Gyanesh Mukhopadhyay
Acting
Biography
Gyanesh Mukherjee was a Bengali actor, director, and theater personality. He was involved with the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). In his film career, Mukherjee worked with famous directors like Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, and Tapan Sinha. From the late 1950s to the 1970s, he played a prolific role in cinema and theatre.
Born: July 5, 1926
Place of Birth: Shyambazar, Calcutta, British Raj (now India)
Known For
The Expedition
The story revolves around a North Indian taxi driver, Narsingh, who attempts to reinvent his life by visiting his native place, but instead gets embroiled in a local Marwari businessman's smuggling and human trafficking business. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.
Up in the Clouds
A young man still to find a place in the sun puts up an innocent bluff to a young girl he chances upon. They meet frequently since then. Bluffs continue to pile up. There is no way out. In a desperate bid the young man tries to break the wealth barrier. His friend, well placed in life, cautions him. He turns a deaf ear. The inevitable happens. The young man grows wiser but pays heavily for it.
The Cloud-Capped Star
A selfless young woman, the daughter of a middle-class refugee family from East Pakistan, sacrifices her own happiness for her unappreciative family.
Ajantrik
Bimal is a taxi-driver in a small provincial town. He lives alone, his taxi (an old 1920 Chevrolet jalopy which he named Jagaddal) is his only companion and, although very battered, it is the apple of Bimal's eye.
The Wedding Day
The tragic story set in the late 1930s, just before famine struck Bengal. It tells of the marriage of a dumpy middle-aged salesman of small goods to a beautiful teenager, and how, after initial days of happiness together, a series of misfortunes strike which slowly embitter the man.
Reason, Debate and a Story
Four men, each peculiar in his own way, embark on a quest to reason with the estranged wife of the protagonist. This is considered to be Ghatak's autobiographical film.
Runaway
Kanchan, all of eight years old, is always up to pranks and mischief in his village home. He finds his father a cruel demon who keeps his mother oppressed and imprisoned. In his dreams, the big city is El Dorado, until he reaches there.
Mrigayaa
A British administrator with a flair for game hunting develops a friendship with a commoner who is an expert archer in an Indian village. The movie portrays the relationship between the British colonialists, and native villagers who were exploited by Indian landlords in 1920s India. This happens against the backdrop of the awakening of the Indian people against the British rule.
Palatak
A wealthy man is struck by wanderlust that always takes him to new places where he mingles with the lives of different people.
A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale
Through the microcosmic perspectivising of a group of devoted and uncompromising IPTA workers, Ghatak with his signature style touches on varied issues of partition, idealism, corruption, the interdependence of art and life, the scope of art, and class-struggle.
Filmography
as Owner of Circus
as Panchu
as Boatman
as Prabhat (Manager)
as Phonibhushan (Phoni Babu)
as Janak
as Josef
as Debu Bose
as Banshi Dutta
as Father
as Mechanic