Ganguly family (films)
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In a Bollywood film industry dominated by powerhouse families the Ganguly brothers and their family connections serve as an important bridge between the clans.
[edit] Brief history of the Gangulies
The celebrated Ganguly family, epitomized by Ashok Kumar (born 1911), Sati Rani Devi (born 1916), Anoop Kumar (born 1924) and Kishore Kumar (born 1929), serve as one of the most important bridges between the powerhouse families of Indian cinema. The Ganguly family connection is carried further through the networks created by Kishore Kumar's multiple marriages. He was married, at one time or another, to Ruma Guha Thakurta (1950-58), Madhubala (1960-69), Yogeeta Bali (1975-78) and Leena Chandavarkar (1980-87).
History of the Ganguly family begins with Kunjalal Ganguly, a pleader (advocate) by profession coming from a long line of lawyers, and his wife Gouri Rani Devi, granddaughter of Raja Shibchandra Banerjee and sister of classical singer Dhananjay Banerjee. The celebrated brothers and their sister, who gave birth to the Mukherjee's of Bollywood, were born these two. Supposedly, Kishore Kumar inherited his sense of comedy from Kunjalal. Also, the most popular film featuring all three Ganguly brothers - Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi - was, supposedly, insprired by Kunjalal's Chrysler that he bought in 1928, a year before the birth of his youngest son.
If Rattan Bai from their extended family network is ignored, Ashok Kumar was the first person in the family to go into the film industry. His daughter Preeti Ganguly and son-in law Deven Verma also became accomplished actors.
[edit] Kishore Kumar's wives
Among Kishore's wives Ruma was the daughter of Satyen Ghosh (better known as Montey Ghosh) and a niece to the legendary film director Satyajit Ray (son of writer Sukumar Ray and grandson of writer and publisher Upendrakishore Raychowdhury). Her mother Sati Devi, a telnted singer, was the elder sister of Bijoya, the legendary director's wife. Amit Kumar, her son with Kishore Kumar eventually became a celebrity in his own right. Amit later sang duets with Krishna Mukherjee, a niece to his paternal aunt Satirani.
Yogeeta was a niece to Geeta Bali, who in turn was Shammi Kapoor's first wife. Kishore's second son Sumit Kumar was born to Leena, and is also a singer. Ruma later re-married Arup Guha Thakurta, and had a son with him - Ayan and a daughter ,Sromana.
Yogeeta eventually divorced Kishore Kumar and married Mithun Chakravorty, who married Sridevi for a brief stint. Sridevi later married producer Surinder Kapoor's son Boney Kapoor, a producer who has two famous actors for brothers - Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Kapoor. Surinder, on the other hand, began his career as Geeta Bali's secretary. His only daughter, Reena, is married to showbiz tycoon Sandeep Marwah. Satyajit and Bijoya's son Sandip Ray is also an accomplished film director.
[edit] Sati Devi
The only sister of the famous Ganguly brothers, Sati Devi, was married to Sashadhar Mukherjee (brother of Subodh Mukherjee) of the Mukherjee-Samarth family. She gave birth to actors Joy Mukherjee (father of actor Boy Mukherjee) and Deb Mukherjee, as well as director Shomu Mukherjee (husband of Tanuja and father of Kajol and Tanisha). Kajol, in turn, is married to actor Ajay Devgan, the son of fight choreographer Veeru Devgan.
Actresses Rani Mukherjee (daughetr of director Ram Mukherjee and singer Krishna Mukherjee), Sharbani Mukherjee and actor Mohnish Behl also comes from the extended Mukherjee-Samarth family. The film inviolvement of the clan began with actress Rattan Bai, who was the wife of poet Kumarsen Samarth, mother of actress Shobhna Samarth, and grandmother of actresses Tanuja and Nutan. Reportedly, music director Bappi Lahiri and actress Chhaya Devi are also reported to be in the Mukherjee's extended family tree.
[edit] Extended family
Shammi Kapoor, a scion of the Kapoor family, and Geeta Bali's daughter Kanchan Desai got married to Ketan Desai, son of director Manmohan Desai, who was engaged to actress Nanda (actor-director Master Vinayak's daughter) before his death.
Grandson of Shammi's brother Raj Kapoor and his wife Krishna Kapoor (sister of actors Premnath and Rajindernath) - Nikhil Nanda (son of Rajan Nanda and Ritu Kapoor) - married Shweta Nanda, who is Amitabh Bachchan's daughter. Her brother Abhishek Bachchan, son of Amitabh (son of poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan) and his wife Jaya Bhaduri (daughter of writer and journalist Taroon Kumar Bhaduri), is also a famous movie hero. Soon, Aishwarya Rai is expected to join this clan by marrying Abhishek Bachchan.
Premnath, Krishna's elder brother, was married to the famous actress of the black-and-white era - Bina Rai - and their son Prem Krishen and granddaughter Akshana Malhotra also are actors.
Raj's granddaughetrs and actor Randhir Kapoor's (wife actress Babita) Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor have earned much box-office success in bollywood. Karisma is now betrothed to Abhishek of the Bachchan clan. His grandson and Rishi Kapoor's (wife actress Neetu Singh) son Ranbir Kapoor is now acting in a film with Sonam Kapoor, daughter of Anil. Actress, singer and fashion model Shivani Kapoor also belongs to this clan.
Shashi Kapoor, The youngest of actor Prithviraj Kapoor's sons, after Raj and Shammi, was married to English stage and film actress Jennifer Kendal (the daughter of actor-manager Geoffrey Kendal and elder sister of stage and TV actress Felicity Kendal). Their daughter Sanjana Kapoor is a stage actress, who acted in films as well, and is married to famous tiger expert Valmik Thapar. Shashi's eledest son actor Kunal Kapoor is married to Sheena Sippy, the duaghter of famous director Ramesh Sippy (son of producer G.P. Sippy, husband of actress Kiran Juneja and father of director Rohan Sippy). His youngest son Karan Kapoor is a fashion model and photographer.
[edit] Films featuring all three Ganguly brothers
- Bandi (1957)
- Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)
- Jhumroo (1961)
