Anil Ganguly

Anil Ganguly Biography

Anil Ganguly is a noted film maker of Bollywood who was most active during 1970’s and 1980’s. He is best remembered for the female oriented classic hits, Kora Kagaz (1974) and Tapasya (1975). Both the movies fetched Filmfare award for best actress for its leading actresses, Jaya Bhaduri and Raakhee Gulzar respectively and National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Saaheb (1985) starring Anil Kapoor and Amrita Singh, Parineeta (1976), Trishna (1978), Humkadam (1980) and Khandaan (1979) are other noted works. In the 1980’s, he made several hit movies with actor Mithun Chakraborty who was the leading star in the mid-1980’s. Noted actress Rupali Ganguly, known for television roles, Sanjivani and Sarabhai VS Sarabhai is his daughter.

Anil Ganguly, of Bengali origin started his career as an assistant director in Bollywood in the early 1960’s. He worked as an assistant director for the noted movies like Half ticket (1962) and Bheegi Raat (1965). During his early career, Anil Ganguly chose women oriented, old Bengali classic stories and novels to make films. The highly acclaimed Kora Kaagaz (1974) starring Vijay Anand and Jaya Bhaduri was his big break as a Bollywood director. The movie is noted for the excellent performance of Jaya Bhaduri as well as its music. The movie was inspired from Ashutosh Mukhopadhyay's story "Saat Paake Bandha" and had already made in Bengali. In the Bengali version, the heroine keeps waiting for her hero to return back. The director didn’t want to give an anti-climax to the movie. So, he ended the movie with a happy note.

He repeated the success with his next movie, Tapasya for Rajshree Film Productions. He made several popular family dramas in the 1970’s. But he lost somewhere when he tried to make masala flicks in the 1980’s.  

He died on 15 January 2016 at the age of 82.

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Updated: February 21, 2016