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Tue Jan 22 18:01:32 IST 2008
10. Chupi Chupi Aasey (1960).
"Patterned after the 'whodunit' kind of murder mystery on the lines of the West, Aurora Film Corporation's latest production ' Chupi Chupi Aasey' depends for its suspense value on the bluffing identity of a murderer who is out to kill a number of people by way of revenge for wrongs committed in the past." (Amrita Bazar Patrika, 01.07.1960). The film did not run well. 'Amrita Bazar Patrika' indicated that the film was comparatively poor in both direction and technical values. 'Hindustan Standard' also added (01. 07.1960): "In minor details, however, he (director) reveals extreme carelessness. He has also packed the proceedings with too much dialogue which has considerably slowed down the film's tempo - a vital falling in a crime drama."
11. Bhagini Nivedita (1962).
This film was based on the life story of Sister Nivedita, the foreign lady who dedicated her life to the cause of India. But interestingly, Bijoy Bose, who made his directorial debut in this film, assembled several events chronologically to form a linear narrative rather than to make it a drama. This exercise offered such a dramatic experience, which was a rare occurrence in Bengali cinema. "The early life of Margaret Noble, her search for truth, her youthful love which was lost due to the accidental death of her lover, her meeting with Swami Vivekananda, the great awakening in her, her coming to India, the re-christening of her name as 'Nivedita' by Swamiji, the dedication of her life to the education of Indian women, her direct connection with the death defying revolutionaries of Bengal, her talking up the editorship of the organ of the revolutionaries after the sudden disappearance of Aurobindo Ghosh, the writing of the book 'The Master As I Saw Him' even in shattered health, and then her death in Darjeeling in the presence of Jagadish Chandra Bose (later Sir J.C.Bose) have all been beautifully depicted by director Bijoy Bose. Bhagini Nivedita is a biographical film which uses religion, social work and the rise and spread of the revolution of backdrops." (Sport & Pastime, 17.03.1962). "It is the film of a profoundly authentic manifestation of a particular faith, which became universal, of a period which is the richest in the history, of a life which served man and God through her work." (Cine Advance, 23.03.1962).
To establish the spatial reality in outdoor sequence, Aurora did an England tour to for its location shooting. Like the film, its producers were highly appreciated too. "At a time when unconventional cinema is smashing many traditions and the conventional cinema is making a desperate attempt to cling at the box office with the help of a routine story and stars in demand, Aurora Film Corporation's Bhagini Nivedita has come out as one of those rare films that educate the mind of a nation and, at the same time, gives a new stature to film entertainment. It is a type of moving, emotional and highly dramatic motion picture which silences criticism and evokes spontaneous admiration and unprejudiced praise." (Sport & Pastime, 17.03.1962). "The best point about this fascinating film is that it does not indulge in exaggerations. Everything is presented on the screen in its correct setting, and proper care has been exercised in selecting the locales and its characters." (Hindustan Standard, 23.02.1962).
The film got a huge acceptance among the audience. It ran continuous 119 days in 'Radha' (North Calcutta) and in 'Purna' (South Calcutta) cinema hall at its first release. 'Bhagini Nivedita' got the national award as the best film of that year. It was also selected for entry in the 23rd International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art in Venice in 1962.
12. Radhakrishna (1964).
This mythological film narrating the immortal love story of Radha-Krishna was the next film of Aurora. Though the film was started with the sequence of 'Kaliya Daman', yet it mainly highlighted the different activities of Krishna as a lover boy and to build up an amorous relationship between Radha and Krishna was its ultimate desire. The director Ardhendu Mukhopadhyay treated the film as a musical, supported by forty songs of traditional style, and experimented with two newcomers in the role of central protagonists. The film did not run well. 'Hindustan Standard' analyzed (24.07.1964): "The Radha-Krishna love saga has been brought down to the level of adolescent romping of roadside Romeos in this indifferent film from Aurora, once the pioneer among producers. The main trouble with it is its failure to create a proper setting for this romantic spree of Gods." 'Amrita Bazar Patrika' also wrote (24.07.1964): "Both the leading players - Uttar Banerjee (Krishna) and Sanchita Banerjee (Radha) - fail to impress owing mainly to their inexperience. The banal nature of the dialogue that they have mouth also adds to their difficulty."
13. Raja Rammohan (1965).
The immense success of its earlier film 'Bhagini Nivedita' inspired Aurora to produce another biographical film based on the life and work of Raja Rammohan Roy, an epoch making personality who is acknowledged to be among the makers of modern India. From a business point of view, this film was the most successful production of Aurora. It ran continuous 133 days in 'Sree' (North Calcutta) and in 'Indira' (South Calcutta) cinema hall, at its first release. Station ledger indicates that Aurora earned (up to 29.12.1975) a total amount of Rs.7,80,377 and 32p. from 35mm print and Rs.3,308 and 25p. from 16 mm prints.
The film got a good praise in every review, especially in 'Ananda Bazar Patrika', Mr. Prafulya Sen, the honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal of that time, addressed to all youth to see the film. It was the first Bengali film to get exemption from the amusement tax. The film also got the honour of 'Certificate of Merit' for standing third among the Bengali films of that year.
14. Arogya Niketan (1969).
Based on Tarashankar Bandopadhyay's epic size story, Arogya Niketan was another national award wining film of Aurora. The basic premise of the text was a conflict between tradition and modernity defining an ideological clash between an old 'kaviraj', the last stalwart of a decadent system of indigenous medicine, and his grandson, a practitioner of allopathic medicine, and more interestingly, these two generations of the same family were unknown to each other due to a separation and generation gap.
Though 'The Statesman' published an unsatisfied note regarding the cinematic transformation from the original text, but most of the other newspapers acknowledged the film as a good one, specially the exceptional performance of Bikash Roy in the central role. Indeed, the film ran good, 11 weeks in 'Minar' (North Calcutta), 'Bijoli' (South Calcutta) and 'Chabighar' (Central Calcutta) cinema hall, at its first release.
15. Duranta Joy (1973).
Aurora's last and the most failure effort of feature film production was Duranta Joy, another experiment of director Ardhendu Mukhopadhyay with two newcomers in the central role. This film flopped so badly that Aurora itself did not keep any record in station ledger.
B) Distribution.
Apart from its own productions, Aurora distributed few films of other companies also. Unlike earlier phases, in Post Independence era, Aurora distributed only Bengali films, and specially a bunch of parallel cinema like, 'Pather Panchali', 'Aparajito', 'Parash Pathar', 'Ajantrik' etc. If distribution sector was the major financial source of movie business, then why Aurora did not distribute any star studded movie which usually returns more? Was it a strategy to explore the alternative market of Bengali cinema, - or an effort to continue the cultural heritage of a traditional institution through a straightway negation of cheap cinematographic representation of modernity? As 'Amrita Bazar Patrika' wrote (02.02.1970): "That with all the temptation of making peppy, sex oriented films some producers should still be drawn producing idealistic and purposeful pictures is a standing compliment to those few in Bengal alone. Aurora Film Corporation has been steadily and noticeably following the tradition of producing pictures that just can not be lost in the melee of glamour coated but dirt cheap money-spinners.", or according to 'Cine Advance' (01.03.1962): "The Elephant (New Theatres Ltd.) is dead and M.P. Studios have closed down their doors
The institution which is still there to make worthwhile nation pictures is the Aurora Film Corporation."
Being a purely business organization, however it was not right for Aurora to ignore the mainstream movie business. As a result, Aurora had to stop both, production and distribution of feature films. Aurora's last feature film 'Duranta Joy' was produced in 1973 and last distribution of a new film was 'Moyna Tadanta' in 1982. Then Aurora stepped into its next phase. By hiring the studio premise, by making commissioned projects and by distributing those old feature films, Aurora still exists.
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