DURGA SAHAY -- a review

DURGA SAHAY –a review
By – Dola Dutta Roy


Of some of the Tollywood movie-makers that have made a place for themselves in the industry, Arindam Sil is one. Presenting the maladies of contemporary society, and his repertoire of Bomkesh thrillers, he has given us some neat movies free of frills and froth. Discerning, urban Bengali movie-goers have accepted most of his stories with satisfaction. It appears that “ Durga Sohay ” has also not disappointed them.
A family saga, the story is about a wealthy, ‘bonedi’ Basaki family -- that owns a long running Jewellery Shop -- preparing for their traditional Durga Puja in their old mansion. The family is happy to bring back the patriarch, (Sumanta Mukherji), home from the nursing home after a heart attack. Now they need an attendant-ayah to take care of him. So ‘Dugga’ (Shohini Sarkar), arrives and wins the heart of some with her sob story and also as a care-giver, especially the old man, the younger daughter-in-law, Manshi (Tanushree Chakraborty), and Bhrigu, the effervescent High-School kid in the family.
But all hell breaks loose when Dugga, the seemingly innocent and impoverished village belle, tries to escape with the jewellry box in the middle of the night and Manashi catches her. Instead of handing her over to the police, she decides to give the poor girl another chance to correct her ways much to the chagrin of the others in the family. The movie then takes a strange turn where the security of the family seems to be at stake.
Directed quite adroitly, with colorful photography, the story unfolds nicely with the family’s frenzy in preparing for the Puja, Bhrigu’s plan to hold a musical event with his ‘weird’ friends on the last day of the Puja and finally the catastrophe that descends on the family that night. But help comes at the last moment. Maa Durga comes to the aid of the family that thwarts the evil-doers’ diabolical plans. lndeed, the movie evokes the unleashing of “Shakti” or power that lies dormant in all women and is something to contend with.
Music by Bikram Gosh is good and the songs were well placed. The actors have also done quite a good job. Kaushik Sen is his inimitable self as always.
A family movie ‘Durga Sohay’ is enjoyable and will do well in the box office in spite of competition from the ‘Bahubalis’ and its likes grabbing space in the theatres elbowing out some other well-known movies.
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Copyright © Dola Dutta Roy

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