He alongside Sachin Mukherji and Dilip Mukherji, under the screen name Yatrik, made his directorial debut with the 1959 Bengali film "Chaowa Pawa" starring Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar in leads. He received his first National Award for the 1962 Bengali film "Kancher Swarga". He also garnered wide critical acclamation for his directorial ventures such as "Palatak" (1963), "Nimantran" (1971), "Sansar Simante" (1975) and "Ganadevata" (1978). He received a National Award, a BFJA Award and a Filmfare Award for "Nimantran" (1971). "Ganadevata" (1979) won him a National Award and a Filmfare Award. He made blockbusters such as "Balika Badhu" (1967), "Kuheli" (1971), "Shriman Prithviraj" (1973), "Fuleswari" (1974), "Dadar Kirti" (1980), "Bhalobasa Bhalobasa" (1985) and "Apan Amar Apan" (1990). Sandhya Roy starred in twenty of his films. Moushumi Chatterjee, Mahua Roychoudhury, Ayan Banerjee and Tapas Paul were introduced by him on silver screen.