Gurudas Banerjee

Gurudas Banerjee, also known as Gurudas Bandyopadhyay, is an Indian stage and film actor who was active from the 1940s through the 1980s. As an actor, he commonly played holy men, especially the 19th century Bengali mystic Sri Ramakrishna, a role he was said to "almost monopolize." He acted in more than 80 films, mostly in Bengali. With his wife, actress Molina Devi, he also directed a Calcutta-based theatre troupe, M. G. Enterprises.

Biography

Gurudas Banerjee had his stage debut in 1948 at Calcutta's Kalika Theatre in the role of Sri Ramakrishna in Yugadevata. in which Banerjee played the role of Sri Ramakrishna and other holy men.

Roles Gurudas Banerjee acted in a variety of roles, very commonly as Sri Ramakrishna, which he played on both stage and in film. and was still portraying Ramakrishna in the late-1970s. Sushil Mukherjee explains that the drama Jugadevata, which debuted on the Calcutta stage on 19 November 1948,

was a devotional drama... on the life of the Saint of Dakshineswar Ramakrishna [that] became immensely popular and established two artistes who became wholly identified with the two characters they represented. These were Gurudas Banerjee who was seen as Sri Ramkrishna and Molina Devi who appeared as Rani Rasmoni, the founder of the famous Bhabatarini (Kali) temple at Dakshineswar. Since their appearance in Jugadevata at Kalika in 1948 Gurudas and Molina have appeared in the characters of these two persons in a number of other plays, both on the stage and on the screen.... The Weekly stated that

Milan Samity of Delhi sponsored the M. G. Enterprise of Calcutta, who brought two plays, Thakur Shri Ramakrishna and Baikunther Will, and an able company of actors. The credit for composing Thakur Shri Ramakrishna, round the story of Rani Rashmoni, and for bringing this legendary figure to life on the stage, goes to Molina Devi and Gurudas, who headed the company.... It is not easy to put across a religious theme, but Molina and Gurudas did so convincingly, helped greatly by the telling effects of light and music. Banglar Meye (1941) Swayamsiddha (1947) (Gobinda, Husband Of Chandi) Kalo Chhaya (1948) Ultorath (1949) Paribartan (1949) Mayajaal (1949) Kuasha (1949) Cartoon (1949) Vidyasagar (1950) Sree Tulsidas (1950) Sanchali (1950) Sahodar (1950) Kankantala Light Railway (1950) Jugadebata (1950) Gypsy Meye (1950) Apabad (1950) Ganyer Meye (1951) Bhakta Raghunath (1951) Bhairab Mantra (1951) Anandamath (1951) Vidyasagar (1952, Hindi) Shibashakti (1954) Sada Kalo (1954) Naa (1954) Rani Rasmani (film) (1955) (Sri Ramakrishna ) Katha Kao (1955) Joy Maa Kali Boarding (1955) Chatujye Banrujye (1955) Atmadarshan (1955) Aparadhi (1955) Sajher Pradip (1955) Debatra (1955) Subholagna (1956) Sadhak Ramprasad (1956) Rajpath (1956) Mahakabi Girishchandra (1956) (Sri Ramakrishna Films known to be dubbed versions of other films have not been listed. Any films known to be multilinguals (separately filmed in multiple languages) are explicitly noted as multilinguals.

Year Film title Banerjee Role Film director Notes & Sources(DB=data base) 1950 Jugadebata Sri Ramakrishna Bidhayak Bhattacharya Bengali; Sources: DBs, other 1950 Vidyasagar Sri Ramakrishna Kali Prasad Ghosh Bengali; Sources: DBs, other 1952 Vidyasagar Sri Ramakrishna 1955 Rani Rashmoni Sri Ramakrishna Kali Prasad Ghosh Bengali; Sources: DBs Molina Devi as Rani Rashmoni 1958 Sadhak Bamakhyapa Sadhak Bamakhyapa Banshi Ash Bengali; Sources: DBs 1956 Mahakavi Girish Chandra Sri Ramakrishna Madhu Bose Bengali; Sources: DBs Pahari Sanyal as Girish Chandra Ghosh. The film won a 1956 Certificate of Merit. 1964 Bireswar Vivekananda Sri Ramakrishna Madhu Bose Bengali; Sources: DBs Amaresh Das as Vivekananda 1979 Jata Mat Tata Path (As Many Views, As Many Ways) Sri Ramakrishna Gurudas Bagchi Bengali; Sources: DBs

Theatre roles The following table chronicles Gurudas Banerjee's stage career. It is not complete. Opening date Title Role LocationCalcutta unless otherwise specified Playwright Director Notes and other cast 19 Nov. 1948 Jugadebata Sri Ramakrishna Kalika Theatre Tarak Mukherjee Source; Rungmahal Theatre Saradindu Banerjee Source; Dilip Roy (hero), Lily Chakraverti (heroine)