Ganguly Family - Brief History of The Ganguly Family

Brief History of The Ganguly Family

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 to Ruma Guha Thakurta (1950–58), Madhubala (1960–69), Yogeeta Bali (1975–78) and Leena Chandavarkar (1980–87).

The Gangulys are also related to the Happy Valley Tea Estate of Darjeeling via Ashok Kumar's first cousin Smt Annapurna Devi who was married to the initial and current owners of the estate, GC Bannerji. He had three daughters: Nonimukhi, Monmaya and Savitri. Nonimukhi was married to a landlord in Birbhum and her son Sailoprossono Mukhopadhaya went on to be a highly respected headmaster of the high school and a senior member of the CPM. Monmaya and Savitri were married in Calcutta.

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 Mukherjees of Bollywood, were born to 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, inspired 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, son-in-law Deven Verma, married to his elder daughter Rupa Ganguly and granddaughter Anuradha Patel also became accomplished actors. Ashok Kumar' son Arun Ganguly never joined film