---
name: "Subrata Mitra"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/subrata-mitra"
roles: ["Cinematographer"]
born: "12 October 1930"
died: "7 December 2001"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T12:48:18.540898+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Subrata Mitra

Cinematographer. Born 12 October 1930 in Kolkata. Died 7 December 2001.

## Details

- **Work:** Cinematographer
- **Born:** 12 October 1930, Kolkata
- **Died:** 7 December 2001

## Biography

Subrata Mitra (12 October 1930 – 7 December 2001) was an Indian cinematographer. Born in Kolkata, he began his career as a still photographer and observed filming on Jean Renoir’s *The River* (1951). At the age of 21 he served as cinematographer on Satyajit Ray’s debut feature *Pather Panchali* (1955), having had no prior experience operating a motion picture camera.

Mitra collaborated with Ray on nine further films, including *Aparajito* (1956), *The Music Room* (1958), *The World of Apu* (1959), *Devi* (1960), *The Big City* (1963), *Charulata* (1964) and *The Hero* (1966). He also worked with James Ivory on *The Householder* (1963), *Shakespeare Wallah* (1965), *The Guru* (1969) and *Bombay Talkie* (1970). He is noted for developing the bounce lighting technique. From 1997 he taught cinematography at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata. He received the Padma Shri in 1985 and a National Film Award for *New Delhi Times* (1986).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, theguardian.com, satyajitray.org.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Pather Panchali* (1955), Fi1m 93, Cinematography — [page](https://film.one/film/pather-panchali.md)

## Also known for

- *Aparajito* (1956), Director of Photography
- *The World of Apu* (1959), Director of Photography
- *The Music Room* (1958), Director of Photography
- *Charulata* (1964), Director of Photography
- *The River* (1951), Still Photographer
- *The Big City* (1963), Director of Photography
- *The Hero* (1966), Director of Photography
- *Devi* (1960), Director of Photography

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/subrata-mitra