Devi Mukherjee

Devi Mukherjee was born in Chhapra, Bihar, on 27 January 1903. His father Prabodh Chandra Mukherjee was an advocate in Serampore.^[1]

In 1925, Devi Mukherjee began his career as a thespian actor with a small role in Minerva Theatre's stage adaptation of Atmadarshan, a Bengali play by Mahatap Chandra Ghosh.^[1] His portrayal of Basudam in Phani Burma's Bengali film Prabhas Milan (1937) was his first film assignment. The screenplay of the film was written by poet Krishnadhan Dey.^[5] Mukherjee's performance as police officer Ghoshal in Nitin Bose's Bichar (1943) won him critical favour.^[3] He rose to fame for his role as Sourindranath in Udayer Pathe (1944) directed by Bimal Roy.^[7] Based on Jyotirmoy Roy's story, the narrative revolves around a writer who opposes class discrimination. Radhamohan Bhattacharya played the protagonist in the film. The film became a major critical and commercial success.^[9][10]

Mukherjee accumulated major critical acclaim portraying Somnath in Bhabikal (1945) directed by Niren Lahiri. The film follows Somnath who is torn between his idealistic father Shibnath Chowdhury and his capitalist father-in-law Kedar Sanyal.^[11] The film earned him BFJA Award for Best actor in 1946.

Mukherjee starred in Amar Mallik's social drama film Biraj Bou (1946) based on Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's story of the same name. The screenplay of the film was written by Nripendra Krishna Chatterjee.^[12] He portrayed Rajendra, a salacious, rich man who is illegimately interested in Biraj, the protagonist portrayed by Sunanda Devi. According to Rabi Basu, Mukherjee was convincing and breathtaking as Rajendra.^[3]

Mukherjee starred alongside Mihir Bhattacharya, Sumitra Devi, Chandrabati Devi and Jahar Ganguly in Pather Dabi (1947) directed by Satish Dasgupta and Digambar Chatterjee.^[13] The film became a major box office success.^[14]

Mukherjee committed suicide when Gunomoy Banerjee's thriller Bish Bachchar Aage (1948) was on the floor.^[15]