Dhirendra Nath Ganguly (English: Dhirendra Nath Ganguly, born: 26 March 1893 – died: 18 November 1978) was a famous actor and film director of Bengali cinema. Dhirendra Nath Ganguly was also known as ‘Dhiren Ganguly’ or D.G. Also known as (DG). He was honored with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1975 for his unprecedented contribution to Indian cinema. Dhiren Ganguly was born on 26 March 1893 in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He received his education from ‘Visva Bharati University’, Santiniketan and later became the headmaster of the State Art School, Hyderabad.
In Calcutta itself, Dhiren Ganguly along with some of his friends established the Indo-British Film Company. In 1921, Ganguly made a satire film ‘England Returned’ (Bilaav Ferat). The story of the film focused on an Indian who returns to his country after a long time abroad. What happens to him after his return was shown in a satirical manner. This film was quite successful then. Seeing the success of this film, Jamshed ji bought its distribution rights. Later, Indo-British Film Company made two films and Ganguly again came to Hyderabad.
Here he established two cinema halls and a laboratory. Under the banner of Lotus Film Company, he made ten films between 1923 and 1927 under the patronage of the Nizam of Hyderabad. But when the eleventh film ‘Razia Sultan’ was made, Nizam became angry and asked Dhiren Ganguly to leave Hyderabad. This film depicted love between a Muslim woman and a Hindu youth. Dheeran returned to Calcutta and established the British Dominion Film Company there. On the other hand, Jamshedji Madan and Dheeran Ganguly became active in Calcutta, while after Mumbai, Baburao Painter also tried his hand in film production in Kolhapur.[1]
