Gurudas Banerjee

Gurudas Banerjee had his stage debut in 1948 at Calcutta's Kalika Theatre in the role of Sri Ramakrishna in Yugadevata. He continued acting in theatre and cinema until the 1980s.

Banerjee married Molina Devi (1917-1977), who has been characterized as "one of the finest actresses of Indian theatre and cinema."{{rp|275}} Together, they operated their own touring theatre, M. G. Enterprises,{{rp|688}} which "specialized in commercial productions of devotional drama"{{cite book |title=The Oxford companion to Indian theatre

|last=Lal |first=Ananda |author-link=Ananda Lal |year=2004

|location=New Delhi |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195644468

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DftkAAAAMAAJ}}{{rp|275}}

in which Banerjee played the role of Sri Ramakrishna and other holy men.

Gurudas Banerjee acted in a variety of roles, very commonly as Sri Ramakrishna, which he played on both stage and in film.{{rp|688}}

Other roles that Banerjee played in film included

Sadhak Bamakhyapa (Sadhak Bamakshyapa, 1958; Joy Maa Tara, 1978),

Gobinda, Husband Of Chandi (Swayamsiddha, 1947),

Ramola's Father (Sare Chuattar, 1953),

Jitu, Anita's Father (Ekti Raat, 1956),

Pishemashai (Indranath, Srikanta O Annadadidi, 1959),

Neepa's Father (Mouchak, 1975), and

Agniswar's Father-in-law (Agniswar, 1975).

From the 1950s through the 1970s, Gurudas Banerjee commonly portrayed Ramakrishna in the Bengali Theatre and films. Beginning in the late 1940s, "he almost monopolized this role [of Ramakrishna] as a specialist, both on the stage and on the screen,"

name=calcutheaters>{{cite book

|title=The Story of the Calcutta Theatres, 1753-1980

|last=Mukherjee |first=Sushil Kumar |author-link=Sushil Kumar Mukherjee |year=1982

|location=Calcutta |publisher=K.P. Bagchi

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vg4AAAAIAAJ }}{{rp|688}} and was still portraying Ramakrishna in the late-1970s.Gurudas Banerjee played Ramakrishna in the film Jata Mat Tata Path (1979). Mukherjee's (1982) Story states that Gurudas Banerjee was "a popular actor [who] made his stage debut at Kalika in the late-forties of the [20th] century appearing as Sri Ramakrishna in Yugadevata (1948). Since then he has almost monopolized the role as a specialist, both on the stage and on the screen. His recent appearance in this role was in Nata Nati at Rangana (1975).... He has his own touring theatre, M. G. Enterprise..." (p. 688) Sushil Mukherjee explains that the drama Jugadevata, which debuted on the Calcutta stage on 19 November 1948,

{{blockquote|

was a devotional drama... on the life of the Saint of Dakshineswar [Ramakrishna] [that] became immensely popular and established two artistes who became wholly identified with the two characters they represented. These were Gurudas Banerjee who was seen as Sri Ramkrishna and Molina Devi who appeared as Rani Rasmoni, the founder of the famous Bhabatarini (Kali) temple at Dakshineswar. Since their appearance in Jugadevata at Kalika in 1948 Gurudas and Molina have appeared in the characters of these two persons in a number of other plays, both on the stage and on the screen....{{rp|288}}

}}

Films in which Banerjee played the role of Ramakrishna included Vidyasagar(1950),Rani Rashmoni (1955), Mahakavi Girish Chandra (1956), Bireswar Vivekananda (1964), and Jata Mat Tata Path (1979).

Theatrical plays in which Banerjee played Ramakrishna included Jugadebata (1948), Thakur Sri Ramakrishna (1955), and Nata Nati (1975).

In fact he was the only actor to play roles of all the prominent Shaakto (Devotee of Goddess Shakti) mystics of the 18th and 19th Century Bengal, namely Sadhak Ramprasad, Kamalakanta Bhattacharya, Shri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and Sadhak Bamakhyapa.

According to Sushil Mukherjee, in the many screen and stage appearances since 1948 in which Banerjee and Molina Devi have played Ramakrishna and Rani Rashmoni together, they "have carried the audience with them in every performance."{{rp|288}}

In 1966, The Illustrated Weekly of India mentioned Banerjee's troupe's performance in a review of the 1965-66 theatre season in Delhi.{{cite journal

|author=G. S. Khosla |year=1966

|title=Theatre in the Capital

|journal=The Illustrated Weekly of India |volume=87 |issue=2 |pages=59

|issn=0019-2430 |oclc=6772824

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1s6AQAAIAAJ&q=gurudas+molina}}

The Weekly stated that

{{blockquote|

Milan Samity of Delhi sponsored the M. G. Enterprise of Calcutta, who brought two plays, Thakur Shri Ramakrishna and Baikunther Will, and an able company of actors. The credit for composing Thakur Shri Ramakrishna, round the story of Rani Rashmoni, and for bringing this legendary figure to life on the stage, goes to Molina Devi and Gurudas, who headed the company.... It is not easy to put across a religious theme, but Molina and Gurudas did so convincingly, helped greatly by the telling effects of light and music.

|author=|title=|source=}}

Gurudas Banerjee acted in more than 80 films, mostly in Bengali, as listed here (including year released, and role if available; all films in Bengali unless otherwise noted):Listed in Gomolo except as noted.

• Banglar Meye (1941)IMDb only (not Gomolo)
• Swayamsiddha (1947) (Gobinda, Husband Of Chandi)Role given by Gomolo
• Kalo Chhaya (1948)
• Ultorath (1949)
• Paribartan (1949)
• Mayajaal (1949)
• Kuasha (1949)
• Cartoon (1949)
• Vidyasagar (1950)
• Sree Tulsidas (1950)
• Sanchali (1950)
• Sahodar (1950)
• Kankantala Light Railway (1950)
• Jugadebata (1950)
• Gypsy Meye (1950)
• Apabad (1950)
• Ganyer Meye (1951)
• Bhakta Raghunath (1951)
• Bhairab Mantra (1951)
• Anandamath (1951)
• Vidyasagar (1952, Hindi)
• Sabitri Satyaban (1952)
• Nildarpan (1952)
• Mahishasur Badh (1952)
• Sanjibani (1952)
• Sarala (1953)
• Rami Chandidas (1953)
• Maharaja Nandakumar (1953)
• Bhagaban Srikrishna Chaitanya (1953)
• Sare Chuattar (1953) (Ramola's Father)
• Makarsar Jaal (1953)CITWF only (not Gomolo)
• Shibashakti (1954)
• Sada Kalo (1954)
• Naa (1954)
• Rani Rasmani (film) (1955) (Sri RamakrishnaRole given by IMDb)
• Katha Kao (1955)
• Joy Maa Kali Boarding (1955)
• Chatujye Banrujye (1955)
• Atmadarshan (1955)
• Aparadhi (1955)
• Sajher Pradip (1955)
• Debatra (1955)
• Subholagna (1956)
• Sadhak Ramprasad (1956)
• Rajpath (1956)
• Mahakabi Girishchandra (1956) (Sri Ramakrishna)
• Bhola Master (1956)
• Asamapta (1956)
• Abhagir Swarga (1956)
• Ekti Raat (1956) (Jitu, Anita's Father)
• Tamasa (1957)
• Nilachale Mahaprabhu (1957)
• Ami Baro Habo (1957)
• Sree Sree Maa (1958)
• Sadhak Bamakshyapa (1958) (Sadhak Bamakhyapa)
• Purir Mandir (1958)
• Mejo Jamai (1958)
• Kangsa (1958)
• Jonakir Alo (1958)
• Indranath Srikanta O Annadadidi (1959) (Pishemashai)
• Abhishap (1959)
• Tailangaswami (1960)
• Nader Nimai (1960)
• Kono Ek Din (1960)
• Sadhak Kamalakanta (1961)
• Carey Saheber Munsi (1961)
• Taranisen Badh (1962)
• Bireswar Viveknanda (1964) (Sri Ramakrishna)
• Rup Sanatan (1965)
• Bharater Sadhak (1965)
• Debitirtha Kamrup Kamakshya (1967)
• Adyashakti Mahamayay (1968)
• Trinayani Maa (1971)
• Umno O Jhumno (1975)
• Swayamsiddha (1975)
• Mouchak (1975) (Neepa's Father)
• Agniswar (1975) (Agniswar's Father-in-law)
• Nagar Darpane (1975)
• Sree Sree Maa Lakshmi (1977)
• Baba Taraknath (1977)
• Jaal Sanyasi (1977)
• Joy Maa Tara (1978) (Sadhak Bamakhyapa)
• Balak Saratchandra (1978)
• Aguner Phulki (1978)
• Jato Mat Tato Path (1979) (Sri Ramakrishna)
• Dub De Mon Kali Bole (1979)
• Matribhakta Ramprasad (1980)
• Abhi (1980)
• Maa Bhabani Maa Amar (1982)
• Kshyapa Thakur (1987) (Mohanto baba)
• Bile Naren (1988)

Further details on selected films appear in the table below.Information in the table of selected films is derived, as noted in the final column, from film entries in YouTube, or from Gurudas Banerjee at [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1278454 IMDB], [http://www.gomolo.com/about-gurudas-bandyopadhyay/5190 Gomolo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020090546/http://www.gomolo.com/about-gurudas-bandyopadhyay/5190 |date=20 October 2014 }}, or [http://www.citwf.com/person536791.htm CITWF.] Films known to be dubbed versions of other films have not been listed. Any films known to be multilinguals (separately filmed in multiple languages) are explicitly noted as multilinguals.Some Indian films are known as "multilinguals," having been filmed in similar but non-identical versions in different languages. According to Rajadhyaksha and Willemen in the Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema (1994), in its most precise form, a multilingual is "a bilingual or a trilingual [that] was the kind of film made in the 1930s in the studio era, when different but identical takes were made of every shot in different languages, often with different leading stars but identical technical crew and music." They wrote that in seeking to assemble the Encyclopedia, it they often found it "extremely difficult to distinguish multilinguals in this original sense from dubbed versions, remakes, reissues or, in some cases, the same film listed with different titles, presented as separate versions in different languages.... it will take years of scholarly work to establish definitive data in this respect."

Source: {{cite book|last=Rajadhyaksha|first=Ashish|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema|year=1994|publisher=Oxford University Press; British Film Institute (London)|location=New Delhi |isbn=019-563579-5|author2=Paul Willemen}}At present, no pairs of films listed in the table are known to be multilinguals; however, this category has been added for clarify, and to accommodate possible additional information (12 Feb 2013)

The following table chronicles Gurudas Banerjee's stage career. It is not complete.

{{Reflist|2}}

• Gurudas Banerjee at [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1278454 IMDB], [http://www.gomolo.com/about-gurudas-bandyopadhyay/5190 Gomolo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020090546/http://www.gomolo.com/about-gurudas-bandyopadhyay/5190 |date=20 October 2014 }}, [http://www.citwf.com/person536791.htm CITWF]
• [http://img1.gomolo.com/images/people/P_5190.jpg Photo of Gurudas Banerjee (Gomolo)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321091043/http://img1.gomolo.com/images/people/P_5190.jpg |date=21 March 2012 }}

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Category:Male actors in Bengali cinema

Category:People from Rajasthan

Category:Indian male stage actors

Category:Bengali theatre personalities

Category:Indian male film actors

Category:20th-century Indian male actors

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)