Background
Born in Burdwan West Bengal, he received his education at Dehradun, staying with his uncle. He graduated in 1944 from Calcutta University.
Born in Burdwan West Bengal, he received his education at Dehradun, staying with his uncle. He graduated in 1944 from Calcutta University.
After completing his education he wanted to become an actor in the Hindi film industry at Bombay, so moved closer to the city. He took a school teacher's job in Dapoli, about 200 kilometres from Mumbai. He eventually joined the film industry in 1948 as an assistant director. Eventually he got his break as an independent director when Samanta directed his first feature film, "Bahu" in 1954, starring Karan Dewan, Usha Kiron, Shashikala and Pran and after the success for his next few films, "Inspector" (1956), "Sheroo" (1956), "Detective" (1957) and "Hill Station" (1957), he started his own production company, Shakti Films, in 1957. Samanta was President of the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association for 5 years, Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for 7 years and was Chairman of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata for 2 years.