Devi was a popular singer and actress and the earliest female star of Bengali cinema
Movies17
Movie6.5DramaTwo street urchins dream of singing and making it big in the glamorous world of theatre in Calcutta.
Street Singer
1938 · 2 votes
Movie9.0MusicHaria, an elephant driver, loves gypsy girl Gulabi, but faces rivalry from Ajay, the tea estate owner's son. After Ajay kills Haria's elephant, Raja, Haria seeks revenge, intertwining with a family secret and inheritance dispute.
Ban Phool
1945 · 1 votes
- Movie9.0
The 1946 Indian film.
Arabian Nights
1946 · 1 votes
MovieDramaA 1955 Bengali Drama Film directed by Haridas Bhattacharya.
- Movie10.0
Pratima (Kanan Devi), a nurse, is persuaded by Jayant (Ganguly) to pretend to be his wife for a day, in order to convince his father Dr Dindayal (Choudhury) of his need for money. Dr Dindayal likes his new daughter-in-law very much and wants her to accompany him to the country where he runs a charitable hospital in the name of his late wife. There Dr Bhatt, Dindayal’s rival, finds out by hiring detectives that Pratima and Jayant are not married. He uses the information to try to oust Dindayal from the hospital. The solution eventually links with Pratima’s growing sense of responsibility towards Dr Dindayal’s medical endeavours.
Movie9.0HorrorAdapted from a story by Kazi Nazrul Islam this film concerns love and revenge among a tribe of snake charmers led by Jahar (Nawab) who is searching for his 100th poisonous snake so as to show how he can magically cure its deadly bite.
Movie10.0DramaA Bengali Drama Film directed by Sabyasachi (Ajoy Kar & Binoy Chattopadhyay).
Movie9.0DramaMysteryA 1935 Bengali Film directed by Jyotish Bandyopadhyay.
- Movie8.0RomanceDrama
Classic celebration of Mithila's King Shiva Singha's (Bannerjee/Kapoor) love for his wife while chronicling the influence of the pacifist court poet Bidyapati (Sanyal). Invited to the royal court by the king, Bidyapati arrives with his faithful follower Anuradha (Kanan Devi). Queen Laxmi (Chhaya Devi) falls in love with the poet, much to the distress of the king. The king falls ill and starts neglecting his royal duties until Anuradha persuades him that true love does not need reciprocation. The queen, equally distressed by her divided loyalties, contemplates suicide, encouraged by the prime minister who is worried by the nefarious impact of Bidyapati's poetry on the king.
Movie8.0Drama
Movie8.0DramaThis classic adultery story tells of an artist, Prasanta (Barua) presented in the stereotypically romantic image: dedicated to his vocation, paying no heed to his scandalous reputation (he paints nude models) and with a cavalier attitude to his conservative father-in-law's (Choudhury) demands for a good social behavior.
Movie9.0ComedyDramaA comedy adapted from a successful play. The zamindar Damodar Chakraborty (Chakraborty) starts a school named after his wife and recruits a married couple as teachers. Manas (Ganguly in the role which had made him a stage star) and Niharika (Kanan Devi) pretend to be married in order to get the jobs. Their imposture, together with the fact that he is Hindu while she is Christian, produces complications.
Movie9.0Set in the early 20th C. Calcutta Theatres industry. Kamala (Kanan Devi) is the star of the Ruby Theatre owned by her guardian Maheshbabu. Narendra (Sanyal) is the equally popular star in the rival Bina Theatre, which he abandons to join the Ruby repertoire when he falls in love with Kamala. In a lyrical sequence in the countryside, they marry in a poor peasant setting. Narendra then shows his true colours and forbids Kamala to continue her acting career. She returns to the stage anyway while Narendra stays among the peasants. He later returns to the Bina Theatre and its success is intercut with the bankruptcy of the Ruby Theatre.
Har Jeet
1940 · 1 votes
Movie7.0DramaComedyManoj is from the aristocratic class but has some sort retrograde amnesia; he belongs to the upper-class but is also an outsider, something that enables the possibilities of movement across the class-lines for him. This trope is essential for Barua to articulate the criticism of the indolent upper class in the film. Thus Manoj is both an object of criticism and ridicule while also being one of the critics.
Movie9.0HistoryDramaSree Gouranga is a 1933 Indian Bengali biographical film that chronicles the life of the revered spiritual leader, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, also known as Gauranga. The film delves into the early life of Mahaprabhu, born Nimai in Mayapur in 1486, highlighting his mischievous childhood and subsequent intellectual brilliance. Despite family pressure to marry, Mahaprabhu prioritizes his spiritual journey and eventually leaves his home to become an ascetic. The film portrays his deep devotion to Lord Krishna and his eventual return to visit his mother, where he instructs his wife to worship the same deity. The film is a historical and devotional portrayal of the saint's life.
Movie7.0DramaRomanceHarish who's a poet who falls in love with Kusum, a singer he mentors. But Kusum sees him only as a guru and ends up marrying a wealthy admirer. Years later, misunderstandings resurface, leading to a bittersweet realization that love and respect don’t always mean the same thing.
Lagan
1941 · 1 votes
MovieDramaRomanceThe wealthy, self-obsessed, and possibly crazed Manoj (Barua) is sent by his concerned family to the rural estate of his future father-in-law. Along the way, however, he gets lost and soon finds himself taking shelter in the abode of the railroad stationmaster whose beautiful, down-to-earth daughter, Meena (Kenan Devi), Manoj finds irresistible. When his haughty, progressive-minded fiancée gets wind of this, she freaks out and soon there is a showdown between the two women. In the aftermath, Manoj finds reason to go with his heart and marry Meena.