Camera

Soumendu Roy

Born February 7, 1933 · Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India [now India]

Died September 27, 2023 · aged 90

Soumendu Roy is an Indian cinematographer most known for his work with noted director Satyajit Ray's films, starting with Teen Kanya, when Subrata Mitra developed an eye problem. However, he has earlier shot Ray's documentary Rabindranath Tagore and has been an assistant to Subrata in post-Pather Panchali films.

Known For

The Expedition

The Expedition · 1962

Narsingh, a North Indian taxi driver, attempts to reinvent his life by visiting his native place, but instead gets embroiled in a local Marwari businessman's smuggling and human trafficking business.

Days and Nights in the Forest

Days and Nights in the Forest · 1970

Days and Nights in the Forest

MovieDramaComedy

Four friends from Calcutta who have very different personalities make a holiday excursion into the country, to a tiny village in the state of Bihar where they set themselves up in a bungalow. A series of minor events, all connected to their respective reactions to their new environment, reveals their characters more deeply.

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne · 1969

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne

MovieComedyMusic

Goopy Gyne and Bagha Byne are banished from their respective villages for being bad musicians. However, with their skills, they succeed in pleasing the king of ghosts who grants them three boons. How will they succeed in preventing the war between Halla and Shundi which is looming large?

The Chess Players

The Chess Players · 1977

The Chess Players

In the year 1856, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is the King of Awadh, one of the last independent kingdoms of India. The British intend to control this rich land and send General Outram to clear way for an annexation. Pressure is mounting amidst intrigue and political maneuvers, but the Nawab whiles away his time in pursuit of pleasure and religious practice. The court is of no help either — noblemen Mir and Mirza ignore all duties and spend their days playing endless games of chess.

Child God

Child God · 1985

An illiterate man and his wife live life on the road after their village was destroyed by a flood. When the man's wife gives birth to a deformed baby, proclaimed to be a 'child of the devil' by the local pundit (Hindu priest), he forces them to abandon the infant and exiles them from the community. The couple's journey then takes them on a series of bizarre and heart-breaking revelations.

Distant Thunder

Distant Thunder · 1973

Distant Thunder

Gangacharan is the new Brahmin of a village, where he assumes various duties: teaching, organizing religious events, and trying to prevent epidemics. But in that year 1943, war is raging (as reminded by the planes occasionally heard flying over the countryside), and a major famine is under way. As food shortages reach catastrophic proportions, Gangacharan attempts to preserve his privileged situation, while his generous wife, Ananga, conversely tries to help and support the community.

The Coward

The Coward · 1965

MovieDramaRomance

Amitabha Roy is a Calcutta-based scriptwriter, driving around in the country to collect material for a film. His vehicle breaks down in a small town. A tea planter, Bimal Gupta, offers hospitality for the night. Amitabha is forced to accept the offer as he has no alternative.

The Home and the World

The Home and the World · 1985

The Home and the World

In the early 1900s, Nikhilesh, a wealthy Westernized Hindu in colonial East Bengal, feels compelled to test the love of his wife, Bimala. He introduces her to his friend Sandip, a politician agitating against British rule, and Bimala is equally taken with both Sandip's anti-colonial fervor and the man himself. Personal and political tensions subsequently flare as the now assertive Bimala has to make a crucial decision.

Filmography

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The Expedition

The Expedition · 1962

Narsingh, a North Indian taxi driver, attempts to reinvent his life by visiting his native place, but instead gets embroiled in a local Marwari businessman's smuggling and human trafficking business.

Director of Photography

Days and Nights in the Forest

Days and Nights in the Forest · 1970

Days and Nights in the Forest

MovieDramaComedy

Four friends from Calcutta who have very different personalities make a holiday excursion into the country, to a tiny village in the state of Bihar where they set themselves up in a bungalow. A series of minor events, all connected to their respective reactions to their new environment, reveals their characters more deeply.

Director of Photography

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne · 1969

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne

MovieComedyMusic

Goopy Gyne and Bagha Byne are banished from their respective villages for being bad musicians. However, with their skills, they succeed in pleasing the king of ghosts who grants them three boons. How will they succeed in preventing the war between Halla and Shundi which is looming large?

Director of Photography

The Chess Players

The Chess Players · 1977

The Chess Players

In the year 1856, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is the King of Awadh, one of the last independent kingdoms of India. The British intend to control this rich land and send General Outram to clear way for an annexation. Pressure is mounting amidst intrigue and political maneuvers, but the Nawab whiles away his time in pursuit of pleasure and religious practice. The court is of no help either — noblemen Mir and Mirza ignore all duties and spend their days playing endless games of chess.

Director of Photography

Child God

Child God · 1985

An illiterate man and his wife live life on the road after their village was destroyed by a flood. When the man's wife gives birth to a deformed baby, proclaimed to be a 'child of the devil' by the local pundit (Hindu priest), he forces them to abandon the infant and exiles them from the community. The couple's journey then takes them on a series of bizarre and heart-breaking revelations.

Director of Photography

Distant Thunder

Distant Thunder · 1973

Distant Thunder

Gangacharan is the new Brahmin of a village, where he assumes various duties: teaching, organizing religious events, and trying to prevent epidemics. But in that year 1943, war is raging (as reminded by the planes occasionally heard flying over the countryside), and a major famine is under way. As food shortages reach catastrophic proportions, Gangacharan attempts to preserve his privileged situation, while his generous wife, Ananga, conversely tries to help and support the community.

Director of Photography

The Coward

The Coward · 1965

MovieDramaRomance

Amitabha Roy is a Calcutta-based scriptwriter, driving around in the country to collect material for a film. His vehicle breaks down in a small town. A tea planter, Bimal Gupta, offers hospitality for the night. Amitabha is forced to accept the offer as he has no alternative.

Director of Photography

The Home and the World

The Home and the World · 1985

The Home and the World

In the early 1900s, Nikhilesh, a wealthy Westernized Hindu in colonial East Bengal, feels compelled to test the love of his wife, Bimala. He introduces her to his friend Sandip, a politician agitating against British rule, and Bimala is equally taken with both Sandip's anti-colonial fervor and the man himself. Personal and political tensions subsequently flare as the now assertive Bimala has to make a crucial decision.

Director of Photography

The Golden Fortress

The Golden Fortress · 1974

The Golden Fortress

A young boy becomes a target for crooks, after he claims to remember his past life and mentions precious jewels in a golden fortress.

Director of Photography

The Middleman

The Middleman · 1976

A bright and idealistic young graduate steels himself for a dog-eat-dog world, only to flounder in a job market packed with thousands of other hopefuls. When he eventually decides to start his own business as a middle-man, he discovers that the world of business does not live up to his lofty ideals.

Director of Photography

Company Limited

Company Limited · 1971

Company Limited

Ambitious businessman Shyamalendu enjoys showing his visiting sister-in-law, Tutul, the extravagant life he leads with his wife. But Tutul is less than impressed with the trappings of wealth.

Director of Photography

Sadgati

Sadgati · 1981

MovieDramaTV Movie

When a poor and out-caste village tanner goes to village priest to get the date of his daughter's marriage fixed, the priest in turn asks for labor without pay in exchange.

Director of Photography

Three Daughters

Three Daughters · 1961

Three Daughters

MovieComedyDrama

Three stories with three central female characters linking the stories together. The first one concerns an orphan girl who grows attached to the postmaster she is caring for after he teaches her to read and write. The second one is a supernatural tale about a woman obsessed with the jewels her husband buys for her. The final one follows a young man who falls for an unconventional girl from his new village instead of his arranged bride, the daughter of a respectable family.

Director of Photography

The Adversary

The Adversary · 1970

Siddhartho Chowdhury, a brilliant young medical student, is forced to leave his studies after his father's sudden demise. He is forced to navigate the high unemployment rate and the communist socio-political climate of 1960s Calcutta in search of a job.

Director of Photography

The Elephant God

The Elephant God · 1979

The Elephant God

MovieCrimeMystery

Set in the holy city of Benares, this is the second film about the detective Feluda, who goes on a holiday with his cousin, Topshe, and his friend, Lalmohan Ganguly. But the theft of a priceless deity of Lord Ganesh (the Elephant God) from a local household forces him to investigate.

Director of Photography

The Kingdom of Diamonds

The Kingdom of Diamonds · 1980

The Kingdom of Diamonds

When Goopy and Bagha learn about Hirak Raja's tyranny, they try to set him right with the help of Udayan, a school teacher, and their magical powers.

Director of Photography

Bala

MovieDocumentary

A documentary about the aging prima ballerina Balasaraswati (popularly known as "Bala"), the most famous exponent of the Bharatanatyam dance.

Director of Photography

Two

MovieDramaFamily

This short film shows an encounter, through a series of games, between a street child from the shantytowns and a child of a rich family, stationed at his window. The film has no dialogue and the action moves through the attempts at one-upmanship evident in their successive display of their toys. Their rivalry (a kite shot down by a toy rifle, for example) concludes with the opposition between the world of noise (the toys inside the house) and that of music (the street child's flute). Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2006.

Director of Photography

Shelter of the Wings

Shelter of the Wings · 1994

Shelter of the Wings

Lakhindar captures exotic birds from the Bengal forests, but his refusal to see them caged leads him to constantly set his catches free. This lack of income drives his household into deep poverty, causing his wife to grow increasingly resentful of his compassionate choices. In her frustration, she begins an affair with the middleman who takes the birds to the market.

Director of Photography

Kuheli

MovieHorrorCrime

A Middle-Aged Woman named Sheba comes to an Obscure town named Nijhumgarh to be the Governess of a Renowned Household called "Ray Kuthi". But little did she know about the Bungalow and the dwellers. She is startled to know that two murders took place there nearly seven years earlier. The Mist of the mysterious happenings get only thicker. Now Sheba could only pray for it to Go Away as incidents transcend the rules of our physical world.

Director of Photography

Death of a Doctor

Death of a Doctor · 1990

Death of a Doctor

After years of painstaking research at the cost of his domestic affairs, Dr. Dipankar Roy is working on a vaccine for leprosy. As the word slowly gets out in medicine, he becomes vulnerable to the professional jealousy, incompetence, and abuse of power from the medical department.

Director of Photography

The Holy Man

The Holy Man · 1965

MovieComedyDrama

A wandering baba initiates a widower layer and his youngest daughter, irritating her boyfriend Satya and the ever-skeptical Nibaran.

Director of Photography

Ravi Shankar Plays a Raga

Ravi Shankar Plays a Raga · 1964

Ravi Shankar Plays a Raga

MovieDocumentary

Ravi Shankar plays the sitar, while members of the Children's Little Theatre Unit of Calcutta dance. Presents a montage of scenes from 20th-century India. A segment from "India, Haunting Passage," part of the "Esso World Theater" program of 1964.

Camera Operator

The Zoo

The Zoo · 1967

MovieAdventureCrime

When Byomkesh Bakshi's new client, Dr. Nishanath Sen, is murdered at Golap Colony, he decides to probe into the case with the help of his close aide, Ajit.

Director of Photography