Ajoy Kar

Ajoy Kar was a known Indian cinematographer and film director. He is also popularly known as the Father of the back projection in Bengali cinema. To pursue his career as a professional photographer, Ajoy left college. Later, he picked up cinematography. In 1935, he graduated as an assistant photographer. He became a chief photographer at Indrapuri Studios in 1938. As a cinematographer, he debuted in Charu Roy’s Pathik in 1939. As an independent director, he debuted in 1951 in Jighansa. In his career as a director, he directed 26 films. One of his films, Saptapadi, was nominated for the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival. His movie, named Malyadan, won the National Film Award for the Best Feature Film in Bengali in 1981. He has shot some of the most memorable films in the history of Bengali films.

The first film he directed was Ananya, in 1949. Bamuner Meye was the first movie for which he received individual directorial credit in 1949. During the 1950s and his early 1960s, he was considered a key figure of mainstream Bengali cinema; he had a string of commercially successful films. A few films of his received attention from fans in a good way, along with critical acclaim. He adapted well-known literary works, especially those by Rabindranath Tagore and Sarat Chandra Chatterjee. He made several films based on them from the late 1960s. He established the Indian Film Laboratory in 1957.

To level up his filmmaking game and interest in the technical aspects, he learned color film technology in the USA in 1976. He has also received numerous awards for directing the best films in Bengali. His lasting impression on the history of Indian cinema made him a legendary director of romances from the golden era.