Anil Ganguly

Anil Ganguly (26 January 1933 – 15 January 2016) was an Indian film director and screenwriter, who worked in Hindi cinema from 1970s to 2001. He is best known for Jaya Bhaduri-starrer Kora Kagaz (1974) and the Raakhee-starrer Tapasya (1975), both of which won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. He is also known for his films with Raakhee, including Trishna, Aanchal, and Saaheb (1985). In 1990, Raakhee and Tapas Paul featured in his Bengali film Balidan which became a massive financial grosser.

Ganguly started his career making literary adaptations with strong female roles and themes of marital discord. For his second film Kora Kagaz his adapted Ashutosh Mukhopadhyay's story "Saat Paake Bandha", previously adapted into a Bengali film by the same name. Films female lead Jaya Bhaduri won Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role. His next film, Tapasya (1975) with Raakhee as lead was produced by Rajshri Productions, and was based on story by Ashapurna Devi. Raakhee won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role He later adapted Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Parineeta as Sankoch (1976), with Sulakshana Pandit and Jeetendra as leads. Humkadam again starring Raakhee, and made in 1980, was an adaptation of Satyajit Ray's Mahanagar.

He made Aanchal with Rajesh Khanna as the lead hero and the film turned out to be platinum jubilee hit. His last major film was Anil Kapoor and Amrita Singh starrer Saaheb (1985). Later in his career, he shifted to making action and thriller films but nine of 9 films he made since 1986 were unsuccessful at the box office. His last directorial venture was Odia film Kiye Para Kiye Najara (1998) with Tapas Paul, and Debashree Roy. He died on 15 January 2016 at the age of 82.

• All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.

His daughter, Rupali Ganguly is television, film and theatre actress. His son, Vijay Ganguly is a director and choreographer.