Stree (1972 film)

Stree is a 1972 Indian Bengali language romantic action film directed by Salil Dutta. The film is based on the novel of Bimal Mitra by the same title and the era of the plot showing during the Second World War.^[1] Produced by Baby June Productions marking their second venture, it stars Uttam Kumar, Soumitra Chatterjee and Arati Bhattacharya in lead roles.^[2] The soundtrack of the film was composed by Nachiketa Ghosh,^[3] with the lyrics penned by Gauriprasanna Mazumder and Pulak Bandyopadhyay.

Stree
Directed by	Salil Dutta
Written by	Bimal Mitra
Screenplay by	Salil Dutta
Based on	Stree by Bimal Mitra
Produced by	Pradyot Kumar Basu
Starring	Uttam Kumar Soumitra Chatterjee Arati Bhattacharya
Cinematography	Bijoy Ghosh
Edited by	Amiyo Mukhopadhyay
Music by	Nachiketa Ghosh
Production company	Baby June Production
Distributed by	S. B. Films
Release date	18 August 1972 (1972-08-18)
Running time	141 minutes
Country	India
Language	Bengali

The film showed Uttam's other the best performance and clash with Soumitra. The film became a blockbuster hit at the box office. The films was dominated at the BFJA Award 1973 and goes to win seven awards. It was later remade in Hindi in 1982 as Ayaash starring Sanjeev Kumar, Arun Govil and Rati Agnihotri in lead roles.

Plot

Sitapati (Soumitra Chatterjee), a homeless youth, comes to landlord Madhav Dutta's (Uttam Kumar) house and gets a job as his cameraman. Sitapati discovers his former girlfriend Mrinmoyee (Arati Bhattacharya) is now Madhav Dutta's wife. Madhav's polygamy and Mirnmoyee's loneliness prompt her extramarital relationship with Sitapati. Baiji dance and alcoholism, love, betrayal, hatred - Sitapati's lens captures it all. Finally, Sitapati leaves the house, Mrinmoyee dies, and gradually Madhav learns about their relationship. Madhav cannot bear the fact that his wife has committed adultery. He goes to take revenge and shoots Sitapati who is already dead, then becomes mad and shoots himself.^[4]

Cast

• Uttam Kumar as Madhab Dutta (Zamindar)^[5]
• Soumitra Chatterjee as Sitapati
• Arati Bhattacharya as Madhab Dutta's Wife
• Bhanu Bandyopadhyay
• Jahor Roy as Gobardhan Choudhury
• Tarun Kumar as Sitapati's Brother-in-law
• Subrata Chattopadhyay as Sitapati's Sister
• Sulata Chowdhury as Maid Servant
• Moni Srimani
• Amarnath Mukhopadhyay as Lawyer
• Ashok Mitra
• Rasaraj Chakraborty
• Parijat Bose
• Ajay Bandyopadhyay
• Kalyani Ghosh
• Arindam Ganguly
• Jhuma Mukhopadhyay

Soundtrack

Stree
Soundtrack album by Nachiketa Ghosh
Released	1972
Recorded	1971
Studio	Baby June Production
Genre	Feature Film Soundtrack
Length	0:16:01
Label	SA RE GA MA
Producer	Pradyat Kumar Basu
Nachiketa Ghosh chronology
Notun Diner Alo (1972) Stree (1972) Agnibhramar (1973)

Songs

No.	Title	Playback	Length
1.	"Khirki Theke Singhaduar"	Hemanta Mukherjee	3:30
2.	"Hazar Takar Jharbatita"	Manna Dey and Hemanta Mukherjee	3:24
3.	"Jemon Sapinike Posh Manay Ojha"	Manna Dey	3:10
4.	"Sakshi Thakuk Jhora Pata"	Hemanta Mukherjee	3:14
5.	"Sakhi Kalo Amar Bhalo"	Manna Dey and Hemanta Mukherjee
Total length:			16:01

All lyrics are written by Gouri Prasanna Majumdar and Pulak Banerjee; all music is composed by Nachiketa Ghosh. The song Hazar Takar Jharbatita become huge hit.

Reception

The Times of India wrote "Stree, one of the finest works of Uttam Kumar, reminds us that icons like him are rare. Uttam Kumar stepped out of his romantic image and tried something just the opposite. A drunkard Bengali zamindar without any sense of chastity – he was unrecognizable in this negative character. Yet he bamboozled everyone with this persona. Even critics admitted only Uttam Kumar can do this. The Uttam-Soumitra movie remains a classic one and Uttam's dialogues still haunt us.^[6] The film become blockbuster at the box office and ran for 24 weeks in the theaters.

Awards

BFJA Awards (1973)^[7]

• BFJA Best Actor - Uttam Kumar
• BFJA Best Actor In a Supporting Role - Soumitra Chatterjee
• BFJA Award Best Dialogue - Salil Dutta
• BFJA Award Best Lyrics - Pulak Bandopadhyay
• BFJA Award Best Music Direction - Nachiketa Ghosh
• BFJA Award Best Playback Singer (Male) - Manna Dey

Remake

The film was remade in Hindi in 1982 as Ayaash directed and produced by Shakti Samanta and starring Sanjeev Kumar in lead.

References

1. Stree, retrieved 2 August 2022
2. "'Sanyasi Raja' - Bengali films that proved Uttam Kumar was not just a romantic matinee idol". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
3. "Stree". Gomolo. Archived from the original on 6 March 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
4. "Stree (1972) - IMDb". IMDb.
5. "স্ত্রী (Film): Reviews, Ratings, Cast and Crew - Rate Your Music".
6. "'Stree - Bengali films that proved Uttam Kumar was not just a romantic matinee idol". The Times of India. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
7. "The Wayback Machine has not archived that URL". Retrieved 20 July 2023.^{[dead link‍]}