Highlights of Bengali Movies in the first half of 2014

As we are already in the third quarter of the year 2014 it is the best time to look back and see how was the journey of Bengali movies in the first half of 2014. Like always this year too we have seen hardcore commercial movies which are mostly the remake of South Indian films continued to rule the box office specially at the small centers. At the same time some non commercial meaningful cinemas also have been made which continued to rule the heart of the urban audiences and sometime the box office too.

Lets do a monthly basis analysis:

January

Jaatishwar

This was the first movie which Srijit Mukherjee had directed outside Venkatesh Films. As a result the marketing was little low in comparison to Srijit's earlier movies so its opening was not that huge at the box office. but its collection grows later with the word of mouth publicity.After watching the film people realizes that this is Srijit Mukherjee's best film till date. The performances by Prosenjeet Chatterjee and Jishu Sengupta was superb. Also there was a brilliant supporting cast. Another highlight of the film was the soulful music by Kabir Suman. Later the film got 4 national awards too which also worked in favor of the film. 
Apart from the actors on screen this movie had a super talented team behind the camera too including Director Srijit Mukherjee, Cinematographer Soumik Halder, Make up artiste Vikram Gaikwad etc.

Bangali Babu English Mem

This year this was the first commercial potbolier from Venkatesh Film production house. It was a remake of Punjabi superhit film "Jatt & Juliet" and probably it was the first Bengali remake of a Punjabi film. This film was not a big commercial hit neither was a winner for the critics. The only highlight of the film was the perfectly timed chemistry between the lead pair Soham and Mimi Chakraborty. Also Bishwajeet and Laboni Sarkar had done a good supporting role. The music of the film was also successful.


The Royal Bengal Tiger
With this movie Bollywood director Neeraj Pandey made his debut as Bengali film producer. It was also co-produced by superstar Jeet. But he was not the leading

man here rather he had acted in a supporting role only. The leading man was Abir Chatterjee, probably Jeet took this decision because the unconventional characterization of the main hero of the film would not suit with his on screen image. This was really a different subject for Bengali movies which deal about schizophrenia. But its not necessary that everything which is different will be welcomed. The audiences did not give a good response to the film and it bombed badly at the box office. But it have to be said that this was Abir Chatterjee's one of the best performances on screen. Very rarely he gets the chance to portray such character. Jeet was also good in something different. Another good thing about the movie was Shradhha Dasm who is a Bengali but normally does south indian films. She made her debut in Bengali films with this one. She did a good job and showed that now there is a good alternate option for the same Raima Sen for the non-commercial films.

February

Chhaya Manush

It was a good attempt to make an unconventional super natural thriller but unfortunately it was not engaging enough to make its way to the audiences heart. Although it had four talented actors like Parambrata Chatterjee, Paoli Dam, Raima Sen and Kaushik Ganguly but most of them were wasted. The only actor who shine here was Kaushik Ganguly. He had played the negative role brilliantly. Also the beautiful locations of Darjeeling was captured very well by cinematographer Shirsha Ray.





Obhishapto Nighty

On the occasion of Valentines Day ,Venkatesh films presented a sex comedy which had some supernatural element too in the form of a nighty, a cursed nighty. Just like the name of the film the subject was also funny. The mix of horror and comedy was obviously inspired by the success of "Bhooter Bhabisyat" but the comedy here was not of that standard. Director Birsa Dasgupta had tried to attempt a new thing for Bengali films which was sex comedy but the main problem with the film's script was that it was not consistent , there were lots sub tracks involving lots of characters as a result after good first half the film lost its focus and got confused. Still the film was enjoyable in parts because of some superb comic acting by Mir, Sumit Samaddar,Locket Chatterjee, Laboni Sarkar, Supriyo Dutta and Paran Bandopadhyay. There is rarely any opportunity for good music in a sex comedy but still the songs composed by Indradeep Dashgupta were wonderful.

Jodi Love Dile Na Prane

It was last release of February starring the fresh pair of two talented actors Abir Chatterjee and Ananya Chatterjee. This movie was directed by Abhijit Guha and Sudeshna Roy. It was an unconventional love story which did not work much at the box office but the performances of the lead cast was appreciated very much.Also Neel Mukherjee and Gaurav Chakraborty were good enough in supporting cast. Once again it was proved that Abir Chatterjee can not deliver a box office hit as a leading man.


 March

In March There was not a single release which make any mark in the audiences heart or at the box office.

April

Chirodini Tumi Je Amar 2

This Venkatesh films production was directed by Soumik Chatterjee. It was a tragic love story featuring a group of talented new comers.The story had an emotional connect with the audiences and it was executed very well by the actors like Arjun Chakraborty, Urmila Mahanto, Bihu Mukherjee, Riddhi Sen and Ena Saha. As a result it became successful at the box office and made a good enough money considering it was a film of new comers. The soulful music by jeet Ganguly was a add on.

Take One

With this film Mainak Bhaumik came with yet another bold subject with his favorite Swastika Mukherjee as the lead. This movie was loosely based on the real life story of the lead actress Swastika Mukherjee. She played an alcoholic actress with broken relationships. Also her real life daughter Anwesha  made her debut as her on screen daughter. Both mom and daughter did a powerful acting. But another highlight of the film was the nude scenes of Swastika Mukherjee whic creates a lot of controversies at the same time made it a big hit at the small centers too.

Apur Panchali

Master storyteller Kaushik Ganguly came with yet another unconventional story. The story was about the life of Subir Banerjee,the child actor of "Paather Panchali". The screenplay was very good and it blended the story of the reel and real life of Apu very well. There were some fantastic acting by Parambrata Chatterjee, Ardhendu Banerjee, Parno Mitra and Gaurav Chakraborty. The music by Indradip  Dasgupta was also a big hit. The cinematography was also very nice which gave an authentic feel.The film got lots of appreciation from critics and at festivals as well as it got good response at the box office too.



May

Window Connection

This movie did not get too much pre release hype as it was not made by any big production house. But after watching this psychological thriller people loved it. The performances of Aryann Bhowmick and Tanushree was also loved by the audiences.


Ami Sudhu Chheyechhi Tomay

This was the first and only production from Eskay movies this year.This Eskay films production has Ankush and Subhashree as the leading pair. It was obviously a south Indian remake with lots of masala elements put together. This.This romantic movie got a good response at the box office. The superhit music, specially the melodious title track was also responsible for its success.







Bari Tar Bangla

There was too much hype with this Rangan Chakraborty directed film, mostly because of the leading man Saswata Chatterjee. But after watching the film people disappointed very much as the script was a bunch of comic jingles put together. Overall the story was very weak but the comic dialogues and brilliant performance by Saswata Chatterjee and Sumit Samaddar was the highlight of the film. The film got a good opening at the box office but later its collections dropped. Still it managed a good collection because of the strong opening week.

Arundhati

It was a big budget south Indian remake from Venkatesh films and Surinder films. There was too much hype before its release because of the powerful special effects , the large scale production values, superb on screen characterization of Koyel Mallick and Indrneil Sengupta. But when people watched the film they realized the main thing was missing, a strong story which can connect with the audiences. Though the visual effects were really good also the leading cast has done a superb job ,but due to big budget of the film it flopped very badly in spite of a good opening.


Game

This Jeet starer remake of South Indian superhit "Thupakki" was  a game changer at the box office. The successful team of "Boss" came back with this film and it got good advantage for their last success. It got a huge opening and later also its collection continued for some week.The performance by Jeet was appreciated very much.the Jeet Subhashree chemistry was also clicked once again. The music by Jeet Ganguly was a hit. Though it did not become as much successful as "Boss" but still it did well at box office.





June

Ramdhanu

Director duo Shiboprosad and Nandita came with yet another movie based on the story of Suchitra Bhattacharya. This time it was a story about the problems parents have to face to admit their kids in a reputed school. Just like their earlier films this time also it had no big stars rather the story was the main hero. the story had a good mix of comedy and emotion which worked very well with the audiences. The acting by Shiboprasad Mukherjee and Gargi Roychoudhury was brilliant. This movie take a slow start at the box office but finally wins the race by winning audiences as well as critics's hearts.

Chaar

If its a Sandip Ray film people are always waiting for something good. This time Sandip Ray made a collection of four short films based on four short stories by some famous authors. Not all the stories were good in similar way. Each one has its strength and weakness but the first story featuring Paran Bandopadhyay , Saswata Chatterjee and Shreelekha Mitra was the best one. The movie did not have a good fate at box office, but the performances by some of the cast members were very good. The only thing could have been said when Sandip Ray had to choose only four stories he could have been more selective.


Bonku Babu

This was yet another movie which proved now a days Saswata Chatterjee agrees to do any film without thinking much about the story provided he is getting the lead role. Here too he played the lead role of a 60 year old person who was the head of a joint family. This comedy was just an average attempt to make people laugh. The only highlight was the make up of Saswata Chatterjee which was done to make him look like an old man. Though after watching the film it was tough to understand why the makers offered a middle aged person to play an old man's role where the role could have been done by any old actor too. Maybe they wanted to en-cash the popularity of Saswata Chatterjee and they succeeded in that to some extent.


Over all it can be said there were very few big blockbusters in terms of box office collections. Hope the second half will bring good luck for Bengali movies.