Amanush (1975 film)
1974 Bengali action film directed by Shakti Samanta / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amanush (English: Inhuman) is a 1974 Indian bilingual action masala film simultaneously shot in Bengali and Hindi languages, produced and directed by Shakti Samanta, under his banner Shakti Films.[1] Based on Shaktipada Rajguru's novel "Naya Basat" which he wrote plotting on Sundarbans, the film stars Uttam Kumar in the titular role, alongside Sharmila Tagore, Utpal Dutt, Anil Chatterjee, Prema Narayan, Manik Dutta, Abhi Bhattacharya, Amarnath Mukherjee and Asit Sen[2] in lead roles, with Shambhu Bhattacharya in a special appearance. The soundtrack and background score was composed by Shyamal Mitra, while the dialogues were written by Prabhat Roy, who was also the assistant director of the film. The film's plot line is simple enough, but it's the complexity of human emotions depicted that makes it a classic. It is a flood that restores faith in boundless human spirit. 'Amanush' that means half human, and half beast to marvel scope of the his trionic capabilities.
Amanush | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Shakti Samanta |
Written by | Shaktipada Rajguru |
Screenplay by | Prabhat Roy (dialogues) Gauriprasanna Mazumder (additional dialogues) Shaktipada Rajguru (screenplay) |
Based on | Naya Basat by Shaktipada Rajguru |
Produced by | Shakti Samanta |
Starring | Uttam Kumar Sharmila Tagore Utpal Dutt Anil Chatterjee Manik Dutta Abhi Bhattacharya Amarnath Mukherjee |
Cinematography | Aloke Dasgupta |
Edited by | Bijoy Chowdhary |
Music by | Shyamal Mitra |
Production company | Shakti Films |
Distributed by | Shakti Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 153 minutes |
Country | India |
Languages | Bengali Hindi |
Released during the auspicious occasion of Durga Puja in 1974, the Bengali version of Amanush became an all time blockbuster at the box office with a long run in theatres consisting of 96 weeks in Bengal and became the highest grossing Bengali film of 1974. On the other hand, the Hindi version released in 1975, after 5 months of its release in Bengal, also declared to be a huge hit and became favourable among the Hindi audiences. In Bengal, the massy avatar of Mahanayak Uttam Kumar in the film achieved immense popularity among the masses and featured many iconic songs by Kishore Kumar like 'Bipinbabur Karansudha' and 'Ki Ashay Baandhi Khelaghar'.[3] After 2 years of Amanush, Shakti Samanta made another bilingual film, Ananda Ashram (1977), collaborating with Uttam Kumar, Sharmila Tagore, Utpal Dutt and Shyamal Mitra for the sceond time, while it failed to attract audiences from the Hindi belt but became an all-time blockbuster at the Bengali box office.[4]
The film was later remade in Telugu as Edureeta (1977), starring N.T. Rama Rao; in Malayalam as Ithaa Oru Manushyan (1978) and in Tamil as Thyagam (1978), starring Sivaji Ganesan.