It's golden jubilee time for some of the best films in history. Let's take a look at some of the films released in 1961. Some legendary films had released this year. It started with Ritwik Ghatak's Komal Gandhar, starring Anil Chattopadhyay, Supriya Debi and Others on 31st March. Satyajit Ray's Teen Kanya released on 5th May starring, Anil Chattopadhyay, Soumitra Chattopadhyay, Aparna Sen and Others. And the Uttam Kumar Starrer Agnisanskar (Director: Agradoot, Released on 14th April), Jhinder Bondi (Director: Tapan Singha, Released on 9th June), Necklace (Director: Dilip Nag, Released on 7th July), Saptapadi (Director: Ajoy Kar, Released on 20th October), Dui Bhai (Director: Sudhir Mukhopadhyay, Released on 27th October). And talking of the awards, Punashcha (Director: Mrinal Sen, Released on 15th September) won the President's Award, India, 1961, Regional Certificate of Merit. Saptapadi also won the President's Award, India, 1961, Regional Certificateof Merit. Ray's Teen Kanya won the President's Award, India, 1961, Silver Medal for Samapti, XI Melbourne Film Festival (Australia), 1962, Golden Boomerang (Grand Prix) for Postmaster & Samapti and Laurel Award for Postmaster & Samapti.
The Other Bengali Films of 1961 are as follows:
Manik (Director: Bijolibaran Sen, Released on 13th January)
Carey Saheber Munsi (Director: Bikash Ray, Released on 20th January)
Ray Bahudur(Director: Ardhendu Mukhopadhyay, Released on 3rd February)
Sadhak Kamalakanta (Director: Apurba Mitra, Released on 10th February)
Sathihara (Director: Sukumar Dasgupta, Released on 3rd March)
Lakshmi Narayan (Director: Nirmal Chowdhury, Released on 17th March)
Mr. & Mrs. Chowdhury (Director: Asim Pal, Released on 24th March)
Bishakanya (Director: Sree Jayadratha, Released on 31st March)
Swaralipi (Director: Asit Sen, Released on 14th April)
Madhyarater Tara (Director: Pinaki Mukhopadhyay, Released on 21st April)
Arghya (Director: Debaki Kumar Bose, Released on 5th May)
Swayambara (Director: Asit Sen, Released on 19th May)
Megh (Director: Utpal Dutta, Released on 26th May)
Pankatilak (Director: Mangal Chakraborty, Release on 16th June)
Dilli Theke Kolkata (Director: Sushil Ghosh, Released on 7th July)
Kanchanmulya (Director: Nirmal Mitra, Released on 14th July)
Aaj Kaal Parshu (Director: Nirmal Sarbajna, Released on 28th July)
Kathin Maya (Director: Sushil Majumdar, Released on 28th July)
Dainee (Director: Manoj Bhattacharya, Released on 18th August)
Ashay Bandhinu Ghar (Director: Kanak Mukhopadhyay, Released on 25th August)
Madhureno (Director: Shanti Bandopadhyay, Released on 1st September)
Mithun Lagna (Director: Shib Bhattacharya, Released on 15th September)
Ingit (Without Dialogue) (Director: Taru Mukhopadhyay, Released on 20th October)
Ahwan (Director: Arabinda Mukhopadhyay, Released on 10th November)
Maa (Director: Chitta Bose, Released on 17th November)
Sandhyarag (Director: Jiban Gangopadhyay, Released on 17th November)
Kanamachhi (Script Writer: Mrinal Sen, Released on 8th December)
Also released was Parinam, an Odiya Film by Biswanath Nayak.
Among the Bollywood films some mentionable films are as follows:
Gunga Jumna produced by Dilip Kumar and directed by Nitin Bose.
Junglee produced and directed by Subodh Mukherjee starring Shammi Kapoor.
Gharana starring Rajendra Kumar, Raaj Kumar, and Asha Parekh. Directed by S.S. Vasan.
Aas Ka Panchhi directed by Mohan Kumar.
Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai written, produced, and directed by Nasir Hussain. The first film ofHussain as a producer.
Hum Dono produced by Dev Anand and Navketan films. Written by Vijay Anand, the film was directed by Amarjeet.
Nazrana directed by C. V. Sridhar, starring Raj Kapoor and Vyjayanthimala.
Kabuliwala directed by Hemen Gupta, produced by Bimal Roy and starring Balraj Sahni (Released 14th December).
Jhumroo directed by Shanker Mukherjee starring Kishore Kumar.
And but last but not the least, the english language films alongwith World Cinema:
La Notte (The Night)(Released: January 24th) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (animation) (Released: January 25th) directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske & Wolfgang Reitherman.
La Dolce Vita (USA Release: April 19th) directed by Federico Fellini.
Yojimbo (Released: April 25th) directed by Akira Kurosawa.
The Parent Trap (Released: June 21st) directed by David Swift.
The Guns of Navarone (Released: June 22nd) directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Gregory Peck.
Last Year at Marienbad (Released: June 25th) directed by Alain Resnais.
Accattone (Released: August 31st) directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.
A Woman Is a Woman (Released: September 6th) directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Released: October 5th) directed by Blake Edwards starring Audrey Hepburn.
Splendor in the Grass (Released: October 10th) directed by Elia Kazan.
Through a Glass Darkly (Released: October 16th) directed by Ingmar Bergman.
West Side Story (Released: October 18th) directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins.
El Cid (Released: October 24th) directed by Anthony Mann.
The End of Summer (Released: October 29th) directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Blue Hawaii (Released: November 22nd) directed by Norman Taurog starring Elvis Presley.
One, Two, Three (Released: December 15th) directed by Billy Wilder.
Judgment at Nuremberg (Released: December 19th) directed by Stanley Kramer.
Pocketful of Miracles (Released: December 19th) directed by Frank Capra. This was Frank Capra's last Feature Film.
Lover Come Back (Released: December 20th) directed by Delbert Mann.
The Steamroller and the Violin (Released: December 30th) directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.
One-Eyed Jacks directed by and starring Marlon Brando. It is the only film directed by Marlon Brando.
Viridiana directed by Luis Buñuel.
Also to add is the list of films which were released a 100 years back:
A whopping 72 films by D.W Griffith (List: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Sweet Memories and many others (List:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
It's really a feat to find almost all of the Stalwarts's of Cinema in the elusive list.
