In my efforts over the past year to look beyond my focus on South Indian cinema dance to see what other regional cinemas of India have to offer, my research on Odissi, Manipuri, and Sattriya film dances led me eastward to the cinemas of Odisha in East India and Manipur and Assam in Northeast India. But what about the cinema of Bengal situated directly in between those states and also one of India's major film-making centers since the craft began? (Note: I am focusing on Indian Bengali films produced in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and the Indian state of West
Bengal—not those produced in what was East Bengal and East Pakistan near/after
partition/independence and now is Bangladesh).
Other regional Indian classical dance forms had been depicted in a few Bengali films with an authentic earnestness and execution. For example, the best Kathak nritta in a non-Mujra setting in Indian cinema can be found in Jalsaghar (1958), Khudito Pashan (1960), and Basanta Bahar (1957); Odissi dance was skillfully depicted in Nirjana Saikate (1963) and Yugant (1995); and the infamous Anjana Banerjee performed decent Bharatanatyam in Chhandaneer (1989). That's not to say that examples of bad faux-classical dance are not found in Bengali cinema. There are plenty such as Abhiman (1986), Jamalay Jibanta Manush (1958), and some faux-Manipuri dances—but when good dance is showcased in Bengali films, it is really good. And there are certainly folk dance forms of the region most notably Chhau that have also been showcased in a few Bengali films.
The popularity of Kathak and Odissi dance depictions in Bengali films makes historical sense. Kathak dancer and scholar Pallabi Chakravorty [3] describes how female court dancers in north and east India during British rule became "popularly known as nautch dancers" but also "as tawaifs in the royal courts of north India and baijis or nautch dancers in nineteenth-century Bengal." As kingdoms continued to decline, in the late nineteenth-century Calcutta "became the prime destination for displaced dancers and musicians from the north, who found new sources of patronage among the Bengali elite" particularly in the "music rooms of the Bengali zamindars (landlords)." Ah, now I understand the background of Roshan Kumari's thrilling Kathak dance in Jalsaghar ("The Music Room," 1958)! The appearance of Odissi dance in Bengali films is not surprising as well. Certainly Odisha is close to Bengal and shares many cultural similarities, but as scholar Nandini Sikand has shown, there is a history of women with Bengali backgrounds becoming prominent Odissi dancers such as Ritha Devi, Indrani Rahman (married into a Kolkata family), and recently Sharmila Biswas [13].
So while the depiction of Kathak and Odissi in Bengali films had a uniquely Bengali precedent, I continued to wonder...was there a uniquely-Bengali dance depicted in Bengali films? For some time I assumed there simply was not because from my limited experience Bengali films seemed to be mostly "serious" and "artsy." This perception appears to be accurate especially for pre-1980s films. Historian Sharmistha Gooptu has shown that long before Satyajit Ray, Calcutta productions were "distinguished through their association with Bengali literary and avant-garde cultures" and were deliberately made and seen as noncommercial art for the Bengali audience which had different tastes than the all-India market and demanded films with quality storylines and acting [5]. Cinematic dance depictions were not well received in Bengal. Silent/early Bengali films like Andhare Alo, Pati Bhakti, Bilwamangal, and Tara the Dancer which had courtesan/nautch characters were criticized for "depicting the life of prostitutes" [5]. Sharmistha reveals a fascinating nugget of information—that director Binay Bandopadhyay (Banerjee) "brought the song and dance film" to Bengali cinema, but he lamented his receiving "only abuses and criticism" by critics who upheld the virtues of the "refinement and decency" of Bengali films as opposed to the "cheap and commercial" focus of the Hindi cinema of Bombay [5]. I wish I could track down the films he was associated with, but I've not had success finding information about him.
Other regional Indian classical dance forms had been depicted in a few Bengali films with an authentic earnestness and execution. For example, the best Kathak nritta in a non-Mujra setting in Indian cinema can be found in Jalsaghar (1958), Khudito Pashan (1960), and Basanta Bahar (1957); Odissi dance was skillfully depicted in Nirjana Saikate (1963) and Yugant (1995); and the infamous Anjana Banerjee performed decent Bharatanatyam in Chhandaneer (1989). That's not to say that examples of bad faux-classical dance are not found in Bengali cinema. There are plenty such as Abhiman (1986), Jamalay Jibanta Manush (1958), and some faux-Manipuri dances—but when good dance is showcased in Bengali films, it is really good. And there are certainly folk dance forms of the region most notably Chhau that have also been showcased in a few Bengali films.
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| Jalsaghar (1958) |
So while the depiction of Kathak and Odissi in Bengali films had a uniquely Bengali precedent, I continued to wonder...was there a uniquely-Bengali dance depicted in Bengali films? For some time I assumed there simply was not because from my limited experience Bengali films seemed to be mostly "serious" and "artsy." This perception appears to be accurate especially for pre-1980s films. Historian Sharmistha Gooptu has shown that long before Satyajit Ray, Calcutta productions were "distinguished through their association with Bengali literary and avant-garde cultures" and were deliberately made and seen as noncommercial art for the Bengali audience which had different tastes than the all-India market and demanded films with quality storylines and acting [5]. Cinematic dance depictions were not well received in Bengal. Silent/early Bengali films like Andhare Alo, Pati Bhakti, Bilwamangal, and Tara the Dancer which had courtesan/nautch characters were criticized for "depicting the life of prostitutes" [5]. Sharmistha reveals a fascinating nugget of information—that director Binay Bandopadhyay (Banerjee) "brought the song and dance film" to Bengali cinema, but he lamented his receiving "only abuses and criticism" by critics who upheld the virtues of the "refinement and decency" of Bengali films as opposed to the "cheap and commercial" focus of the Hindi cinema of Bombay [5]. I wish I could track down the films he was associated with, but I've not had success finding information about him.
