CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Desh (film)

2002 film by Raja Sen

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ16247873
Source-derived summary

Desh (transl. Country) is a 2002 Bengali film directed by Raja Sen. The film is based on a story written by Prafulla Roy. It is written against the backdrop of arms trafficking in North Bengal.

Plot

Suprabha Chowdhury is preparing to move to the United States to live with her son, Anjan, when a young woman named Shanti shows up and asks for shelter because she uncovered an arms trafficking ring and fears her life is in danger. Suprabha cancels her trip and stays to help Shanti.

Cast

Jaya Bachchan as Suprabha Chowdhury, formerly a freedom fighter in Indian National Movement

Samata Das as young Suprabha Chowdhury

Sabyasachi Chakrabarty as Sanjay Nandi

Subhendu Chatterjee as Pratul Haldar

Nayna Bandyopadhyay as Shila Chatterjee

Gyanesh Mukherjee as Ambika Singh

Monu Mukherjee as Sudhakanta Chatterjee, Shila's father

Dulal Lahiri as Mr. Sharma

Kaushik Sen as Akhil Som, an Indian revolutionary

George Baker as Douglas

Rajesh Sharma as Pulak

Sumit Ganguly as Bolte

Shankar Ghosh

Kalyani Mandal as Shanti

Abhishek Bachchan (Cameo) as Anjan Chowdhury, the son of Suprabha Chowdhury

Production

Part of the film was shot in Siliguri. While Abhishek Bachchan was in Kolkata, he made a cameo as his real life mother Jaya Bachchan's son and did not have to speak in Bengali. This film marked the first time he shared screen space with his mother.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Desh (film)” as 2002 film by Raja Sen. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Desh, film and Raja.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2002—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2002-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Desh, film and Raja providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Desh (film)”, the useful work is to connect “2002 film by Raja Sen” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16247873. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2002.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Desh (film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Desh (film) primary sources, Desh (film) archive and Desh research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Desh (film)”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Desh (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.