Tarun Majumdar

Majumdar was born on 8 January 1931 in Bogra, which was then part of the Bengal Presidency of British India.^[8][9] His father, Birendranath Majumdar, was a freedom fighter from Munsirhat.^[10] He studied intermediate from St. Paul's Cathedral Mission College and had his graduation at Scottish Church College, both affiliated with the University of Calcutta.^[11][12][13]

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Majumdar started his career as a poster illustrator and film technician. His early films were credited to Yatrik (phonetically Jatrik in Bengali), the screen name of directors Tarun Majumdar, Sachin Mukherji, and Dilip Mukherji. The name lasted until 1963, after which each began to be credited separately. As Yatrik, their first venture was Chaowa Paowa (1959) starring Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen.^[14] Yatrik made Kancher Swarga (1962) featuring Dilip Mukherjee as the lead.

In 1965, Majumdar made two films, Ektuku Basa with Soumitra Chatterjee and Alor Pipasa with Basanta Choudhury. Both films featured Sandhya Roy as the female protagonist. In 1967, he directed Balika Badhu, an adaptation of a Bengali story written by Bimal Kar, in which a teenage Moushumi Chatterjee made her debut. Majumdar later remade the film Hindi in 1976. He also directed Shriman Prithviraj (1973).^[15]

In 1974, Majumdar directed Fuleswari, starring Sandhya Roy as the titular character. Many Bengali artists like Hemanta Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Sandhya Mukherjee, Aarti Mukherjee, and Anup Ghoshal provided vocals for the film's songs. Years later, Majumdar acknowledged Fuleswari as his favorite film. In 1975, he directed Sansar Simante, based on a screenplay by Rajen Tarafdar, which was itself adapted from a short story by Premendra Mitra. In 1979, Majumdar's film Ganadevata became the first Bengali film to win the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.^[16] The film was based on the novel of the same name, written by Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay.

Mahua Roychoudhury was cast as the female lead in Dadar Kirti (1980), a film based on a short story by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay.^[17] The film marked the debut of Tapas Paul, who starred as the protagonist Kedar, who falls in love with Saraswati, portrayed by Mahua Roychoudhury.^[18][19] The film won the Roychoudhury Filmfare Awards East in 1981.^[20]

Majumdar went on to cast Sandhya Roy in four consecutive films: Shahar Theke Dure (1981), Meghmukti (1982), Khelar Putul (1982), and Amar Geeti (1984). These two films had lower box office returns compared to his previous works, leading to contemporary media discussion regarding Roy's commercial impact at the time. He then cast Tapas Paul and Debashree Roy in the romantic drama Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985), which achieved box office success.^[21] Majumdar cast Paul in another three films, Agaman (1988), Parashmoni (1988), and Apan Amar Apan (1990) alongside Prosenjit Chatterjee and Satabdi Roy, which again achieved box office success.^[22]

In 2003, he returned to directing with Alo, a film based on a story written by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. Rituparna Sengupta played the titular role. Consistent with Majumdar's established style, the soundtrack incorporated Rabindra Sangeet.^[23]

In 2006, he directed Bhalobasar Onek Naam, casting Uttam Kumar's grandson Gourab Chatterjee, Hemanta Mukherjee's granddaughter, and Moushumi Chatterjee's daughter Megha as lead actors.^[24][25][26]

In 2007, he made another feature film, Chander Bari. Rituparna Sengupta again was the main lead. Playback singer Babul Supriyo made his debut in this film opposite Rituparna.^[27] The songs featured were again composed by Rabindranath Tagore.^[28][29]

His last full-length feature film, Bhalobashar Bari, was released in 2018.^[30][31] Rituparna Sengupta again played the protagonist in the film.^[32][33]

Majumdar's films frequently adapted classical literature and followed a narrative-driven structure, a style that differed from the experimental approaches of some of his contemporaries. He stated in interviews that a film's commercial performance served as an indicator of its quality.^{[citation needed]}

Majumdar was married to actress Sandhya Roy. While the couple later lived separately, they remained legally married until his death.^[1][9]

On 4 July 2022, at the age of 91, Majumdar died from a heart attack at a hospital in Kolkata.^[9] He suffered from a chest infection, and kidney and heart ailments prior to his death.^[9] Majumdar donated his body for promotion of medical education to the Anatomy Department of IPGMER and SSKM Hospital in Kolkata.

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Nimantran has been restored and digitized by the National Film Archive of India.^[44] Tarun Majumdar was the recipient of the prestigious Padma Shri Award in 1990. He won the Lifetime Achievement honor at the West Bengal Film Journalist Association Awards in 2017.^[45]

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed grief over the death of Tarun Majumdar.^[46]

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