It is true that Ashcorjyo Prodeep is not a sequel to Bhooter Bhabishyat, still everyone will compare it with the later. It is just because of the fact that it is the second movie from Anik Datta as a director, after giving the successful Bhooter Bhabishyat, so that it has got so much pre-release hype. Otherwise this movie might have to wait for the word of mouth publicity after release like Bhooter Bhabishyat.
So before going to the details of Ashcorjyo Prodeep, here are the answers of the FAQ related to all that comparisons. Yes it is also a comedy, but unlike Bhooter Bhabishyat , it’s a black comedy. It is also entertaining but not in the similar way. This time also there is a revolt against modernization by demolishing the age old culture but again in a different cinematic language.
Ashcorjyo Prodeep is based on a short story by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. It is a modern day tale of Aladin and his magic lamp. Here Aladin is Anilda or Anilabho Gupto (not Gupta), a typical middle class Bengali who wants to grow in life but not sacrificing his peace of mind. But his wife Jhumur has more aspirations with her life. She has no problem to do overtime at her work as a beautician just to maintain a status of living at par with her sister. One day Anilabho got a magic lamp and a modernized version of Genie appears to fulfil all the wishes of his master. What will be the wishes of Anilabho and will he be able to achieve that with money, that forms the rest of the story.
Making this film was not an easy task for director Anik Datta. He knows there will be the burden of expectations from all his fans as well as critics. It is tough to get success in your first movie as director but it is tougher to fulfil the expectation on the second movie when the first one is well received by both masses and classes. But it has to be admitted that with all this burden of expectations Anik Datta has done a good job as director, though it is not his best work.He had the financial liberty this time to shoot in a Limousine but may be just like the protagonist Anilabho, he too had lost his focus a little bit by getting money and fame surprisingly. Actually his direction is better when he shows the middle class lifestyle in the first half. What a perfect detailing of a typical middle class Bengali culture. The way Anilabho enjoys the adda in office, he saves money by travelling in tram while getting travel allowances of a taxi from office, he don’t hesitates to have some drink in the absence of his wife or to ask for a 2% cut on a deal which he has done for his boss. Every minute detail has been taken care very well. But in the second half the screenplay loses its focus a little bit. It seems that the director wants to show that he has got a better budget by unnecessary show off. The makeover part of Sashwata is simply not entertaining . But in the climax the movie gets back its control. At the end, it is successful to deliver the message it wanted to deliver- “Does money can buy everything or not?”
Sashwata Chatterjee is in the best phase of his career .This year this is his third film where he has been featured as the main lead. He has proved that to be the main lead you don’t need to have good looks, good body or good dancing skills rather if you are only good in acting, roles will be written for you. Here Sashwata has brought life to the character of Anilabho. His body language, his mannerism everything suits the character. The way he has played the character everyone will be able to identify with this. Similarly the other parallel lead Rajatava Datta is at par with Sashwata. Everyone will like his portrayal of a genie in a modernized version. His dialogues in his first scene are very funny. Though he appears in the movie much later but once he appears there is scope to escape from his magic.
Shreelekha Mitra has a comparatively smaller role as Jhumur,the wife of Anilabho. She is very good as the nagging wife in the first half, but in second half she has only one or two scenes. Special mention is deserved for her last scene in the movie where she has no dialogues but still she expresses a lot with her eyes. Mumtaz is playing the role of Miss Mala Mal, an aspiring model and actress of Hindi movies who is actually a Bengali. She has only one scene with dialogues and one item song. But her character is very much there throughout the whole film. Her picture is there in every possible way of print and electronic media, that is used for advertisement. Probably she had given more dates for photo shoot than for actual shooting. Her only scene where she is giving interview to promote her upcoming film is very funny. There is a dialogue where she said “I can’t reveal too much”, but she had actually revealed a lot in the movie being in the limit of censorship.
Apart from these key players there are some cameos by Paran Bandopadhyaya, Kharaj Mukherjee, Bishwanath Bose,Arindam Shil, Sumit Samaddar and Mir. They have proved that they don’t need a longer screen time rather they can leave their impression in their one or two scene appearances.
Technically the film is very good in some aspects. The screenplay has been written quite well for such a one liner story. But there are some loop holes; there are some unnecessary subplots which have been added just to increase the length of the film. Like the scenes between Anilabho and his friend Pragyan da, who gives him lecture about some strange facts about the American presidents. But there are some really funny sequences too, like the one where Anilabho interacts with the waiter at a multi cuisine restaurant, the first meeting of Anilabho and his Genie, the scenes between Anilabho and his boss. A special mention should be given to the sequence where Anilabho is watching TV and changing TV channels, the way the director had done spoof on the popular Bengali TV channels that is amazing. It seems the director has separately shot for the few seconds video portions on different TV channels.The dialogues are very well written by Anik Datta , it gives enough scope to the audiences to laugh out loud. Unlike Bhooter Bhabishyat here are some dialogues with adult humour too. The locations are very much real and the look of the characters is also well designed. Cinematography by Aveek Mukhopadhyay is nice and simple. Editor Arghya Kamal Mitra has done efficient job.
The music by Raja Narayan Deb is in sync with the movie. Although the songs are not chart toppers, but are very much appropriate as per the demand of the script. The item song “Zyada zyada, dil mange zyada” has the appeal to be popular but the best song is “Sab kichhu badle gechhe” sung by Amit Kumar. This is a revised version of the Kishore Kumar song “Prithivi badle gechhe”, Anik Datta has added very good lyrics to the original song. It is actually a satire on the current mindless consumerism.
Overall it is a good movie with lots of humour added with some serious message too. I will advise you to go and watch the movie. Don’t try to find the lovable ghosts again rather enjoy the company of the interesting genie and his master this time.
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