''Vidyapati'' is a 1937

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

biopic film directed by

Debaki Bose Debaki Bose (1898–1971), also known as Debaki Kumar Bose, was an Indian director, writer, and actor who is recognized for his contribution in Hindi as well as Bengali cinema. He was born on 25 November 1898 in Akalposh, (now East Burdwan), Bu ...

for New Theatres. It starred

Pahari Sanyal Pahari Sanyal (22 February 1906 – 10 February 1974) was an Indian actor and singer who is known for his work in Bengali cinema. Sanyal acted in many Bengali films, such as '' Harano Sur'', ''Bhanu Goenda Jahar Assistant'', and ''Shilpi''. ...

Vidyapati Vidyapati ( – 1460), also known by the sobriquet ''Maithil Kavi Kokil'' (the poet cuckoo of Maithili), was a Maithili and Sanskrit polymath-poet-saint, playwright, composer, biographer, philosopher, law-theorist, writer, courtier ...

. His costars in the film were

Kanan Devi Kanan Devi (22 April 1916 – 17 July 1992) was an Indian actress and singer. She was among the early singing stars of Indian cinema, and is credited popularly as the first star of Bengali cinema. Her singing style, usually in rapid tempo, was ...

, Prithviraj Kapoor,

Chhaya Devi Chhaya Devi ( bn, ছায়া দেবী; 3 June 1914 – 25 April 2001) was an Indian actress known for her work in Bengali and Hindi cinema. She appeared in hundreds of films for over five decades. Her first lead role was in Debak ...

Leela Desai Leela Desai, aka Lila Desai, was an Indian actress in the 1930s and 1940s. She was the daughter of Umedram Lalbhai Desai and his second wife Satyabala Devi, a musician of the early 1900s. Desai was born in Newark, New Jersey when her paren ...

, K. C. Dey and

Kidar Sharma Kidar Nath Sharma, also Kedar Sharma (12 April 1910 – 29 April 1999), was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, and Lyricist of Hindi films. While he had great success as a director of such movies as '' Neel Kamal'' (1947), ''Bawre N ...

. The music was by

R. C. Boral Rai Chand Boral (19 October 1903 – 25 November 1981) was an Indian composer, considered by music connoisseurs to be the Bhishma Pitamah, the father of film music in India. He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in Ind ...

and lyrics by Kidar Sharma. Debaki Bose and

Qazi Nazrul Islam , pseudonym = bn, ধূমকেতু, Dhūmketu , image = Nazrul.jpg , image_size = , caption = Nazrul in Chittagong, 1926 , birth_date = 11 ''Joiṣṭhyô'', 1306 '' Bônggabdô ...

wrote the story, screenplay and dialogues. The story is about the Maithili poet and

Vaishnava Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

saint Vidyapati. The songs of the film became popular and the lyrics though encapsulating Vidyapati's poetry were considered bold for its time. This however ensured the film garnered crowds at the theatres making it a big success of 1937.

Plot

King Shiva Singha ( Prithviraj Kapoor) and His queen Lakshmi (

) invite the poet Vidyapati (

) to their palace. He arrives with his constant companion Anuradha (

). The queen finds herself getting attracted to Vidyapati’s poetry and falls in love with him. This causes great anguish to the king who in his distress abandons his responsibilities and turns to Anuradha. The troubled Queen decides to kill herself and when the Prime Minister gets to hear of it he encourages her as he feels that Vidyapati’s sensuous bold poetry has had a detrimental effect on the king. The king, in the end, sends for his queen through Anuradha. He notices that she is lying there in the same position and starts crying realizing the queen is dead. Anuradha and Shiva try getting Lakshmi to get up without success.

Production and review

The film is thought to be Debaki Bose’s most adept directorial venture. The tight close-ups helped the narration of the story which focused on the poetry and songs. The films in those days tended to be heroine-centric and though the film was called Vidyapati the main star of the film was Kanan Devi. Her convincing performance became the main support of the film along with a strong script. Prithviraj Kapoor’s performance was rated high 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. ...

, the editor of ''

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 ...

'', while also appreciating the "newcomer" Mohammed Ishaq. He called Debaki Bose’s direction a "fine poem of art" and Bose "truly a great director". The film was used by

Guru Dutt Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone (9 July 1925 – 10 October 1964), better known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer, actor, choreographer, and writer.Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. 9941998''Encyclopedia of India ...

in his film

Kaagaz Ke Phool ''Kaagaz Ke Phool'' () is a 1959 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film produced and directed by Guru Dutt, who also played the lead role in the film along with Waheeda Rehman. It is the first Indian film in CinemaScope and the last film offi ...

(1959) as a tribute to the Studio Era by showing the character Suresh in the balcony of the theatre where Vidyapati is being watched by a packed audience.

Music

The music director R. C. Boral brought in western influences by making use of the organ and piano in his music direction. The impact was successful with popular as well as classic tunes being used and the songs were highly appreciated. The role of Anuradha which Kanan Devi enacted was created by Nazrul Islam. Her songs like "More Angana Mein Aaye Aali" and her duets with K. C. Dey made her the top female singing star on par with

K. L. Saigal Kundan Lal Saigal, often abbreviated as K. L. Saigal (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947), was an Indian singer and actor who is considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry, which was centred in Kolkata during Saigal's time, but is ...

at New Theatres. Kidar Sharma left New Theatres following differences between him and Debaki Bose but not before making a tremendous name for himself following his lyrics in

Devdas ''Devdas'' ( bn, দেবদাস, transliterated as ''Debdās'') is a Bengali romance novel written by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee. The story pivots a tragic triangle linking Devdas, an archetypal lover in viraha (separation); Paro, his forbidd ...

(1935) and Vidyapati.Ganesh, p. 101

Songs

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id =0028626 , title =Vidyapati
''Vidyapati''
at indiancine.ma 1937 films 1930s Hindi-language films Articles containing video clips Indian black-and-white films Indian biographical drama films 1930s biographical drama films 1937 drama films