Tarun Majumdar

Tarun Majumdar (or Mazumdar; 8 January 1931 – 4 July 2022) was an Indian film director, documentary filmmaker, author, illustrator, and screenwriter known for his work in Bengali cinema. He received five National Film Awards, seven BFJA Awards, five Filmfare Awards, and one Anandalok Award. In 1990, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in the country. Several of his movies were restored and digitized by the National Film Archive of India, along with films by his contemporaries Arabinda Mukhopadhyay and Goutam Ghose. His films Ganadevata (1978), Nimantran (1971), and Palatak (1963) are some of his critically acclaimed films. HE made his directorial debut, alongside Sachin Mukherji and Dilip Mukherji, under the screen name Yatrik, with the 1959 Bengali film Chaowa Pawa, starring Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar in the lead roles.

He received his first National Award for the 1962 Bengali film Kancher Swarga. He received recognition for his directorial ventures such as Palatak (1963), Nimantran (1971), Sansar Simante (1975), and Ganadevata (1978). He received a National Award, a BFJA Award and a Filmfare Award for Nimantran (1971). Ganadevata (1978) earned him a National Award and a Filmfare Award.

His commercially successful films include Balika Badhu (1967), Kuheli (1971), Shriman Prithviraj (1973), Fuleswari (1974), Dadar Kirti (1980), Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985), and Apan Amar Apan (1990).

His former wife, Sandhya Roy, starred in twenty of his films, and Tapas Paul appeared in eight. Moushumi Chatterjee, Mahua Roychoudhury, Ayan Banerjee, Tapas Paul, Abhishek Chatterjee, and Nayna Bandyopadhyay made their film debuts under his direction. He also collaborated with Rajkumar Barjatya, father of director and writer Sooraj Barjatya, on the script of Maine Pyar Kiya.