{"id":8731,"date":"2024-08-18T07:51:48","date_gmt":"2024-08-18T02:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=8731"},"modified":"2024-08-18T09:35:34","modified_gmt":"2024-08-18T04:05:34","slug":"asit-sen-the-director-who-became-an-unforgettable-comedian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/asit-sen-the-director-who-became-an-unforgettable-comedian\/","title":{"rendered":"Asit Sen: The Director Who Became an Unforgettable Comedian"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Asit

Asit Sen and Tarun Bose in Bimal Roy’s Sujata<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

It all started with M N Sardana’s hearty compliments for the translated excerpt on the making of MAA<\/em><\/a><\/strong> from Eka Naukar Jatri\/ Journey of a Solitary Boat<\/em>, the autobiography of my father, Nabendu Ghosh. At the same time I compliment him on his astute observation about Asit Sen. Quite right Mr Sardana \u2014 he was indeed the closest associate of the legendary director Bimal Roy. Here’s Mr Sardana’s comment:<\/p>\n

“My profound thanks to respected Ratnottamma Sengupta Ma’am & Antara Ji for sharing the priceless episode from the autobiography of great writer Shri Nabebdu Ghosh. Translation from Bangla is so flawless & so smooth and looks like original. Please bear with me for my observation. It is commonly believed that Mr Hrishkesh Mukherjee was the closest associate of Mr Bimal Roy, but in my humble opinion it was Mr Asit Sen. An exceptionally good director. Many decades ago I watched a free show of Parivar<\/em> at a cinema hall in Chittaranjan during Pooja festival. It was such a breezy family movie, which mesmerized me and still I watch it on YouTube. Iconic Apradhi Kaun<\/em> is my favorite movie, deftly directed by Mr Asit Sen. As director he could have given so much, to enrich our cinema, but sadly he chose an easy way and became a comedian. Hindi films gained a fine comedian, but in the bargain it lost a great director. His comedy was gentle, clean and amusing , but later it became monotonous & repetitious.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Asit Kaku \u2014 as I have always addressed him ever since I gathered memory \u2014 was born the same year as Baba, in 1917. Being from Gorakhpur, he was proficient in Hindi. In fact, in my younger years, I remember him writing for Hindi magazines, just as I remember seeing some tantalizing photos clicked by him.\u00a0Yes, photography was his profession, but command over Hindi was his strength when he joined New Theatres, which used to produce films in Hindi and Bengali simultaneously. In Pehla Aadmi<\/em> (1950) Asit Kaku was chief assistant to Bimal Roy<\/a> (Bimal Jethu* to me) whose Hindi was not his strongest point.<\/p>\n

\"Asit

Asit Sen<\/p><\/div>\n

Asit Kaku had risen from the rank of a fourth assistant who had to sound the clapboard at the start of a Take, keep notes, maintain continuity, arrive before everyone and leave after the last man. In Pehla Aadmi<\/em> he acted in certain scenes just as he had in Jethu’s earlier, Bengali film Anjangarh<\/em> (1948) \u2014 and in two films directed by Kartick Chatterjee, Ramer Sumati<\/em> (1947) and its Hindi version Chhota Bhai<\/em> (1949). They were all made under the banner of New Theatres.<\/p>\n

Bimal Roy had a penchant for casting some of his team members in small roles, as side characters<\/a> who built up the ambience and grounded the main characters in reality. That is how Asit Sen was subsequently seen in Maa<\/em> (1952), Sujata<\/em> (1958), Bandini<\/em> (1964) while Nabendu Ghosh was seen as the Kulfiwala in Do Bigha Zamin<\/em> (1953), and in the birthday scene of Sujata<\/em>. Hrishikesh Mukherjee picked up this trait and in Majhli Didi<\/em> (1968) he cast Asit Kaku as the public prosecutor while Baba, who had scripted the Sarat Chandra novel, was cast in a memorable cameo as the Defendant lawyer.<\/p>\n

By this time, Asit Sen was well established as a comedian. What was his forte? Not merely his girth but the thin, high-pitched voice that was a contrast to his robust appearance. He modulated it well and yet, as Sardana Ji puts it, after a while it became predictable. Being typecast is the price one pays for popularity, I guess. And still, he was memorable in his double role as Sevak in Bimal Roy Pictures’ (BRP) Do Dooni Char<\/em> (1968), directed by Debu Sen who was assistant to Bimal Roy when the legend passed away.<\/p>\n

\"do

Kishore Kumar as Sandip and Asit Sen as Sevak in their double roles in Do Dooni Char<\/em> (1968)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

This was another remarkable feature: BRP gave a platform to Jethu’s assistants. That is how, after 13 years of association, Asit Kaku directed the two films mentioned by Sardana – Parivar<\/em>\u00a0(1956) and Apradhi Kaun\u00a0<\/em>(1957). But what gave rise to the ‘comedy of errors’ with his namesake (the other Asit Sen<\/a> who directed Mamta<\/em> (1966), Anokhi Raat<\/em> (1968), Khamoshi<\/em> (1969), Safar<\/em> (1970), and Sharafat<\/em> (1970) among others) was the fact that the title cards of Parivar<\/em> (1956) and Apradhi Kaun<\/em> (1957) also give his name as Asit Sen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Asit

Title cards of Parivar<\/em> (1956) and Apradhi Kaun<\/em> (1957) give his name as Asit Sen<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

And the fact that he was closer to the master filmmaker is clear from the fact that Bimal Roy Productions offered Asit Kaku a platform to turn director. Other than him this gesture was enjoyed only by Arabind Sen \u2014 a first cousin of Bina Jethima. Hrishikesh Mukherjee<\/a> himself produced Musafir<\/em> (1956), which marked his directorial debut.\u00a0The first film he directed for BRP was Chaitali<\/em> (1975), made a decade after Bimal Roy had travelled into eternity.<\/p>\n

Jaa tose nahin<\/strong><\/em> (Parviar<\/em>, 1956) Salil Chowdhury \/ Shailendra \/ Lata Mangeshkar and Manna Dey<\/span><\/p>\n