Nithish Chandra Laharry was born in 1892 in
Kolkata, in the undivided
Bengal of
British India to a school teacher as one of his three sons. His early schooling was in Kolkata, after which he studied at the
St. Xavier's College and at the
Scottish Church College, from where he obtained his graduate and master's degrees in English literature. Later he also secured a degree in law from the
University of Calcutta, winning the J. M. Tagore Medal for Law for academic excellence. During his college days, he was involved in literary activities and was the editor of a literary magazine which had
Rabindranath Tagore, the
Nobel Prize winner, as one of its contributors. He founded a studio and produced a motion picture about the Bengali diaspora in England, the first motion picture produced in Bengal,
Bilat Ferat. An economic depression prompted him to switch to film distribution, and it was during this time he married Bindubala. His business travels took him to Mumbai in 1935, but he continued his association with Rotary International by becoming a member of the Bombay chapter, and, on his return to Kolkata (then Calcutta) in 1939, he rejoined RC Calcutta and became its president in 1944. The
Bengal famine of 1943 had already set in by that time and the organization, under his leadership, set up food canteens and free medical camps for the people affected by the famine. He also served as the vice chairman of the
Armed Forces Entertainment during
World War II and, after the war, managed disbursement centres for the Government of India. == Filmography ==