A quick update of Bengali movies in the 1st Quarter of 2015

Year 2015 started in a good note for Bengali movies as the last two releases of 2014, "Baadshahi Angti" and "Byomkesh Fire Elo" did a good business throughout the first month of 2015. Moreover there were almost seven big releases in the month of January among those two were big hits. But the same did not continue for the month of February and March. Mostly because of the World Cup cricket and exam seasons very few big movies released during this period.

Here is a month wise recap of Q1 2015.

January

There were five Fridays in January and total seven big movies released in that period as a result there were two releases on two back to back Fridays which is very rare in Bengali film industry. Among these there were various range of movies like out an out commercial entertainers like "Herogiri" and "Romeo Vs Juliet" to festival circuit art house film "Chhotoder Chhabi" to urban style movies made for Multiplex audiences like "Ebar Shabor" and "Open Tee Bioscope". In this month both Prosenjeet Chatterjee and his better half Arpita Chatterjee appeared in two different movies "Lorai" and "Bodhon" respectively , but for both of them it was not a lucky month they got good appreciation for their individual performances but the movies failed to impress the audiences as well as the critics.

Among the commercial movies "Herogiri" did fair enough business at the small centers but failed to repeat the success of other Dev Koyel pair hits. On the other hand Eskay movies released their commercial movie "Romeo Vs Juliet" after almost six months of their last release. It had again Ankush in the lead this time with a new girl Mahiya. This movie did an average business at least better than its direct competition "Herogiri". The good thing was the rival production houses Venkatesh Films and Eskay movies choose not do to a head to head collision and released their movies in one weeks gap.

Here are the movies which caught our attention in the month of January:

Ebar Shabor 
It was the first release of 2015. A crime thriller set in today's time based on a novel named

"Rwin". With this movie, Bengali movies get a new on screen sleuth Shabor Dashgupta which was played brilliantly by Shashwata Chatterjee. It was directed by veteran actor Arindam Shil and had an ensemble cast of some very talented actors like Swastika Mukherjee, Abir Chatterjee, Ritwick Chakraborty, Payel Sarkar, Rahul , June Malya,Dipankar Dey, Deboleena Dutta etc. The story was about a murder mystery where a lot of characters were the suspects and each of them have some deep secrets with them. How the detective from Kolkata police crime branch, Shabor Dashgupta, solved the mystery was the story.The music was composed by Vickram Ghosh and it has been used wonderfully in the movie. The technical team was brilliant. Special mention should be given to cinematographer Sirsha Ray for capturing the different locations of Kolkata in such a nice way. The over all impact of the movie was very nice. It got a good start and kept doing well at the ticket windows till the end of the quarter and successfully completed around successful 100 days in the theaters. So far it is the most successful movie of this year.

Open Tee Bioscope
Famous Bengali band Chandrabindoo's member Anindya Chattopadhyay wore the director's hat for the first time with the movie "Open Tee Bioscope". It was his own tribute to his

childhood memories , the memories of the mid 90's, the memories of para culture. It was a story of a teenager boy Fowara (Played wonderfully by Riddhi Sen), his childhood memories with his friends, his first love, how he became a part of the local para. The story was very heart touching focusing some very strong relationships like a relationship between a son and his mother, a relationship between a coach and his disciple. Moreover the favorite sports of Bengali culture football was also a part of the story. The whole cast had done wonderful job lead by Riddhi Sen, Sudipta Chakraborty, Rajatava Dutta, Ambarish Bhattacharya, Kaushik Sen and all the kids in Fowara's gang. The technical team had done an extraordinary job to recreate the 90's era authentically. As a director of course Anindya did a very good job. The music composed by Upal Sengupta and Shantanu Moitra was superhit. Box office performance wise also this film did very good. It did a good business from its first week and continued its success till the end of the quarter completing around 75 successful day. 

Chhotoder Chhabi
Master story teller Kaushik Ganguly came  back with yet another different story about the

life of some dwarfs who used to work as joker and entertainers in circus. He used to present their life beyond our regular thinking , he presented them as human beings. They are not just jokers , they have their own life, own emotions, own ambitions. The casting was a vital part for the movie as the most of the actors had to be dwarfs as per story's demand and at the same time they had to be good actors who can carry off the story on their shoulders. And as a extremely talented director , Kaushik Ganguly made this tough job possible by casting very good actors Dulal Sarkar and Deblina Roy as the leading pair. This movie got very good response at many National and International film festival. In one film festival Dulal Sarkar bagged the best actor award too. It also got the National award for best movie on social issues. Unfortunately the box office fate of the movie was not so good probably because of the lack of popular stars and the too much depressing tone of the story.


February

In the month of February some three four good big movies were released including Parambrata Chatterjee and Parno Mitra starer "Glamour" and Shashwata Chatterjee and Tanushree starer "Ichchemotir Galpo" but the only movie which got the attention of audiences as well as impressed the critics too some extent was "Bheetu".

Bheetu
Director Utsav Mukherjee's second directorial venture, "Bheetu" was a dark thriller about two sister's, how they overcome their inner fear and also how they revive the bonding

between them. The story had been presented quite well specially because of the solid performances by Ritwick Chakraborty and Sudipta Chakraborty. The negative character was performed brilliantly by Ritwick Chakraborty. The performances by Parno Mitra and Saheb Bhattacharjee was also good. Some of the sexual abuse scene were too much disturbing but still overall it was a good enough thriller and did a fare business at the box office.

March

In the month of March there was hardly any movie which was impressive. The cine goers were hopeful with the movie "Sajarur Kanta" which was a Byomkesh story where Byomkesh was shown as an old guy played by Dhritiman Chatterjee. The supporting cast was also full of talented actors like Konkona Sensharma, Kaushik Sen, Indraneil Sengupta. But in spite of the presence of all these talented actors the film could not catch anyone's attention because of the loose storytelling. Another movie which had created some buzz was "Ajana Batas", because it was director Anjan Das's last film as a director and released after his death. But this Paoli Dam starer could not make it to the audience's heart.

Overall the 1st quarter was average for Bengali film industry mostly the the movies made for urban audiences earn good revenue and the commercial movies kept failing at the box office.
We are very much hopeful with the second quarter with movies like "Bitnoon", "Amanush 2", "Nirbaak" and "Belasheshe".


Top Actors of Q1 2015:

• Prosenjit Chatterjee - Lorai
• Riddhi Sen - Open Tee Bioscope
• Dulal Sarkar - Chhotoder Chhobi
• Ritwick Chakraborty - Bheetu/Ebar Shabor
• Abir Chatterjee - Ebar Shabor
• Shaswata Chatterjee - Ebar Shabor
• Rajatava Dutta - Open Tee Bioscope
• Rahul Banerjee - Ebar Shabor
• Kharaj Mukherjee - Lorai
• Ambarish Bhattacharya - Open Tee Bioscope
• Kaushik Sen - Open Tee Bioscope

Top Actresses of Q1 2015:

• Deblina Roy - Chhotoder Chhobi
• Arpita Chatterjee - Bodhon
• Parno Mitra - Bheetu
• June Malya - Ebar Shabor
• Swastika Mukherjee - Ebar Shabor
• Sudipta Chakraborty - Open Tee Bioscope/Bheetu

Top Songs of Q1 2015:

• Jonaki,Kichhu Kichhu Katha - Larai
• Nei Raat - Ebar Shabor
• Bandhu Chol, Pagla Khabi Ki, Tor Janno - Open Tee Bioscope
• Ke Tui Bol, Mariya, Janeman - Herogiri
• Bekheyali Mone - Romeo Vs Juliet
• Raat Amar Shareere - Bheetu

Main Highlights of Q1 2015:

• Bengali movies has rocked in the National Awards this year.
• Director Srijit Mukherjee has got the best director award for the film "Chatushkone". 
• Sudeep Chatterjee has got the best cinematographer award for the same movie.
• Kaushik Ganguly's movie "Chhotoder Chhabi" has got best movie based on social issue. 
• Churny Ganguly's directorial debut "Nirbashito" has got the award for best Bengali film.
• Director Anjan Dutta has choosen actor Jishu Sengupta as his new Byomkesh.
• Director Aparna Sen started shooting for her next directorial venture "Arshinagar" featuring  Dev and Rittika as leading pair. The movie is based on the story of  "Romeo & Juliet".
• Director Kaushik Ganguly started shooting for his next movie "Cinemawalah" featuring Parambrata Chatterjee and Sohini Sarkar as the leading pair.
• Actor Ankush finally signed a movie outside Eskay movies banner as his contract is over now. He has signed his next movie "Jamai 420" under Shree Venkatesh films.