FILM REVIEWS

ROSHOGOLLA   –   a film review If   “Tobacco causes cancer … (then) Rosogolla causes happiness”. This statutory warning at the beginning of the movie spells it all out about what you are about to experience on the screen. A biopic of sorts, Rosogolla is the history of making those round, spongy balls filled with syrup that Bengalis love to eat and are proud to call their own. It is basically the story of a twenty-year old Nobin Chandra Das (Ujaan Ganguly),   a poor relation in a family that ill-treats him and his widowed mother. Nobin is no smart guy who makes it big with ease when they are thrown out of the family. A simpleton and a dreamer, he turns the world upside down with tenacious efforts to make a sweet that will make his lady love happy. But he fails miserably, no matter how hard he tries, till he learns the trick from a Sahib. The story-line, both inspirational and emotional, is touching and perhaps restores Bengal’s pride in contribut...

BIJOYA   - a film review A sequel to Kahushik Ganguly’s commercially successful and a National Award winning film ‘Bishorjon’, Bijoya depicts a somewhat clichéd melodrama of the silent turmoil in a love triangle. Writer and director Kaushik Ganguly enjoys the pivotal role of Ganesh Mondol, the shrewd and powerful business man in a village in Bangladesh, while his wife Padma and her lover Naser Ali tread carefully in a complex situation created by Ganesh’s terminal illness that brings them to Kolkata for his treatment. Their chance meeting reignites their passion for each other once again and yet there are some obscure norms that tether them to their conscience. Pictorially ‘Bijoya’ is a shift from the  rural pastures of ‘Bishorjon’ to the labyrinthine passages in a complex metropolis like Kolkata. If ‘Bishorjon’ was about sacrifices and letting go of your beloved, ‘Bijoya’ or amicable reunion, is about repaying debts with cordiality and righteousness. ...