Jay Jayanti

Jay Jayanti is a 1971 Indian Bengali-language children's musical film directed by Sunil Basu Mullick in his directorial debut. Produced by his wife Bhabani Basu Mullick under the banner of M. K. G. Productions Pvt. Ltd., the film stars Aparna Sen as Jayanti who joins the wealthy Roy family as a governess, wins over the five children, and eventually earns the respect of their stern uncle Sanjoy, played by Uttam Kumar.^[1] Its supporting cast includes Lolita Chatterjee, Tarun Kumar, Anubha Gupta and Gita Dey.^[2]

An adaptation of the 1965 American film The Sound of Music,^[3][4] the film is written by Mani Burma and Partha Pratim Chowdhury, with dialogues by Shyamal Gupta. Pairing Kumar and Sen for the fourth time,^[5][6][7] its soundtrack is composed by Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, with lyrics by Gupta. Bijoy Ghosh handled its cinematography, while Rabin Das edited the film.

Jay Jayanti was theatrically released on 12 March 1971, opening to huge positive response. Emerged as one of the highest-grosser Bengali films at that point of time, it eventually attained a cult status over the years. At the 18th National Film Awards, the film received Best Female Playback Singer (Sandhya Mukherjee) for "Amader Chhuti Chhuti".^[a] It was remade into Hindi by Gulzar as Parichay (1972), starring Jeetendra and Jaya Bachchan.

Plot

Jayanti Bose takes a job as a governess at the Roy villa against her family's wishes. She has to look after five notoriously mischievous children, the nephews and nieces of Sanjay Roy, a wealthy and arrogant man. The children had previously successfully driven away twelve governesses. However, Jayanti wins their affection when she protects them from their uncle's wrath. Later, when Jayanti leaves the house due to a misunderstanding, both the children and Sanjay regret it and decide to bring her back.

Cast

• Uttam Kumar as Sanjoy Roy
• Aparna Sen as Jayanti Bose^[8]
• Anubha Gupta
• Biren Chatterjee
• Chandrabati Devi
• Gita Dey
• Lolita Chatterjee
• Montu Banerjee
• Mani Srimani
• Tarun Kumar

Music

Manabendra Mukherjee composed the music of the film in his fifth collaboration with Kumar, after working on Champadangar Bou (1954), Saajher Pradip (1955), Hrad (1955) and Maya Mriga (1960).

Footnotes

1. ^ At the 18th National Film Awards, Sandhya Mukherjee was awarded for two songs from two different films, the other being "Ore Sokol Sona Molin Holo" from Nishi Padma (1970).

References

1. ^ "Jay Jayanti on Moviebuff.com". Moviebuff.com. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
2. ^ "Jay Jayanti (1971) - Review, Star Cast, News, Photos". Cinestaan. Archived 2021-09-20 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
3. ^ "Six Bengali classic movies that have Hollywood versions also". The Times of India. 2018-08-29. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived 2025-12-20 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-12-20.
4. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica (India) Pvt. Ltd (ed.) (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi cinema. New Delhi: Encyclopaedia Britannica (India) Pvt. Ltd. p. 438. ISBN 978-81-7991-066-5.
5. ^ "List of Aparna Sen's 7 most memorable performances". The Times of India. 29 August 2018. Archived 2025-12-20 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-09-20. Aparna Sen as the governess of a group of kids delights us with her effortless portrayal of a mother’s image.
6. ^ রায়, তানিয়া (2025-08-24). "মদ্যপ অবস্থায় বেহুঁশ অপর্ণা, গোল বাধল ব্যাগ নিয়ে, তখন কী করেছিলেন উত্তম কুমার?" (in Bengali). Ei Samay. Archived 2025-12-20 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-12-20.
7. ^ ScribeShah (2022-07-24). "Mamata Shankar remembers Uttam Kumar-Aparna Sen pair as a real-life romantic couple". eNewsroom India. Retrieved 2025-12-20.
8. ^ "Did you know Aparna Sen has this one regret in her career?". The Times of India. 2021-05-10. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived 2025-12-20 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

External links

• Jay Jayanti at IMDb