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Befitting tribute
HE WAS the son of a famous father, all right, but Niranjan Pal was well known in his own right. The son of Bipin Chandra Pal (of the Bal, Pal and Lal fame), Niranjan went to England to be a doctor and finally became a scriptwriter for films.
He was posthumously awarded the National Film Critics Award by the President of India, Mr K.R.Narayanan recently at New Delhi for his autobiography, "Such is Life". The award was received by Melita Malewar, his Chennai-based grand daughter.
Inspired by his great father, Niranjan Pal took part in the freedom struggle, constantly working with several famous freedom fighters, including Veer Sarvarkar.
Niranjan entered the film world in 1931 by joining the Kent Company in London as technical advisor for the silent film, "Khyber Pass". He was soon involved with Dada Saheb Phalke in the making of "Raja Harishchandra". He shot to fame with "Light of Asia", a film on Gautama Buddha with Himanshu Rai playing the lead role. When Himanshu Rai started Bombay Talkies, he invited Niranjan to join him, and he wrote eight scripts including for popular Hindi film "Achhut Kanya." .
Niranjan also directed "Goddess", an English play with an all-Indian cast. He returned to India for good in 1929 and thereafter got involved in film making in Bombay, Lahore and Calcutta. His noteworthy directorial venture was "Sukhtara" (1940) in Bengali. He also made the first Indian newsreel titled "Aurora Screen News" and the first children's film "Hatey Khori" (Bengali).
Niranjan Pal passed away in 1959.
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