Raja Mitra (17 January 1945 – 20 December 2024) was an Indian film director and music director who mainly worked in Bengali cinema.[1] His first feature film, Ekti Jiban,[2] won the National Award for Best Debut Film of a Director in 1987 at the 35th National Awards.[3] He received a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) for "a very courageous first attempt of a director in tackling the subject of an individual unwavering in his conviction in the cultural value of his language and singlehandedly making available its enriching value to the generation of his people who will come after him".[4]
Early life and education
Raja Mitra was born in Calcutta. He graduated from the University of Calcutta in 1967.[5] Mitra was associated with several literary and film journals. He assisted Goutam Ghose in the period of 1978-80.[5]
Career
Beginning his career as a documentary and short filmmaker in 1978, Raja Mitra switched to feature films with Ekti Jiban[6] which in 1988 won him the Indira Gandhi National Award for the Best Film of a Director. It also won him the P.C. Barua award.[7] He directed 32 documentary films, including Coal for the Masses, Economy of HS Oil in Railways, Calcutta Footpath Dweller, The Tribal Resistance, Calcutta, Past and Present, Scroll Painters of Birbhum, Towards a Global Breakthrough, Jiban Patua, Ashray, Vidyasagar, Beyond a Head Count, Kalighat Paintings and Drawings, Mural Paintings of Orissa, Nachni, Ananda Yatra, Mobile Motif - A Journey from Regional to National, and The Enchanted Desk.
Mitra served as a member of the jury in the International Film Festival of India in 1989, the National Film Festival in 1992, and the selection panel for the Indian Panorama in 1990 and many a time. He has also been recognized by the Encyclopedia Britannica as an acclaimed filmmaker.
^"PIB Press Releases". 19 March 2012. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
