GITA DEY -- Transition from a child star to character artiste

At a time when there is such an appaling paucity of acting talent in Tollygunge, one has to fall back on stars of yesteryears to know more about the glowing past of Bengali cinema. Nearing 70 years, Gita Dey is currently holed up in a shabby quarter at 5 Wards Institution Street (Manicktala) in North Calcutta. I had to grope about in the dark while trying to negotiate a steep flight of stairs leading upto her bedroom where this interview for SCREEN took place.

The state in which she is living now is not a happy commentary of her contribution as an artiste, who has been associated with the Tollygunge film industry since 1938. Born in 1931, Gita Dey started her career as a child artiste since the age of six. In those days, she was residing at Darjipara (North Calcutta). Her father Anadi Bandhu Mitra was a medical practitioner who encouraged the young Gita to be trained under Radharani Debi, the actress-singer who stayed in the same locality.

She learnt dancing, acting and singing which ultimately paved the way to a career in films and the theatre. The year 1937 marked Gita Dey’s maiden venture as a child artiste in the Bengali film Ahutee directed by Dhiren Ganguly. This was followed by Dampati directed by Niren Lahiri and Nandita directed by Sukumar Dasgupta.

She acted in both the theatre and cinema right up to the age of 14. Her marriage at the age of 15 to Ashim Kumar Dey, a businessman at Taltala, stalled her acting career for a while. After five years of marital bliss, she returned to the world of show biz. She came in touch with the veteran of the Bengali stage Sisir Bhaduri. He took the young star under his fold.

Her actress friend Jharna Debi who played heroine roles in the theatre, had introduced the young Gita Dey to the thespian. After Jharna left, Gita Dey took over as heroine and during her training period, worked with directors like Naresh Mitra and Ahin Chowdhury. For 5 years, she worked under Sisir Bhaduri in whose plays she exhibited her singing and dancing talent.

“Sisir Bhaduri was my guru and brought out all the best qualities in me as an actress,” she confides. In the Group Theatre, Gita worked with directors like Gyanesh Mukherjee, Tulsi Lahiri, Shombhu Mitra, Tulsi Chakravorty, Kali Sarkar, Kanu Bandhopadhya and Dilip Roy.

Since 1956, Gita Dey was associated with the now moribund Star Theatre for 18 years working as an actress under Debnarayan Gupta. She worked for them till 1971. In 1976, Gita Dey arrived at Kashi Biswanath Mancha and acted in the Bengali play Aghotan directed by Gyanesh Mukherjee, Samaresh Bose’s Bibar directed by the late comedian Robi Ghosh. The actress worked for them for one year in the role of a mother.

The last play she acted in was Badsahi Chaal in 1996 directed by Ganesh Mukherjee staged at Ragana in North Calcutta. Gita Dey’s contribution in the film as an actress was no less. She returned to Bengali cinema in 1951 with Shilpi, directed by Agragami. Not having the looks to fit into romantic roles, Gita Dey shifted doing character role.

She expresses her gratitude to Satyen Ghoshal for introducing her into films. Shilpi was followed by Lalu Bhulu, directed by Agradoot in which she played the role of a mother. Biyer Khata directed by Nirmal De offered her the role of a sister, while the Uttam Kumar, Mala Sinha starrer Sathihara saw Gita Dey in the role of a side heroine.

In 1956, came the big break when Gita Dey was introduced to Ritwick Ghatak by actor Kali Banerjee. Ghatak was shooting Kata Angarey’ and selected her after slight hesitation but, after she proved her mettle as an actress, the director started casting her in some of his other films as well. These include Meghey Dhaka Tara (1957), Komal Gandhar (1959) and Subarnarekha (1960) in the roles of a mother and an actress belonging to the group theatre.

Talking about her experience working with Ritwick Ghatak, Gita Dey says: “I have never come across a great director like Ghatak, the way he handled the camera and the masterly shots. He had a number of films in mind for me to play the kind of roles he wanted but somehow these projects had to bne shelved half way as the producers backed out at the last minute. He would extract the best in me as an actress.”’

In 1960, Chhabi Biswas along with Kamala Gupta and Sushil Dasgupta recommended her name to the producer of the Bengali film Daini (Witch) directed by Manoj Bhattacharia, the only film in which the actress played the lead role.

This was followed by films by two well-known directors, Debaki Kumar Bose’s Sagar Sangramey and Satyajit Ray’s Teen Kanya. In the latter film’s last story Samapti, she was Aparna Sen’s mother.

She states: “After working in Teen Kanya, I derived full satisfaction as an actress as working with Manick-da was such a pleasure. He had seen some of my earlier performances to merit me with this role.”

With Tapan Sinha, she has worked in such films as Haatey Baajarey, Jotugriha and Ekhonee. While with Ajoy Kar, in acted in such classics as Saat Paakey Bandha, Nauka Dubi (Shipwreck) and Malyadaan. There were other films as well such as Abhaya Srikanto directed by Haridas Bhattacharia (Kanan Devi’s husband)), Jaya directed by Chitta Basu, Aurobindu Mukherjee’s Nishipada, Dui Bhai, Ahoban, Barnochora, Pita Putro,Mouchaki and other directors such as Tarun Majumdar, Anjan Chowdhury and Haranath Chakravorty.

Gita Dey has worked practically with most of the mainstream and off-beat directors of Bengal except Mrinal Sen, Rajen Tarafdar and Mangal Chakravorty. Her long association with All India Radio (AIR) since 1954 came in the shape of her regular assignment as actress in radio plays with which she is involved todate. That includes several recordings with HMV.

In a career spanning more than six decades, she has acted in 200 Bengali films and two to three thousand plays in Calcutta as well as in the state of West Bengal. Despite this the aging actress did not receive the recognition she deserved.

“I have received no awards but my audience is more than what any award can give. Awards are secondary to what I owe to my teachers and audience.” She dismisses this as something to which she would not give a second thought. Yet, the actress admits that she has received only one award by Ajkal Television for her performance in a teleserial Subarnalata directed by Raja Sen in 1987 for her role as the mother-in-law.

While on the topic of the small measure of recognition the actress has received, one such has come her way in the shape of a certificate of honour from the Central Government presented by the Radio Station Director Amit Chakravorty. In 1988, she received from the then West Bengal Governor Narul Hasan, a star medal on behalf of the Calcutta University for her life time performances in two decades, arranged by Debnarayan Gupta.

Only recently, yesteryear Tollywood star Sabitri Chatterjee received a belated award from the Sangeet Natak Academy (SNA), while Saraju Debi received the award by SNA just before her death and that too a paltry sum of Rs 10,000, she cites. A number of group theatres like Natya Sangoti (1997), Mamata Chatterjee Academy (1998), Kuhak Gosti (1999) and Jogesh Mime Academy supported the actress by way of recognition.

Writer Bonophool, novelists Ashapurna Devi and Mahasweta Debi, film-makers Anjan Chowdhury and Haranath Chakravorty are looking after the actress at her time of distress. What about Bollywood films? Has she made any foray into Hindi films? She has acted in one Bhojpuri film Chotmaya Ki Mahima directed by Tapeshwar Prasad and a bilingual in Hindi and Bengali Krishna Sudama (1980) directed by Kedarnath Agarwal. She was cast opposite Bollywood’s Bharat Bhushan.

In 1962, she got an offer to work in the Hindi film Balidaan scripted by film-maker Ritwick Ghatak and directed by Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala but it was shelved midway. In this film she was supposed to have played Bollywood’s late Sanjeev Kumar’s mother. She had received offers from Bollywood in the 60’s but she had to refuse as she was so involved in the Bengali theatre and cinema at the time.

At present, she has character roles in two tele serials Pheri Ghat and Poshphaguner Pala. Among her recent Bengali feature films are Bhalobashar Chhoa directed by Subhash Sen which was recently released and Anjan Chowhury’s Rakhi Purnima, awaiting release. She also did the dubbing of two aged ladies, matching their vocal timbre and singing style in Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s award-winning Uttara.

The actress has two sons and one daughter and has brought up her sister’s two daughters and got them married. She smiles with a sense of self satisfaction after conducting her maternal duties to her household.


Anit Mukerjea