Bengali filmmaker Pashupati Chatterjee mentions in his series of articles, titled Otiter Album (Album of the Past), that there were few pioneer directors from Bengal, much before Satyajit Ray, who elevated Indian cinema to be on a par with that of the world. However, the works of art they left behind supplied referential inspiration to the likes of Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak and contributed to the parallel cinema movement of 1950s.
Among these, Renaissance man Modhu Bose stands out. The filmmaker was born on 12 Feburary 1900 at 63 Dharmatala Street, Kolkata. His mother Kamala Dutt was an eminent educator who founded the Kamala Girls School at Ballygunge and his father Pramatha Nath Basu was a geologist and palaeontologist who first discovered iron deposits in Jamshedpur, much before Jamshedji Tata dreamt of transforming the city into an industrial hub.
Modhu Bose received his elementary education from Brahmacharya Balok Bidyaloy in Bolpur, Shantiniketan, after a stint in Darjeeling.
But before the play could be staged, his father was transferred and he had to leave Shantiniketan for Ranchi. The family moved around the country often, which brought Bose in contact with people from different classes and castes.
He scored himself an internship with Austen for a monthly stipend of Rs 200. He diligently handled everything from production to marketing for Light of Asia, which went on to be a moderate hit.
With Himashu Rai’s intervention, Bose’s hard work was recognised and he was invited to Emelka Studio in Munich, Germany (one of the leading studios at the time) where he learned how to use handheld Pathe cameras, film development and editing. Soon after, he had the chance to meet Alfred Hitchcock and became the first filmmaker from India to work closely with a director in a major Hollywood set-up.
A sudden illness forced Modhu Bose to return to India. He began to concentrate solely on theatre and staged Prahlad at, which was written by his mother Kamla Dutt, at the Globe Theatre on 7 January 1927. Alibaba was staged at the Roxy in Kolkata the following year and was later turned into a major motion picture. Bose also served as assistant to Franz Austen on his second production in India, Throw of a Dice.
Modhu Bose’s Giribala, based on Tagore’s Manbhonjon, found praise from a major daily which stated that “despite production drawbacks for films in our country, one could not have imagined how lighting for film can be perfected.”
Acclaimed actor-director Utpal Dutt credits his success in part to Bose. He agreed in an interview that it was during the time he played the role of Michael Modhusudhan Dutt in Michael Modhusudhan when he understood the difference between acting for film and on stage. “If anyone is to be praised for Michael Modhusudhan, it is Modhu Bose, not me,” he said.
On his 119th birth anniversary, let us offer Bose the recognition he deserves as one of the pioneers upon whose work the foundation of Indian cinema is built.
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