''Dui Purush'' (English: ''Two Generations'') is a 1945

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second m ...

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

family drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...

film directed by Subodh Mitra. Produced by

New Theatres New Theatres is an Indian film studio. It was formed in Calcutta by producer B. N. Sircar (Birendranath Sircar, the recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award of 1970). It was formed on 10 February 1931. Motto of this company was– ''Jivatang Jyotire ...

and adapted from Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay's novel and popular stage play, with a screenplay by Binoy Chatterjee. The editing was done by Mitra, who was popularly known as Kachi Babu, and cited as one of the best editors in the film industry. The music director was

Pankaj Mullick Pankaj Kumar Mullick (10 May 1905 – 19 February 1978) was an Indian music composer, playback singer and actor, who was a pioneer of film music in Bengali cinema and Hindi cinema at the advent of playback singing, as well as an early exponent ...

with lyrics by Sailen Roy. The cinematographers were Sudhin Majumdar and Yusuf Mulji. The cast included

Chhabi Biswas Chhabi Biswas (''Chabi Biśbās'') (13 July 1900 – 11 June 1962) was an Indian actor, primarily known for his performances in Tapan Sinha's '' Kabuliwala'' and Satyajit Ray's films '' Jalshaghar'' (''The Music Room'', 1958), '' Devi'' ( ...

Chandrabati Devi Chandrabati Devi (19 October 190929 April 1992) was an Indian actress who appeared in Hindi as well as Bengali cinema. She is best known for her role as Chandramukhi in the 1935 cult classic ''Devdas''. Chandrabati Devi made her film debut in ...

, Sunanda Banerjee,

Ahindra Choudhury Ahindra Choudhury (1896-1974) was an Indian actor, director, theatre personality and the co-founder of ''Photo Play Syndicate'', a Kolkata-based art organization for bioscope shows. A winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1958, Choudhury ...

Tulsi Chakraborty Tulsi Chakraborty (also Tulsi Chakrabarti, bn, তুলসী চক্রবর্তী; 3 March 1899 – 11 December 1961) was an Indian actor and comedian who worked in Bengali cinema in the 1940s and 50s. His most notable role could be t ...

Jahar Ganguly Jahar Ganguly (October 1904 – 1969) was an Indian actor and theater personality. He received Best actor award in 6th Annual Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards in 1943 for his performance in ''Bandi''. Career Ganguly was born in undivi ...

, and

Naresh Mitra Naresh Mitra (18 May 1888 – 1968) was a Bengali actor, director and screenwriter. Career Naresh Mitra was born in 1888 in Agartala, Tripura, British India. He studied law from the University of Calcutta. He started his acting career in 1922 i ...

. The film won the

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate ...

for Best Film. The film also won awards for Best Music for Pankaj Mullick, and Best Actress Award for Chandravati at the

Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Actress Award The Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards (Also Known as BFJA awards) is the oldest Association of Film critics in India, founded in 1937. Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Actress Award is given by ''Bengal Film Journalists' A ...

. It won five more awards at the 9th Annual BFJA Awards. ''Dui Purush'' involves three generations, and has the traditional theme of a poor social worker pitted against a rich Zamindar (Landowner).

Plot

Nutubehari, called Nutu, is a poor but educated

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

er who sticks to his life's ideals and fights against the wealthy

Zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

for people's rights. He falls in love with Kalyani, a barrister's daughter. An enraged Zamindar has Nutu put in jail. When he gets out of jail, he finds Kalyani has been married off to someone else. Nutu marries Bimla, and starts a school in the village. He and Bimla have a son called Arun. Kalyani's husband dies and her in-laws throw her out of the house along with her infant daughter. She comes back to the village and takes shelter with Nutubehari who lets her run the school. Years pass and Nutubehari has a court case against the Zamindar when he fights for one of the villagers. He has become a lawyer by now, joined politics, and amassed great wealth. He has also let go of his ideals. His son, Arun, is dismayed at the changes in his father. Arun also rebels against his arranged marriage as he now loves Kalyani's daughter Mamta (Latika). Finally, Nutu sees the error of his ways and reconciles with his former self.

Cast

as Nutubehari *

Chandravati Chandravati, popularly known as Chandroti, is a village situated near Abu Road on the bank of the West Banas River in the Indian state of Rajasthan. In ancient times it was an extensive town, and present villages such as Dattani, Kiverli, Khar ...

as Bimla * Sunanda Banerjee as Kalyani *

as the Zamindar *

as Sushobhan * Latika Bandyopadhyay as Mamta, Kalyani's daughter *

as Gopi Mitra *

as Mahabharat * Sailen Choudhury * Naresh Bose * Puru Mullik * Rekha Mullik

Review

The review by

Baburao Patel Baburao Patel (1904–1982) was an Indian publisher and writer, associated with films and politics. Career He was the editor and publisher of India's first film trade magazine, ''Filmindia'', the first edition of which was published in 1935. B ...

in ''

Filmindia ''filmindia'' is an Indian monthly magazine covering Indian cinema and published in English language. Started by Baburao Patel in 1935, ''filmindia'' was the first English film periodical to be published from Bombay. The magazine was reportedl ...

'' praised Chhabi Biswas as Nutubehari. Biswas had originally played the same role for the stage version. Chandravati as Bimla "competes successfully" with Biswas and her acting was commended for restraint. Ahindra Choudhary was stated to be "disappointing". The screenplay came in for harsh criticism, being called "utterly clumsy". The fact that an important character in the play, Sushobhan, played by Jawahar Ganguly on screen, was turned into a "frivolous" character, and the tragic death of Nutbehari avoided and the character allowed to live in the film also came in for censure.

Remake

The film was remade in 1978 with the same title, ''Dui Purush'', and was directed by Sushil Mukherjee. It starred

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar ( bn, উত্তম কুমার; born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), popularly known as the Mahanayak, was an Indian actor, producer, director, Screenwriter, script writer, composer, and sing ...

as Nutbihari,

Supriya Choudhury Supriya Devi (Supriya Choudhury; 8 January 1933 – 26 January 2018) was an Indian actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema for more than 50 years. She is best known for her portrayal of Neeta in Ritwik Ghatak's Bengali film '' Megh ...

as Bimla, and

Lily Chakraborty Lily Chakraborty, (born 15 January 1972) is an Indian Ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or od ...

as Kalyani.

Awards

for Best Film. ''Dui Purush'' won the following awards at the 9th Annual BFJA Awards: * Best Indian Films *

: Chandravati *

Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Art Director Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. See also * Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards * Cinema of India External links * https://web.archive.org/web/20080229010408/http://www.bfjaawards.com/ {{DEFAULTSO ...

: Soren Sen *

Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Music Director Award Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. See also * Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards * Cinema of India External links * https://web.archive.org/web/20080229010408/http://www.bfjaawards.com/ {{DEFAULTS ...

: Pankaj Mullick *

Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Lyricist Award Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. See also * Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards * Cinema of India The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on ...

: Sailen Roy *

Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Cinematographer Award Here is a list of the award winners Cinematographer and the films for which they won. See also * Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards * Cinema of India The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a ...

: Sudhin Majumdar * Best Audiographer: Loken Bose

Soundtrack

The music was appreciated by the public and won awards for both the composer

, and lyricist Sailen Roy.

Song list

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id =0396571, title =Dui Purush (1945) 1945 films Bengali-language Indian films 1940s Bengali-language films Indian black-and-white films Films based on works by Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay Films scored by Pankaj Mullick