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. ...

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY  - a film review      After watching  Bohemian Rhapsody, e vidently, it was hard for Queen fans to leave the movie theatre without shedding a tear or two. The movie may very well win the ‘movie of the year award’ going by the production extravaganza, performance and music, recreating the magic of Queen. No doubt, the story of Freddie Mercury, a musical genius of the Rock 'n Roll era, has always enchanted his fans. Covering fifteen years of the rise and then the resurgence of Queen after a short break, the film is almost a biopic on Freddie Mercury as a musician extraordinaire. With the band’s electrifying performance at the Live Aid Charity concert in 1985, fighting hunger in Ethiopia, Queen emerges as the band that remains unparalleled for ages to come. Interestingly, like many rags to riches stories of musicians around the world, Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Balsara to a humble Parsee family in Zanzibar, lear...

BALLAD OF NARAYAMA   – a Classic Film review Winner of several awards like the Palme d’Or in ’83, Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year ,  the Ballad of Narayama explores the legendary practice of obasute where out in an impoverished remote village in Northern Japan, the elderly, past the age of seventy, are carried up to Mount Nara to offer themselves to the God of the mountains. This practice is to make room for the next generation to survive on the meagre crops grown on their own fields. Written by Fukuzawa Shichiro and directed by Shohei Imamura in 1983, the second version of ‘Ballad of Narayama’ is a remake of the original version of the movie in 1958. It is the story of Mother Orin (Sumiko Sakamoto) and her family, trying to survive under extremely dismal life conditions in a village community in Japan. Orin is pragmatic but also a traditionalist who believes that her time is approaching to take the hike...

ALPHA -- a review Produced by Mark Bakshi, with exquisite cinematography by Martin Gschlacht and wonderful screenplay by Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt, Albet Hughes, the director and story writer of ALPHA has presented an epic drama of man’s struggle in the wilderness. ‘ALPHA’ is the story of Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a young boy not quite on the verge of becoming a man. His father, Tau (Johannes Haukur,Jr), is the chief of a nomadic hunting tribe. He wants to teach his son the tricks of the trade and be his rightful successor as the future leader of the clan. So Keda is forced to join his team of primitive hunters to learn the ropes of the business of hunting. But the boy is not interested in the harsh ways of the game of survival. He is a sensitive, gentle soul and, in his mother’s words, doesn’t want to ‘lead with his spear but his heart’. Separated from his tribe by an accident -- thrown off a vertical cliff by a massive bison -- Keda's odyssey of survival thro...

OCTOBER  -- a film review If you think that you can give “October”a miss -- even though it’s a Shoojit Sircar film -- primarily because it features Varun Dhawan, the  Bollywood chocolate hero for crazy teenagers, you will, perhaps, miss poetry on celluloid. Produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar under the banner of Rising Sun Films, with Shantanu Moitra on the soundtrack, written by Juhi Chaturvedi and conceptualized by Shoojit Sircar, the director himself,  OCTOBER  is a love story of a different kind that remains rooted in the heart making a connection deeper than the sea. It celebrates unconditional love, unspoken and unsung, that surfaces through an awakening with a jolt. Shiuli (Banita Sandhu) and Dan (Varun Dhawan), interns at a five star hotel in Delhi, hardly notice each other during the course of their daily chores. Dan is forever irritable and gets into trouble with his seniors and peers while Shiuli is hardworking and careful....

MAYURAKSHI --  a film review This review is for those who asked me to see the film and post a review so they can decide whether to see it or not. Apologies for not being on the page for some time and taking time to post anything! In fact, after “ Paddigton”, “The World’s Greatest Showman ” and then “ Ashche Abar Shobor ” -- there was nothing much to say apart from the fact that they failed to add any value to your precious experience of bothering to go to the theatre to expect something worthwhile other than a few hours of snoozing.  “ Mayurakshi” maybe a slight departure from it. Directed by Atanu Ghosh, who is also the man behind the story and screenplay, the film is about an aged, loving father and a caring, dutiful son trying to come to terms with the anxiety of losing one’s grip on life and loneliness that engulfs man with the fear of mortality. Atanu Ghosh has strung  some beautiful and poignant moments between father and son together instead ...