Sanyasi Raja

Sanyasi Raja (trans... The Monk King) is a 1975 Indian Bengali language period action drama film directed by Pijush Bose and produced by Ashim Sarkar, under the banner of Usha Films. Based on the real life incident of the Bhawal case,  it stars Uttam Kumar in the title role alongside Supriya Devi in lead roles. The film was remade in Telugu in 1977 as Raja Ramesh.

Plot
Zamindar Surya Kishore never looks after his family and estate. Doctor Bijoy Chakraborty is a family friend of Surya and lives in the same house. He plans to kill Surya and forces Surya's wife Indu to keep quiet. In a burning ghat, a monk saves the life of Surya, but, back at his home, he finds that his whole property is already occupied by Dr Bijoy. Surya Kishore now plans to recover his lost estate.

Cast

 * Uttam Kumar as Surya Kishore
 * Supriya Choudhury as Indu
 * Satya Bandopadhyay as Thomas
 * Rabin Banerjee as Dr. Bijay
 * Shambhu Bhattacharya as Nitai
 * Sulata Chowdhury
 * Tarun Kumar
 * Kalyani Adhikari
 * Sunil Bandyopadhyay

Production
The film was shot in Jhargram Palace in Jhargram. Uttam Kumar and the whole cast of Sanyasi Raja used to stay in the ground floor of the palace. But according to the rule, the palace authorities do not permit outsiders to enter the second floor. The descendants of the Jhargram Royal Family stay there. It was also shot in Mahisadal Palace and Gohalpota of Jagatballavpur city where Uttam Kumar stay in film businessman Satyanarayan Khan's house.

Reception
Times Of India wrote "This is perhaps one of the most intense Bengali film that have ever been made on real life story. Not only this movie famous for Uttam Kumar's outstanding performance, but it's also a well known Indian court case known as the Bhawal Case." The film was released during Durga Puja and become a major hit and ran for 126 days in theaters. The film become the highest grossing Bengali film in 1975.

Award

 * Bengal Film Journalists Association Award 1976
 * 1976 : Bengal Film Journalists Association Best Lyricist Award - Gauri Prasanna Mazumder

Remake
The film was remade in Telugu as Raja Ramesh in 1977 where the famous Telugu star ANR starred in the lead role. In 2018 National Award winner director Srijit Mukherji made another film Ek Je Chhilo Raja based on the Bhawal case of which the story line is related to some extent. Jisshu Sengupta played the role of Raja Ramendra Kumar Roy Chowdhury.