Basanta Choudhury

Basanta Choudhury (or Chowdhury; 5 May 1928 – 20 June 2000) was an Indian actor in Bengali and Hindi films. He worked with directors Asit Sen, Rajen Tarafdar, Ajay Kar and Bijay Bose, often in leading roles.[1] He is a former Sheriff of Kolkata.

Basanta Chowdhury
Basanta Chowdhury
Born(1928-05-05)May 5, 1928
Nagpur, Bombay Province, British India
Died20 June 2000 (2000-06-21) (aged 72)
Calcutta, India
NationalityIndian
EducationDeena Nath High School Nagpur
OccupationActor, film producer
Years active1952–1993 (41 years)
Spouse(s)Aloka Chowdhury
Children2
AwardsBest Actor Prize for his film "Raja Rammohan" by B.F.J.A, Bangla Stage Centenary Star Theater award.
HonoursSheriff of Kolkata, Chairman of Nandan-West Bengal Film Center.

Choudhury's collection of Kashmiri and Persian shawls were enviable. Director Satyajit Ray admired those collections and used for his masterpieces.

Birth and childhood

Basanta Chowdhury was born into an affluent Datta Chowdhury family of Andul, Howrah.[2] In the circa year of 1886 AD, his great-great forefather Apurba Krishna Dutta Chaudhuri discontinued with the surname 'Dutta' and moved from his ancestral place Andul to Nagpur to practice Law. He later became the Law Lecturer in the Morris College (the present-day Vasantrao Naik Government Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (VNGIASS)). His son was Phani Bhusan Chaudhuri, whose son Shiddhish Chandra Chowdhury. Shiddhish and Kamala Devi had two sons - Basanta & Prashanta. Both of them grew up in Nagpur. Basanta graduated from Morris college. In 1945 AD he completed his Matriculation Examination from Deena Nath High School Nagpur.After shifting to Kolkata, Chowdhury used to stay at Ranikuthi in Tollygunge.[3]

He was a numismatist i.e. an expert collector of Ganesha idols, rare coins, paper currency and was a collector of Kashmiri and Persian shawls.[4]

Career
Basanta Chowdhury receiving Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Actor Award from then Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi in1966 CE for the movie 'Raja Rammohan'.

His first film was Mahaprasthaner Pathe by director Kartik Chattopadhay in 1952. Some of his memorable films are, Bhagaban Shri Krishna Chaitanya, Jadu Bhatta, Andhare Alo, Deep Jwele Jaai with Suchitra Sen, Anushtoop Chhanda, Abhaya O Srikanta, Raja Rammohan Roy, Diba Ratrir Kabya, Devi Chaudhurani. He was also involved with amateur theater and radio.

Filmography
Basanta Chowdhury (left) and Uttam Kumar (right) together sharing a screen in an event.

Awards

In 1965, actor Chowdhury was awarded the Best Actor Prize for his film "Raja Rammohan" by B.F.J.A. In 1996, he also received Bangla Stage Centenary Star Theater award from Calcutta University. He had also acted in several Hindi films.

The actor had been the Sheriff of Kolkata. He was also appointed as the Chairman of Nandan-West Bengal Film Centre in Kolkata.

Death

The actor suffered from lung cancer for quite some time. He died on 20 June 2000 in Kolkata.[5]

References
  1. "Films from the heart". The Hindu. 3 September 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  2. আবসার, নুরুল. "আন্দুল রাজবাড়িকে ঘিরে জাদুঘরের ভাবনা - Anandabazar". Anandabazar Patrika (in Bengali). Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  3. "রাগ বসন্ত". Anandabazar Patrika (in Bengali). Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  4. "6 best films of Basanta Choudhury - a sophisticated actor almost forgotten| Half Samosa". Half Samosa. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  5. http://pib.nic.in/archive/releases98/lyr2000/rjun2000/r21062000.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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