Today marks the 114th birth anniversary of P.C. Barua, the legendary actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era.
Pramathesh Chandra Barua or P.C. Barua as he was known, was an enigma through his life. He was in many ways a renowned director, actor and screen writer. He was the man who was mostly responsible for the rising fortunes of the New Theatre in the 1930s. P.C. Barua delivered the first cult film of the Indian cinema, Devdas in 1935. It stars Barua himself as Devdas and Jamuna Barua as Parvati and Chandrabati Devi as Chandramukhi. Even today the Devdas cult is popular in Indian cinema.
After Devdas a number of fantastic films followed: Manzil (1936), Mukti (1937), Adhikar (1938), Rajat Jayanti (1939) and Zindagi (1940). In Mukti, Barua played the role of a young artist. It was one of those first films where the songs from Rabindranath Tagore were being played. Adhikar brings forth Barua`s interest with the conflict between tradition and contemporary. Rajat Jayanti displayed to the world Barua`s forte for comic flicks. Zindagi once again brought together Barua and K. L. Saigal. This romantic film deals with lovers living together.
Not only was P.C. Barua a great director but he also wrote his own screenplays. One of the last films of PC Barua is ‘Shesh Uttor’ in 1942. The film was also made in Hindi, titled, ‘Jawab’.
