BIJOYA - a film review


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.


The conflict in 'Bijoya' is not that of race or creed but that of the present and the past that will cast its shadow on the future; between emotions and obligations and between surrender and slander.


As a master actor Kaushik Ganguly as Ganesh Mondol, exacts suspicion and sympathy with equal panache. Padma’s (Jaya Ahsan)  journey from Sripur in Bangladesh to Kolkata unfolds a new chapter in her life and her inner turmoil is palpable in her sighs and tears. Naser’s (Abir Chatterjee) longing for Padma under tragic circumstances  grows intense and evident in his restlessness and yet subdued expressions  of propriety over desire and pain. Abir has probably given his best performance in a romantic role for the first time in his entire film career here.


Music by Indradeep Dasgupta has highlighted all this turbulence within and without appropriately. It remains earthy and soulful. However, the movie is unnecessarily overwrought with too many folk numbers that could be done without, I think.

The end,  a Kaushik Ganguly signature ‘twist’, was a bit bizarre and unrealistic, in my opinion. It dragged the movie down the ladder in my ratings.

Well made and a poignant tale, 'Bijoya' is , of course, watchable.

Dola Dutta Roy  ©
January 7, 2019

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA -- a review

LIPSTICK UNDER MY BURKHA – a review If you haven't seen 'Lipstick Under my Burkha' then you have probably not seen a movie that is bold in its presentation, unique in its matter and bla`ze about public reactions that it might generate. The movie is about the journey of four spunky women in the congested back lanes of Bhopal who dare to dream and rebel, that too in a claustrophobic mansion, ‘Hawai Mahal’, given out to poverty-stricken tenants. Like the name of the building  itself, their dreams too remain elusive and dim. Yet they chase a fantasy of their own, conspicuously in a trance. Lily (Ahana Kumra), a beautician by profession, doesn't believe in arranged marriages. Rehana (Plabita Borthakur), a Freshman in college, chooses to do away with the Burkha and Shirin Aslam (Konkana Sen Sharma), hates to endure domestic rape day in and day out. Even a loving, middle-aged, but bossy Usha, (Ratna Pathak) wants to break away from her elderly ‘Buaji’ image an...
Read more

POSTO -- a review

POSTO – a review BY Dola Dutta Roy Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee are no new names in the Bengali movie industry today. The journey for them making movies of substance has been long and arduous at times. But with the startling success of Ichche and Muktodhara in 2012 --followed, in quick succession, by hits with Alik Shukh, Ramdhonu, Bela Sheshe and Prakton, the duo have created ripples in the genre of new wave movies by treading cautiously on the line between offbeat cinema and mainstream fares. Today they are proud partners of a production company – Windows Productions. The title 'Posto' evokes the taste of relishing the delicious poppy seeds so loved by most Bengalis in their food and the audience is, perhaps, half-expecting a movie drawn in a comic vein. At least, I was. But it is far from a comedy of any sort. This is not the story of any culinary feat. It is simply the story of a seven-year old child who is loved enormously by his grandparents who wouldn’...
Read more

KALANK - a film review

KALANK – a film review If you are a movie addict and love the extravaganza of a genre that Prithviraj Kapoor, V. Shantharam and Sanjay Leela Bhansali have popularized in Bollywood, you may, perhaps, like to take a peek at ‘Kalank”. Kalank is an intense family drama portraying a love story spread across communal conflicts set in the backdrop of the 1940s. Directed by Abhishek Varman, it is co-produced by Dharma Productions, Fox Star Studios, as well as, Nadiadwala and Grandsons. To its credit, the film has an ensemble cast with Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha and Aditya Roy Kapur. Set in Lahore during the spell of British rule in the sub-continent, the movie opens with the documentation of the Partition by a journalist interviewing Alia Bhatt who reveals a tragic story of deception and rejection, of trust gained and lost, of communal conflicts that slay love to make room for a soulless compromise just to stay alive. The theme is...
Read more