Nandan is a government-sponsored film and cultural centre in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, India.
The primary aim of the cultural hub is to encourage and facilitate cinematic awareness in society. It includes a few comparatively large screens housed in an impressively architectured building. The complex, besides being a modern cinema and cultural complex, is a popular destination for the young and the aged alike.
Nandan is one of the main venues of the
Kolkata International Film Festival
The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is an annual film festival held in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1995, it is the third oldest international film festival in India. The festival is organized by the West Bengal Film Centre under the W ...
, hosting it until 2010.
While in 2011 the opening and closing ceremonies was shifted to
Netaji Indoor Stadium
The Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium is an indoor arena, indoor sports arena in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The facility seats 12,000 people. This indoor stadium is located just beside the Eden Gardens. It used to host the Sunfeast O ...
, Nandan remains the main centre for the festival.
History
The foundation stone of Nandan was laid by former Chief Minister of West Bengal
Jyoti Basu in 1980
and it was inaugurated by film-maker
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
on 2 September 1985. He designed the now-famous logo for the complex as well.
Initially, Nandan had two auditoriums, a third auditorium was made soon after.
In April 2011, the false ceiling of a Nandan auditorium crashed down. Right after the incident, the West Bengal government decided to refurbish Nandan, starting the renovation work with the construction of a new false ceiling for Nandan I. For the first phase of the renovation project, West Government gave to the Nandan authorities.
The restoration works completed weeks before the 2011 Kolkata International Film Festival.
The Nandan committee is headed by Bengali film director
Sandip Ray
Sandip Ray (born 8 September 1953) is an Indian film director and music director who mainly works in Bengali cinema. He is the only child of the famous Bengali director Satyajit Ray and Bijoya Ray.
Life and education
Sandip Ray was born in C ...
. Few other members of the managing committee are
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen (, ''Ôporna Shen'') is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, five Filmf ...
,
Prabhat Roy
Prabhat Roy ( bn, প্রভাত রায়; born 1946 in Jamshedpore) is a former Indian director who is known for his work in Bengali cinema.
He received several awards including two National Awards and BFJA Awards Bengal Film Journali ...
,
Ranjit Mallick
Ranjit Mallick (রঞ্জিত মল্লিক) (born 28 September 1944) is an Indian actor who works mainly in Bengali cinema. He is particularly known for appearing in films such as ''Interview'', '' Mouchak'', ''Shatru'', ''Shakha Pr ...
etc.
Nandan and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
![BuddhadebBabu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/BuddhadebBabu.jpg)
Former Chief Minister of West Bengal
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also known as Buddha Babu (born 1 March 1944) is an Indian Communist politician and a former member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He served as the 7th Chief Minister of West Bengal from 20 ...
had a long relation with Nandan. In 1980 he laid the foundation stone of the theatre. After losing the 1982 assembly election from Cossipore, he did not come to Nandan until 1987, when he changed constituency to Jadavpur and after winning the election.
After becoming the Chief Minister of West Bengal in 2001, he started visiting the auditorium more frequently. Till 1995 he did not have own room here. Then he got a 300 sqft carpeted room on Nandan's second floor. Here he often used to meet personalities like
Sunil Gangopadhyay
Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012) was an Indian poet, historian and novelist in the Bengali language based in the city of Kolkata. He is a former Sheriff of Calcutta. Gangopadhyay obtained his ma ...
,
Soumitra Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...
etc. and proofread his writings on
Manik Bandopadhyay
Manik Bandyopadhyay lias Banerjee(; 19 May 1908 – 3 December 1956) is an Indian Litterateur regarded as one of the major figures of 20th century Bengali literature. During a lifespan of 48 years and 28 years of literary career, battling with ...
or
Jibanananda Das
Jibanananda Das () (17 February 1899 – 22 October 1954) was an Indian poet, writer, novelist and essayist in the Bengali language. Popularly called "Rupashi Banglar Kabi'' ('Poet of Beautiful Bengal'), Das is the most read poet after Rabindr ...
.
After being defeated at the 2011 assembly elections of West Bengal by the Trinamool congress candidate Manish Gupta, Bhattacharjee stopped coming here. According to a report published in ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' in July 2011, two months after West Bengal's assembly elections, Bhattacharjee almost stopped visiting his favourite evening spot.
Arrest of artists during 2007 Kolkata International Film Festival
On 11 November 2007 afternoon, actors, artists and writers of West Bengal were demonstrating at a protest in Cathedral Road against ''
Nandigram violence
Nandigram Violence refers to the violence in Nandigram, West Bengal, India, in 2007 due to the land acquisition for a project taken up by the CPI(M)-led Government of West Bengal to create a chemical hub, a type of special economic zone (S ...
'' in which at least 14 people died. At the same time, the ''
Kolkata International Film Festival
The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is an annual film festival held in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1995, it is the third oldest international film festival in India. The festival is organized by the West Bengal Film Centre under the W ...
'' was going on in the theatres on Nandan. Kolkata Police and Rapid Action Force personnel were sent to the spot who arrested nearly 100 protesters including 20 women. The list of people who were arrested on the day included actor
Parambrata Chatterjee
Parambrata Chattopadhyay (born 27 June 1980) is an Indian actor and director. Parambrata started his career with Bengali television and films. He has acted as the fictional character Topshe from Feluda under Sandip Ray's direction. He made his ...
, actress Bidipta Chakraborty etc. They were released after five hours after a meeting between deputy commissioner (headquarters) Vineet Goyel and a group of protesters led by director
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen (, ''Ôporna Shen'') is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, five Filmf ...
,
Gautam Ghose
Goutam Ghose (also spelled Gautam Ghosh born 24 July 1950) is an Indian film director, Actor, music director and cinematographer, who works primarily in Bengali cinema. He is the only Indian to have received the "Vittorio Di Sica" Award, Italy ...
and Bengali poet
Sankha Ghosh
Sankha Ghosh (born Chittapriya Ghosh; 5 February 1932 – 21 April 2021) was an Indian poet and literary critic. He was born in Chandpur District of the then Bengal Presidency, present day Bangladesh. His ancestral home was at Banaripara Upazila ...
. Later, actor Parambrata Chatterjee told that he could not figure out the reason of the arrest— "I don’t know on what grounds we were arrested. We did not step into Nandan, nor did we have any arms and ammunition. We were sitting outside the Academy of Fine Arts, singing."
Programs and festivals
![Sunil Gangopadhyay at Krittibas stall in Nandan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Sunil_Gangopadhyay_at_Krittibas_stall_in_Nandan.jpg)
Nandan has been a cultural hub of Kolkata for a long time. Memorial lectures and special programs are organised here on regular basis. Nandan also organises a Social Communication Film Festival in collaboration with ''Roopkala Kendra''.
Kolkata International Film Festival
Kolkata International Film Festival started in 1995 and is India's third oldest film festival.
Nandan is one of the main venues of this festival.
Till 2010 the film festival used to be inaugurated at Nandan. In 2011, Mamata Banerjee, after becoming the Chief Minister of West Bengal, shifted the ceremony from Nandan to the
Netaji Indoor Stadium
The Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium is an indoor arena, indoor sports arena in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The facility seats 12,000 people. This indoor stadium is located just beside the Eden Gardens. It used to host the Sunfeast O ...
.
Little Magazine Festival
A
little magazine
In the United States, a little magazine is a magazine genre consisting of "artistic work which for reasons of commercial expediency is not acceptable to the money-minded periodicals or presses", according to a 1942 study by Frederick J. Hoffman, ...
festival is organised by ''
Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi
Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi ( bn, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ বাংলা একাডেমি) is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in West Bengal, India. Modeled after Bangla Academy of Bangladesh and France's Académ ...
'' in the Nandan premises every year.
The festival commenced in 2001.
Little magazine publishers from outside India (like
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
) have also joined this festival.
Controversies
There have been complaints against Nandan that screening of controversial films are often shunned here on political pressure. In 2005 Nandan committee disallowed screening of ''
Herbert
Herbert may refer to:
People Individuals
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
Name
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert ...
'' commenting the film would send out wrong signals to audiences.
''One Day from a Hangman's Life'' directed by Joshy Joseph was banned here after getting instruction from the Chief Minister of West Bengal.
''
Arekti Premer Golpo
''Arekti Premer Golpo'' ( bn, আরেকটি প্রেমের গল্প; en, Just Another Love Story) is a 2010 Indian drama film directed by Bengali filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly, written by Kaushik Ganguly. It stars Rituparno Ghosh an ...
'' (2010), directed by
Kaushik Ganguly
Kaushik Ganguly (born 4 August 2012) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor in Bengali cinema. Multiple National Award winner Actor-Director, Kaushik Ganguly is known for making films that explore various aspects sexuality, like ' ...
, which dealt with homosexuality, was also barred at this theatre. Moinak Biswas, associate professor at Jadavpur University, whose film ''Sthaniyo Sangbad'' was disallowed in Nandan in 2010 commented— "Since all these films, including mine, had a censor certificate, it wasn’t Nandan's role to play super censor."
In May 2013, the theatre refused to screen the Bengali film ''
Kagojer Nouka
''Kagojer Nouka'' is a Bengali language socio-political drama film directed by Parthasarathi Joarder and produced by Olivia Creation. This film was released on 13 May 2013. Nandan (Kolkata) theatre refused to screen this film. The film revolved a ...
'' directed by Partha Sarathi Jowardar. The film revolved around a
chit fund
A chit fund is a type of rotating savings and credit association system practiced in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan other Asian countries. Chit fund schemes may be organized by financial institutions, or informally among friends, relatives, ...
scam. Jowardar told to media that they sent the movie to Nandan authority for preview but he thought he did not even see the film before barring it.
See also
*
Priya Cinema (Kolkata)
Priya Cinema is a uniplex cinema hall situated in Rashbehari Avenue, near Deshapriya Park, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The management is run by Priya Entertainments Pvt. Ltd. under the leadership of the managing director Arijit Dutta. This is ...
References
External links
* of the
Kolkata International Film Festival
The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is an annual film festival held in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1995, it is the third oldest international film festival in India. The festival is organized by the West Bengal Film Centre under the W ...
Nandan (Kolkata)– BookMyShow
{{Kolkata topics
Tourist attractions in Kolkata
Culture of Kolkata
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Cinemas in Kolkata
Arts centres in India
1985 establishments in West Bengal