Its a poetry: Saanjhbatir Roopkathara

Its a poetry

Sanjhbatir roopkothara by Anjan Das is a beautiful movie. I saw this in a film festival in LA where director presented the movie with an introductory speech. Writer of the story is Joy Goswami. Joy is one my favorite poet. This is joy's first attempt to write a significant novel and a successful one.No wonder movie is also all about poetry. Indrani Halder acted very well, she wanted to write poetry, but didn't know what to write or where to start. Her father (acted by Soumitra chatterjee) introduced her to Pablo Neruda's collection. So poetry started at a young age.Its a must see film for serious movie goers.

This was my comment after seeing first time in LA, film festival. After this I have seen the movie several times and also read the book. Every time it appeared to me with a slightly different meaning, but I was never bored to see the movie. I hope to write a new review when I am settled down with all the collective reviews.

Best movie I have ever seen: Jukti, Tokko aar Goppo

Best movie I have ever seen

This movie is really getting a lower rating by the people who really don't understand what is serious movie making. This must get a 10 out of 10. This is not only my opinion but opinion of many others who have seen this movie. Director of this movie Rwittik Ghatak also acted in this movie and demonstrated how painful a life could be with lost direction. Not having direction seems to be a fundamental problem of life for many people who think seriously about it. The division of the country ( India and Pakistan ) has painfully rooted among many who suffered a lot; we just realize that how painful it can be through this movie. For serious movie watchers this is a must see movie. For casual watchers, don't see it! There is no entertainment in this movie..Entertainment in common sense , I mean..there is of course, intellectual entertainment.

A new realization about forest life : Abar Aranya

A new realization about forest life

This movie was shown in UC, Berkeley on 14th February,2004. The movie was part of bengali initiative taken in UC, Berkeley..movie started with a brief introduction from the producer of the movie and ended with a discussion by Prof. Ganguly(?). During the discussion phase it was revealed that the audience and the critic didn't like the movie much. They compared it to original make of "Aranyer Din Ratri" and rated this as an inferior movie.However, I liked it despite of its weaknesses.Forest life is very different in India. The middle (and upper) class people go there for a break in their life, try to get away from their regular life. But they don't connect very well to forest. They disturb the balance of forest, the poor people who live in nearby places. this is what displayed very artistically in "Aranyer Din Ratri" by Satyajit Ray.This movie being the continuation of "Aranyer Din Ratri" didn't say it so mildly. Its loud, its even disturbing to many of us. So we didn't like it much.At the same time, movie is not so well made..there are many weaknesses..there are many characters, too many compared to "Aranyer Din Ratri". In particular, I didn't like the acting of Sharmila Tagore and Tabu...they should have been replaced by more prominent actresses.It seemed to me that Ghosh (director) made a protest against "Aranyer Din Ratri". Forest is not a place where people should go to enjoy their past time..you are unfit to go to forest, if you can't connect well.There are also isolated scenes in the movie what one can't connect very well. This is a common complain I heard from the movie viewers. To me it was deliberate attempt by the director! It was a movie of strong protest!Few things I didn't like about the movie:1. Tabu playing so much time with the doll! I know many girls at that age do it, but its so boring!2. Manager's wife in forest bunglow and their kid..unnecessary characters in the movie...didn't serve any purpose.3. Memory game looked rather boring this time..could have reduced the time a bit!and so on....its pointless to write more negatives since I liked the movie overall.Som.

New Mrinal Sen: Amar Bhubon

New Mrinal Sen

If you have seen earlier movies of Mrinal Sen and had an opinion about those movies and didn't like it, you must try to see this one. A completely different movie. Love affair between a husband and a wife, between an ex-husband and a wife, affection in a family and a traditional village in India shown completely unique and different way. Traditional use of Tagore songs (very popular among the art film makers of Bengal, India) is also very unique and different. Since there is no copyright on Tagore songs any more, Mrinal Sen has used it very differently and the tune suites the environment; it brings a different meaning to "hope, joy, life, dance, death and birth".Muslim minority community of Bengal is shown in this movie. I was afraid in the beginning as I am tired of seeing those riot scenes of India. (for which there is no solution, each religion kills the other and no one listens to their leaders, or do they listen?) But this movie was very different. Even with all the formula elements of a Bengali art film like Tagore songs, village scenes, minority community, a love affair between a wife and someone else etc., its very different, I was never bored.I was also afraid in the beginning to see the name of only male voice singer..as I don't like the male voice in Tagore songs any more. However, Srikant Acharya has done an excellent job in these Tagore songs. Superb! After seeing the movie the very first time I am going to rate this movie higher than "Pather Panchali" by Satyajit Ray. I am going to watch it few more times in future (will update this review again).I didn't see this movie even nominated in Cannes. Are Cannes folks missing something? Are they following the Hollywood trend these days? thank you for reading so far :-), som.