Nominations for IIFA Awards 2016

Best Picture
Eros International & Bhansali Productions - Bajirao Mastani
Eros International, Salman Khan, Kabir Khan, Rockline Venkatesh - Bajrangi Bhaijaan
N.P. Singh, Ronnie Lahiri, Sneha Rajani - Piku
Junglee Pictures & Vishal Bharadwaj - Talvar
Eros International, Krishika Lulla, Aanand L Rai - Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Best Director
Aanand L Rai - Tanu Weds Manu Returns
Kabir Khan - Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Meghna Gulzar - Talvar
Sanjay Leela Bhansali - Bajirao Mastani
Shoojit Sircar – Piku

Leading Role - Male
Amitabh Bachchan - Piku
Ranbir Kapoor - Tamasha
Ranveer Singh - Bajirao Mastani
Salman Khan - Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Varun Dhawan – Badlapur

Leading Role - Female
Deepika Padukone - Bajirao Mastani
Deepika Padukone - Piku
Shraddha Kapoor – ABCD 2
Kangana Ranaut - Tanu Weds Manu Returns
Priyanka Chopra – Dil Dhadakne Do

Supporting Role - Male
Anil Kapoor - Dil Dhadakne Do
Deepak Dobriyal - Tanu Weds Manu Returns
Farhan Akhtar - Dil Dhadakne Do
Nawazuddin Siddiqui – Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Irrfan Khan – Piku

Supporting Role - Female
Anushka Sharma - Dil Dhadakne Do
Huma Qureshi - Badlapur
Priyanka Chopra - Bajirao Mastani
Konkana Sen Sharma – Talvar
Tanvi Azmi - Bajirao Mastani

Comic Role
Nawazuddin Siddiqui – Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Kapil Sharma – Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon
Deepak Dobriyal - Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Negative Role
Nawazuddin Siddiqui - Badlapur
Gajraj Rao - Talvar
Darshan Kumar – NH10

Music Direction
Ankit Tiwari, Meet Bros. Anjaan and Amaal Mallik - Roy
Pritam – Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Sanjay Leela Bhansali - Bajirao Mastani

Best Story
V. Vijayendra Prasad – Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Massimo Carlotto- Badlapur
Juhi Chaturvedi – Piku

Lyrics
Amitabh Bhattacharya - Gerua (Dilwale) 
Irshad Kamil - Agar Tum Saath Ho (Tamasha) 
Varun Grover - Moh Moh Ke Dhaage (Dum Laga Ke Haisha) 

Playback Singer - Male
Arijit Singh – Hamari Adhuri Kahaani (Hamari Adhuri Kahaani) 
Arijit Singh - Sooraj Dooba (Roy) 
Papon - Moh Moh Ke Dhaage (Dum Laga Ke Haisha) 

Playback Singer - Female
Sunidhi Chauhan – Girls Like To Swing (Dil Dhadakne Do) 
Monali Thakur - Moh Moh Ke Dhaage (Dum Laga Ke Haisha) 
Kanika Kapoor - Chittiyan Kalaiyan (Roy) 
Shreya Ghoshal - Deewani Mastani (Bajirao Mastani)

Review of Bengali Film Praktan

In last one decade Shiboprasad Mujherjee and Nandita Roy have became a big name as directors. They make a totally different genre of movies which are neither made for festivals nor for rural single screen theatres; they make movies solely to give entertainment with a story with which people can connect. With #Praktan they have continued their legacy by making yet another tale of human relations and emotions with which one can easily relate.

The story has been developed from a one line idea from Rabindanath Tagore's poem "Hathat Dekha", what will happen if someone has to face his or her ex in the same train compartment during a journey. The concept is interesting but to develop a full length film around this concept is challenging and Shiboprasad and Nandita duo has successfully completed this challenge.

The story starts with two women sharing the same compartment in a train journey from Mumbai to Kolkata. One woman is Sudipa (Rituparna Sengupta) another one is Malini

(Aparajita Addhya). These two ladies are completely different from each other,Sudipa is a career centric self dependant woman on the other hand Malini is a housewife, her whole world revolves around her family and home only. Sudipa is very reserve while Malini is very talkative and friendly. Malini is accompanied with her 8 year old daughter Putul and because of Putul and also the friendly nature of Malini, Sudipa has to start conversation with Malini. During their conversation Sudipa discovers that these two ladies are connected with one common person that is Ujaan Mujherjee (Prasenjit Chatterjee), Malini's husband and coincidentally Sudipa's ex-husband.  As Sudipa recalls her memories about Ujaan audience come to know about their past how they were introduced during a Kolkata tour and then fell in love, got married and finally got separated. It's tough for Sudipa to share same coach with Malini after knowing her identity, still she managed but it becomes more difficult when Ujaan too join these ladies in middle of their journey. From that point begins the journey of two ex-lovers that too in presence of their present. The climax is quite predictable and realistic but it has a feel good factor and a wonderful message. Every relationship requires some adjustments and if one did some compromises to be in a relationship that does not mean losing to someone rather it can be seen as winning a relationship. 

The screenplay is very interesting, the way the flashback sequences have been inserted are quite interesting. Two parallel stories progress together, one is the back story of Ujaan and Sudipa and another one is the present day story in the train journey between Ujaan, Sudipa

and Malini. Both the stories progress in such a way that people will remain engaged with both the tacks. Although it can be said the back story of Ujaan and Sudipa is a bit cliché, we have seen the egoistic battle of a working couple where the Man has problem with his wife's professional life. Also there could have been a better reason for the final clash between the two which forced them to get separated. Anyways these little shortcomings can be overlooked with the additional separate tacks of the co-passengers in the train. There is a newly married couple played by Bishwanatg Basu and Manali Dey, they have provided enough comical relief. Then there is an elderly couple played by Soumitra Chatterjee and Sabitri Chatterjee, with their track the director duo has tried to focus on the loneliness of the elderly couples who are not taken care by their children. Then there is a musical group consisting Anindya and Upal of Chandrabindoo along with Surojit of Bhumi fame and Anupam Roy. This musical group has given enough support with their wonderful songs in every situation. There are two interesting point in the screenplay one just before the interval when Ujaan and Sudipa comes face to face for first time after 10 years and another one is the surprise element in the last scene. The screenplay is thoroughly enjoyable with drama, emotion, humour and of course romance.

As directors Shiboprasad Mujherjee and Nandita Roy has done a fabulous job. They are true magicians who know to connect with their audience. The best thing about their story presentation is their simplicity. Their narrative style is just like the character of Malini, who can connect with you with the simplicity and can teach you big lessons without making it sound like lectures.

All the actors are in tremendous form. Prsenjit Chatterjee has done superb job while Rituparna Sengupta is absolutely wonderful. Both Prasenjit and Rituparna have to play their

characters in two different moods. One in the flashback part where they have played young immature couple who loves each other but also fights with each because of their ego and another one is in the portion where they meet after 10 years during the train journey when they are more mature with life experiences, in both the parts Prasenjit and Rituparna are excellent. Together their chemistry is awesome. For long 15 years we have missed this couple now we will definitely look forward to see them together again. 
Apart from the lead couple Aparijita Addhya has surprised with her acting. Very often she gets a meaty role and when she has got it, she has just given her cent percent to it. She will make you laugh out loud with her comic act. She has a supporting role and she has much lesser screen compared to the lead pair but by the end of the film she will win your heart. 
Among the others Bishwanath Basu has given solid performance with his perfect comic timing, Manali Dey has ably supported him. Soumitra Chatterjee and Sabitri Chatterjee are good. The musical team is perfect in their own department, that is music but in acting too they are not bad.

When the story grips you, one hardly cares about the technical details. But one must say editing is fantastic, the way the past and present has been joined it's quite impressive. Cinematographer has also done a good job. Thanks to him we have seen our so familiar Kolkata in a complete new look.

Music by Anupam Roy and Chandrabindoo is nice and very apt for the different situations. All the songs including an Antakshari sequence are nice to ears but the song that will remain with you for longer time is "Tumi Anno Karo Sange Bandho Ghar".

On a whole #Praktan is wonderful film with one gripping story, some wonderful performances and soulful music. It will give you some valuable tips about maintaining relationships too. It is train journey which you will remember for long time. Go and watch the film, don't miss it.

Review of #Cinemawala

In last few decades the number of single screen movie theaters in West Bengal has reduced from 700 to 250. This is really alarming. In last 100 years movies has been one of the top most entertainments in our life then what caused the movie theaters to shutdown. Some people may blame it on the increasing number of multiplexes growing in big cities but how many big cities are there in West Bengal, very few. Then there must be other threats against the business of Movie theater owners who are called exhibitors in technical terms and in general we can call them #Cinemawala. This movie tries find the root cause of reducing number of footfalls in theaters, it tries to feel the pain of those #Cinemawalas who use to sell us entertainment, showing our larger than life imagination on big screen by running film reels in their projectors. They gave us entertainment throughout their life but what we are giving them in return; we are giving them empty theaters. Most of the cine-goers now don't go to those theaters as they prefer to bring that entertainment in cheap rates in form of pirated CD DVD and Internet downloads. Who cares if it's illegal, from police to politicians everyone is silent about this illegal activity happening in broad daylight. The only people who actually have to face tough times are those exhibitors, distributors and producers, who are not getting proper return of their investment and hard work. May be we don't care but movie making is a business and if we don't buy their products in form of paying tickets and keep encouraging piracy then ultimately we are cheating the people behind the business and helping some criminals who are taking illegal shortcuts to earn easy money.

Every cinema lover must be thankful to director Kaushik Ganguly for protesting this illegal

activity with his wonderful film. The film talks about #Cinemawalas from two generation with two different moral values .First one is Pranab (Paran Bandopadhyay) who was a movie theater owner once upon a time but now his cinema hall is not in running condition and other one is his son Prakash (Parambrata Chatterjee) , a pirated DVD seller. Throughout the movie Kaushik Ganguly has tried show the clash between these two different thinking people one who stands for honesty another one who believes to be practical no matter how unethical it is. The movie never tries to take side but still by the end you will know which side is right and which one is wrong. 

The story is unique like Kaushik Ganguly's other films. The screenplay is a bit slow in pace and has longer scenes, it revolves around very few characters as a result it looks monotonous sometimes. But the wonderful performances of the lead cast makes you glued to the screen. Towards the climax it takes an emotional twist which will surely shake you. The ending is thought provoking; one must be thoughtful about the future of the industry which kept giving us entertainment.

As a director Kaushik Ganguly is once again in top form. The way he has created his characters and their backdrop in small town of West Bengal, is amazing. The moments he has drawn on screen sometime says a lot even without a dialogue. Watch out the climax scene where a dead body procession is going on from one side of the road and a rikshaw is coming from the other side of the road doing publicity of a new release. There is no dialogue but the scene clearly says how those small time pirated video halls are killing movie theaters.

Among the actors Paran Bandopadhyay is extra ordinary. He hardly gets chance to showcase his potential. This movie is one o those few films where we get to see Paran Bandopadhyay's excellence as an actor. He has bring life to his character of an old, drunk, frustrated man who is bearing the pain of being unsuccessful in personal life as well as professional life. He is too good in the drunken scenes and in the climax he has emoted quite well even without any dialogue.
Parambrata Chatterjee is good as an aspiring DVD seller who wants to prove his father that he too can do something on his own. He looks natural as a small town businessman with his

body language and mannerisms. His scenes with his on screen father is good where his body language shows, no matter if the son dislikes his father but still there is an awe towards him.
Arun Guhathakurta is good as Pranab’s aid Hari who was the projectionist once in the theatre. He has performed his part very well and has given able support to Paran Bandopadhyay. In his last scene when he displays his affection for the projector, he is too good in that scene. In that one scene he has summed up all the pain of the technicians working in cinema halls who are jobless now because of shutdown of cinema halls.
Sohini Sarkar has been cast very well in the character of a small town housewife struggling between the fights of his husband and father in law. The character has lesser screen time but with her easy charm and natural acting Sohini has made her character remarkable. Through her expressions she has highlighted the dilemma of her character because of the ongoing fight between the two important men in her life where she cannot take side to any of them.
Lama is good as Parambrata’s friend cum business partner who has a stammering problem. He has left impression in his brief appearance.

The technical team has done a wonderful job in recreating the small town atmosphere. Production design is very natural specially the setting of the old cinema hall. Cinematographer Soumik Halder has captured the cinematic moments very well.

#Cinemawala is a tribute to all those people behind this entertainment industry who are losing their money because of the indifference of the audience. If you feel movies is the biggest source of entertainment in your life then please watch it and all other movies in theaters or legal home videos. Don’t encourage film piracy. It’s time to pay back to our beloved #Cinemawalas who has always given us entertainment in form of cinema on big screen.

Parambrata and Raima in Suman Ghosh's next #MiAmor

Director Suman Ghosh has announced his new film #MiAmor (My Love) featuring

Parambrata Chatterjee and Raima Sen in the lead roles. It will be first Bengali movie to have only online release, it will not have any theatrical release. According to the director he wants to make this film for Non residential Bengalis who want to see good quality Bengali movies but could not see it because of the limited theatrical release of Bengali movies. As a result they have to depend on poor quality pirated prints only.

Earlier many directors including Sujoy Ghosh and Aniruddha RoyChoudhury has made short films like #Ahalya and #Devi which had only online release, Suman Ghosh has taken this concept a bit further with the idea of releasing a full length Bengali movie on website.

It will be a romantic story of two Bengalis living in Miami and it will have 70:30 ratio of English and Bengali dialogues. Earlier Anjan Dutta had done something quite similar in #TheBongConnection which was about Non residential Bengalis living abroad and had Bengali sentiments with English dialogues.

The shooting of the movie has begun in Miami. Now let’s wait and watch to see the outcome of this experiment. We wish it will be well received by the global audience as well as by Indian Bengalis too.

Review of Bengali film #Shankhachil

Shankhachil are migratory birds who are not bound to live in limitations, they are free to roam around anywhere they wish unlike human beings who are bounded by some human drawn lines which are called borders of different nations.
This movie is a tale about the trespassing incidents that take place every now and then

between India and Bangladesh, which might be illegal in terms of law but is it really illegal? Just before few decades all Bengali's were same irrespective of their religion suddenly one British officer decided to separate them based on religion and the whole Bengali community divided in two different nationals, was that fare enough? The answer will be no. For the British officers it might look just a piece of land and they drew border on that but for the people who used to live there it was much more than just a piece of land, for them it was their home, their dreams, their memories and it was inhuman to force someone to leave all these just because it is on the other part of the border. All Bengali's have grown up listening to those painful stories of partition from their forefathers and this movie has tried to re-live those painful moments through flash back. Not only that this movie also tries to find the effect of partition in the life of Bengali's in today's times even after almost 70 years. Still people have to face difficulties still people have to trespass because of the complexities involved in legal migration process.

This film is a story of a middle class family in Bangladesh, lead by Badal Choudhury (Prasenjit Chatterjee), his wife Laila(Kusum Sikder) and their twelve year old daughter

Rupsha(Shajbati). Badal is a school teacher, Laila is a housewife and Rupsha is a sweet

growing up kid very close to nature and friendly with everyone even with the BSF guards from India. But Rupsha has one health problem from birth; she has a heart disease which needs to be treated in a big hospital in a big city like Dhaka or Kolkata. Suddenly her heart problem goes very much out of control and a need of immediate medical attention arises. Considering they leave near by the India- Bangladesh border, Kolkata seems to be more apt choice for her treatment than going to Dhaka as it will take comparatively much lesser time to travel. But the problem is Kolkata is in India and the family do not have the time to complete all the immigration related formalities so they takes the risk to go to Kolkata as illegal immigrant crossing the river Icchamati illegally. But after coming to India they realise how difficult it is for them to live in India as illegal immigrants. They have to hide their original identity, even their original religion and act as Indian Hindu Bengali. In every step they have to live like criminals with a fear of being caught, they can’t even sell their own property openly as it will be termed as smuggling. How long they will be able to hide their real identity? And will they be able to go back to their own country? Those questions have been answered in the climax.

Goutam Ghosh is a well establish director and there is nothing to doubt his calibre. Once again he has proved himself as one of the finest directors of Bengali film industry. He has chosen a subject that will touch every Bengali. The way he has incorporated Bengali poems and songs, in the screenplay, which are very close to every Bengali’s sentiments, is commendable. The screenplay written by Ghosh along with Sayantani Putatunda is very emotional and towards the climax it will surely make you moist eyed.

Prasenjit Chatterjee is in superb form. He has played his on screen character with brilliance.

He has brought out the simplicity of a small town school teacher wonderfully. In the emotional scenes he is too good. This performance is one of his career’s best performances. Kusum Sikder has underplayed her character of a supporting wife wonderfully. She has comparatively lesser scope but still she manages to leave impression. Shajbati has done a pretty good job as the curious kid Rupsha. She has a nice screen presence and confident enough to make her presence felt among the senior actors. Rest of the cast including many actors from both side of Bengal have done good job in supporting roles.

The technical team is in terrific form lead by the cinematographer Ishan Ghosh who is also the son of Goutam Ghosh. Ishan Ghosh has captured the natural beauty of rural Bangladesh superbly, at the same time he has brought out the contrast between a calm peaceful village with the noisy always busy metro city wonderfully. Art direction by Indranil Ghosh and Uttam Guho is absolutely brilliant and looks convincing.

Overall #Shankhachil is a wonderful film about the consequences of partition on the life of Bengalis. It is a simple story told simply which will touch your heart. Every Bengali will feel connected with it no matter from which side of Bengal they are.