Jyoti Prakash(1916-1942)
- Actor
Jyoti Prakash Bhattacharya was born in the Jessore district of
undivided Bengal in 1916 in an orthodox Brahmin family. His schooling
was in Calcutta and he had a brief stint at Presidency College and at
Shantiniketan. Before joining films he took training as a commercial
pilot but did not continue in the job and decided to join films as an
assistant to Debaki Bose. Soon he was offered a small role in Parajay
(1940) and almost immediately played the hero in Doctor (1940), Meenakshi (1942),
The Court Dancer: Raj Narkati (1941), Chowrangee, Paper Pathey and other films. His controversial
marriage to actress Sheila Haldar, despite his being married, generated
a good deal of public interest. He had to convert to Islam to get
married the second time. However, Sheila Haldar's death shortly after
childbirth caused a mental disbalance in the man and he committed
suicide in December 1942. He lived for twenty six years only but during
his brief association with films could become one of the most sought
after heroes of the Bengali screen.