Take one 2014 (Bengali Flim Review)

 

Take one

Cast: Swastika Mukherjee, Rahul Banerjee, Vikramjit Chaudhury, 
          Arindam Sil, Anwesha Mukherjee  
Director: Mainak Bhaumik 
Producer: Firdausul Hasan, Prabal Halder  
Music: Mayookh Bhaumik  
Editing: Rick Basu  
Story/Writer: Mainak Bhaumik

Director Mainak Bhaumik's Take One has been under the publicity radar for quite some time now. Much before the film got released discussions regarding nudity and its expression on screen was galore. Actress Doel Mitra (Swastika Mukherjee) is caught within fierce criticism and judgments when her intimate scene for a foreign film leaks on the internet. A renowned actress in her own right Doel now is forced to prove her chastity to the societal eye.

While being the fallen woman and pleasing the voyeur eye is an acknowledged truth of the society but beyond the voyeur the society seems too critical to acknowledge a few otherwise normal truths that they love to cherish within closed doors. Bhaumik has built Doel's character around a series of truths, defeats and wins. While Doel is put under the surveillance for just an intimate scene on the other hand she dons the avatar of Sita to pass through the fire in her real life to prove her chastity. Also at the same time she plays the mythological Sita on screen for a film. 

Director Mainak Bhaumik's attempt is brave and actor Swastika Mukherjee keeps up to the expectations and definitely win hearts with her natural chemistry with the screen and her no make up deglamorised role. Doel's daughter Tushi (Anwesha Mukherjee) is Swastika's real life daughter and beautifully portrays a mother-daughter chemistry on screen with Swastika. At times the film and several stances of the same will look too real while there are moments which will definitely register itself as fake.

To summarize, being critical of Take One or simply watching it to witness a truthful storytelling are the options that you might consider while buying tickets for Mainak Bhaumik's fifth film a brave attempt automatically welcomes itself to a numerous assessments. Be prepared to asses in your own way but do watch once.

Bharate 2014 (Bengali Flim Review)

Bharate

Cast: Arunima Ghosh, Rituparna Sengupta  
Director: Anindha Ghosh 
Producer: Avishek Ghosh  
Production House: A V M O Media  
Music: Anindha Ghosh 

When you are desperately waiting for something to happen and suddenly a slightly slanted chance waits at the door, would you able to refuse the same? Weighing the negative consequences at such a borderline situation seems like an impossible task.

Vikram (Rajdeep Gupta) and Rimi (Arunima Ghosh) is a married couple blissfully loves each other. They are together and happy. Moments and glimpses of their love fill the film. But there arises a lot of problem when suddenly they shift to a North Kolkata house that Rimi inherits. Tiyasha (Rituparna Sengupta) comes over to their house to rent a portion. While we know that tenants can bring a baggage of problems with them, the characters in the films are bent to obey the otherwise. Thus the keys are handed over to Tiyasha and slowly and with creepy steps she begins to open every lock possible with the help of these keys.

Even though the plot can be credited to Sujoy Ghosh but except Rituparna Sengupta, the other actors fail to suture the film properly. Director Anindya Ghosh tries desperately to weave the suspense with an edge in Bharaate, but somehow the telefilm like screenplay at times bothers and you end up wishing to reach the revealer bit almost immediately. If we forget the boring tunes and the spoiler sequences Bharaate is bound to create a haunting effect on you and the idea of tenants will definitely keep you uncomfortable.

To conclude, the story of Bharaate could have been this simple and straight. But you will have to watch Bharaate to understand the layers and unfold the thrills within this simple one line storyline. Fortunately the storyline and the way it is depicted on screen successfully create suspense and will keep you glued till the end.

Chirodini Tumi Je Amar 2 2014 (Bengali Flim Review)

Chirodini Tumi Je Amar 2

Cast– Arjun Chakraborty, Urmila Mahanta, Riddhi Sen, Ena Saha, Bihu Mukherjee,

           Kharaj Mukherjee, etc.

Screenplay and writer – Anindya Bose

Cinematography – Madhusudan Shree

Editor – Rabi Ranjan Maitra

Lyrics – Prosen, Priyo Chattopadhya

Playback singers – Zubeen Garg, Arijit Singh, Suha Khan

Music Director – Jeet Ganguly

Producer – Shree Venkatesh Films Private Limited

Director – Soumik Chatterjee.

With changing times, the definition of love has altered. The ideas of being with the opposite sex are no more just about holding hands, dreaming about the person or even about the innocence related to love. The generations have transformed, the ideas of togetherness today has attained a new theme and specifies a lot of lust along with the love.

Bhanu Sardar (Arjun Chakrabarty), a poor man from Purulia, travels to Kolkata for work and falls for a housemaid, Jyoti (Urmila Mahanta). His love amidst the race for money and struggles of life soon becomes a difficult nasty affair. While you were just watching the one side of love, the story of another couple unveils. Raj (Bihu Mukherjee) is a rich and spoilt adolescent with lustful intentions towards sweet and innocent Shreya (Ena Saha). But this love story is another level above than the other and is stuck within the lustful passions concerned with love. These two intermingling stories take off Chirodini 2.

The battle is for love in the midst of problems, hatred, revenge and triumph for power and money. The actors are all new comers and are genuine in their respective characters. The innocence of the characters is well captured. Director Soumik Chatterjee brilliantly spins the tales of love on screen and highlights the tales of love and desperation quite smoothly on screen. The music of Chirodini 2 is soothing for the ears and will be remembered in the time to come. 

To summarize, Chirodini Tumi Je Amar 2 is a film that throws light on the various facets of love that the new generation has embarked owing to the ever changing ways of living. A must watch, this film is not an eye opener but more of a documentary of what would happen when love crosses all the levels of innocence.

10th July (2014 Bengali Flim Review)

10th July

Cast: Chiranjit Mridul, Rituparna Sengupta, Apala, Abhrajit Bhattacharya, Anushka Nandi
Director: Ratul Gangopadhyay
Story/Writer: Ratul Gangopadhyay

It's a story of how Mridul's love for Arka help them strong enough to fight their inner demons and society's apprehensions towards same-sex relationship.

At a time when the whole country is in turmoil regarding the issues of LGBT rights and every creative medium is speaking up on behalf of them, if a film claims that it's dealing with love beyond gender specifications, it does generate a considerable amount of interest. And when names like Chiranjeet and Rituparna Sengupta are in the cast, it's not wrong to expect a sensitive handling of the subject. But, alas, after one watches 10th July, both the above-mentioned assumptions turn out to be wrong. The director (Ratul Ganguly) may have his heart and intentions in the right places, but, the on-screen presentation of the sensitive issue came out to be riddled with confusion.

The storyline can largely be blamed for the mess-up. It's convoluted and most of the times, completely illogical and bizarre. While Mridul's (Chiranjeet) character is shown to be gay and totally in love with Arka (Abhrajeet), Arka's sexual preferences and the consecutive decisions he takes, leave the audience baffled. How come a guy turns a homosexual, the moment he finds that his fiancee (with whom he gets intensely physical every time they meet) is a closet lesbian? Do we change our sexual orientation as easily in real life? Though there are an abundance of preachy dialogues in favour of 'eternal love' and 'love beyond the confines of physicality and gender', it seems like the director is stuck to the physical part of it. Intimate sequences (gay, lesbian and hetero) are shown with graphic detailing, so much so that they look sleazy on screen. It grosses one out so much that the underlined theme of anguish over unrequited love and sacrifice, get overshadowed. Moreover, the director has incorporated subplots like Mridul's sister's death, his decision to take care of her orphaned child and ultimately Rituparna's entry as the child's governess. These take the film as far from reality as possible.

Performance-wise Chiranjeet and Rituparna have done justice to their roles. But Abhrajeet as Arka and Rupa as his fiancee, Tiash, are not up to the mark. It could be that somewhere some viewer will be able to understand and connect with the director's thought process. However, it may seem difficult for those who are fighting the urge to flee from the theatre, every five minutes.