Review of "Badlapur - Don't Miss The Beginning"

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Review of Bengali film "Ebar Shabor"

After making an impressive but not so successful (commercially) directorial debut Actor cum director Arindam Sil is back with his second offering as a director ,"Ebar Shabor" which is an interesting crime thriller.
This time he has made it in a more commercial way taking more mainstream actors and a lavish budget to draw the attention of cine goers. But in this commercialization process he has never compromised with the soul of the film. From start to finish it is an engaging story which revolves around a murder mystery but also provides the other elements of good cinema like comedy,romance and emotion.

With this movie a new sleuth has been introduced to Bengali cinema and he is Shabor

Dasgupta unlike our old favorites Feluda or Byomkesh , Shabor is not a private detective rather he works in the detective department of Kolkata police. The story starts when a rich middle aged woman Mitali Ghosh (Swastika Mukherjee) got killed in her own house. Detective Shabor Dasgupta has been assigned with this case along with his assistant Nandalal (Subhrajit). While doing his investigation Shabor comes across with too many characters who are related with Mitali in some way and all of them have some secrets. Anyone of them can be the killer as everyone have more or less motive to kill Mitali, whether it is her ex-husband Mithu Mitra (Abir Chatterjee) whom she had divorced , or her ex-lover Pantu Halder( Ritwick Chakraborty) with whom she had eloped once, or her childhood friend Samiran (Rahul Banerjee) who used to like her from a tender age but she never took interest in him, or her cousin sister Joyeeta(Payel Sarkar) who also loves her ex-husband Mithu. Apart from these there are two females characters too Julekha (June Malya) and Khonika (Debalina Dutta), these two ladies are not directly related to Mitali but both of them have some secrets which plays pivotal role in solving the murder mystery. 

The story is based on the novel "Rwin" by Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay. The screenplay has been written in such a way that it unfolds the story very interestingly by introducing each

character one by one and along with their introduction and their interaction with Shabor the story also proceeds in flashbacks. While first half have more comic moments the second half concentrates more on romance and emotion. No matter the length of each of the character's screen time but every character has something special about him or her which makes you notice them and keeps you engaged with the story. By the time the story ends the audiences are so much engaged with each of the character that they don't mind who is the actual murderer rather they are keen to know what happened after that with each of the characters.Here the character of the investigator Shabor is there as the sutradhhaar but unlike the other detective stories , he never takes the center stage and dominates the other characters rather each character got their fare share opportunity to make an impression.

As a director Arindam Sil should get full marks for choosing an interesting story and presenting it in an engaging way taking good performance from his cast and crew. From the beginning his intentions are clear that he want to make an entertaining commercial film, he never tries to be too serious to give it an art house film feel and  never gives too much masala entertainer treatment with the subject. As a result the story and the characters look convincing with their costumes , body language and dialogues.

Among the acting department it can be said every actor has given wonderful performance in the roles perfectly suited for them. Saswata Chatterjee looks very real as teh detective , his

interaction with the suspects and his assistant is very interesting and provides little dose of humor too.After doing lead roles in his last two releases Abir Chatterjee is back in supporting role again and he manages to keep his presence felt among the ensemble cast.
The other actor who shines very well is Rahul Banerjee , his portrayal of a pervert and under confident Samiran is superb. With his brilliant comic timing he manages to bring smile to everyone's face.  Swastika Mukherjee who is the central character of the film appears mostly in falshback has very nice role to play and she has done full justice with her character. Payel.Payel Sarkar has not much to do but she does her ob good and her chemistry with her on screen partner looks good.June Malya hardly gets a chance to play such an interesting role and she has utilized this rare opportunity very well. Debolina Dutta has very less screen time but she will surely be remembered for her glamorous looks and costumes. Also Dipankar Dey and Subhrajit has provided good support.

But the actor who stands tall among the crowd is Ritwick Chakraborty. He has a very less screen time but the he has proved once again that the length of the role does not matter for a brilliant performer. The way he has played the lower middle class mechanic Pantu Halder he looks too close to reality. His language , dialogue delivery ,his body language , his expressions are just too perfect for the character. Even after coming out of the theater you will remember him.

Among the technical team it must be said that everyone has done a fabulous job but special mention should be given for cinematographer Shirsha Ray. He has captured the locations of Kolkata in a refreshing way as if we are watching the city in a new vision. There are two chase sequences one in the opening credits and another at the climax both have been shot brilliantly. The editing is also very sharp to give it the required pace to be a pacy thriller. The look of the characters and their costume is very urban and refreshing. The costumes, specially worn by Swastika, Abir and Debolina will create buzz for a longer time.

The music by Bickram Ghosh has been used very well in the movie. There are not so many songs rather only two tracks has been used in the movie. But teh background score as well as teh songs are very pacy which suits well with the script.

Over all it is an engaging thriller with some interesting characters played by good performers. It should be watched to encourage a good director to make good Bengali films in future too.

Review of Shamitabh

Director R.Balki always make films with a truly unconventional concept whether it is the love story of a 64 year old guy with a 34 year old lady in "Cheeni Kum" or Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan's role reversal as as Son and Father in "Paa". In his latest "Shamitabh" too he has came up with a brand new concept of a superstar who is mute and his voice is borrowed from someone else.
The name is also very unique which itself describes that it is a combination of too among them one is the face and other is sound.

The story is of guy from a small village of Maharashtra, Danish(Dhanush). Danish is a true movie buff from his childhood who never miss any movie and acts according to the actors whom he saw on the screen. He dreams to be an actor someday but the major roadblock is that he can not speak. Still he comes to Mumbai to meet big directors but no one pays attention to him. One day he caught the attention of an assistant director Akshara (Akshara Hasan). She took much initiative to help Danish to achieve his dreams but fails due to his voice problems. All of sudden she came to know about a speech therapy in Finland from his father who is a doctor. With the help of this therapy a micro cheap is installed in Danish's throat and now he can listen and store the voice of another person through an ear-

piece connected to both the person and then he can speak the same stored lines in the same stored voice with the help of the cheap. Now Danish and Akshara needs a perfect voice for Danish and luck brings them to a drunkard old person Amitabh Sinha(Amitabh Bachchan) , who lives his life in a cemetery. Amitabh Sinha is failed person in his life who wanted to be an actor when he was young but got rejected for his voice. In spite of some hesitation in the beginning Amitabh agrees to give his voice to Danish. For that Amitabh always have to be close premise of Danish so he becomes the vallet to Danish with a new name Robert.  Thus comes the a new superstar Shamitabh (Danish with the voice of Amitabh). With his very first film Shamitabh becomes a super star and a big brand but soon some creative differences starts between Danish and Amitabh with the matter of choosing scripts for films. Later this creative differences turns into huge ego clash when Amitabh realizes he is getting no attention and media and public are going mad only for Danish. What happens then does this collaboration continues or not and if not then how they even manage without each other, to know that you have to watch the film.

The story start s with a brilliant idea but after going to a point you will realizes that the story is not moving forward. That too could have been managed by writing an intelligent screenplay but that too is not up to the mark specially in the second half. Some scenes looks so repetitive like Amitabh's drunk scenes. the example of whisky and water has also been overused. The whole portion of London episode could have been easily avoided or at least shortened which could have made the film less lengthy. The romantic track of Danish and Akshara is also half baked. The climax is quite experimental but it comes too late and by that time people really does not care about it.That does not mean the film does not have good moments of course it has for example the madness of danish about films in the beginning sequences or when Danish and Amitabh acts together for lifebuoy audition that is very funny.

In spite of the short comings of the screenplay if the film can hold your attention for the long 153 minutes running time is the acting of the leading actors Amitabh

Bachchan and Dhanush. Both of them are too good with their character and  together their chemistry is very nice. Amitabh Bachchan no doubt in the superstar of the millennium, he can pull out any character well but for the first time his extremely superb voice has been given so much importance even it has been said that even a dog can perform well with that voice. But his character is written such a way that it looks very much one directional it does not have multiple shades. he is always drunk, angry and arrogant. People hardly sympathies for the character because his frustration and ego is also not justified totally. It is an well established fact in India that people pay more attention to looks of the actors not too the voice maybe that's why the dubbed South Indian movies too get applause from audiences. In some moments the character is too loud too. Being a die hard fan of Amitabh Bachchan ,director R.Balki has always given him the best characters but here he

has given too much importance to the actor and  has stretched the character too much which does not work well. On the other hand Dhanush has done a superb job as the mute Danish. He has lots of scenes where he have to perform without any dialogues and probably even harder was to match the baritone of Mr. Bachchan and perform accordingly but Dhanush managed both quite well with voice (of other actor) and without voice.

Akshara Hasan has made a confident debut, though her character is half baked and she does not get enough scope to perform but still the lady in black attire manages to grab attention. Although she needs to improve in two departments, her dialogue delivery needs to improved which sounds very flat and the other one is her hairstyle which almost covers half of her beautiful face.

As a director R.Balki has worked very well but he should have more control on him while writing the screenplay and should not have stretch the idea too much. He has managed to take good work by his actors and the technical team but still it does not match the expectation levels set by him with his earlier works as a director.

Among the technical team who impressed the most is the cinematographer P.C.Sreeram he has shot the film very well. The background score by Illayraja also goes well with scenes.

There is very less scope of songs in the story but two songs "Ishq-Fillum" and "Pidly" are good songs. The lyrics of the song "Ishq-Fillum" penned by Swanand Kirkire describes teh madness about movies very well. The choreography in the song "Sannata" has been done well by Bosco-Ceaser though the song does not add much value to the story rather it acts as an interruption.

On a whole "Shamitabh" is a movie invented from a brilliant idea which has been stretched a bit too much but still it manages to impress for its brilliant performers. It brings a valuable question what makes an actor to be popular his looks, his acting , his voice or all of those together in right proportion? Go and watch the film for Ishq of Fillum(love for movies).

Best Directors of Bengali Cinema in 2014

2014 was a very good year for Bengali cinema, though not in terms of business but in terms of good quality films. Thanks to the new brigade of directors with interesting subjects and a fresh approach to tell the subject. Following is the list of the top five directors of Bengali cinema in 2014 based on their creativity.

1.Srijit Mukherjee - From 2010 Bengali movie lovers have got an amazing director Srijit Mukherjee, who has changed the way of film making in Bengali cinema. Since 2010 he is

continuously giving us wonderful films every year but in 2014 Bengali cine-goers were more than lucky as Srijit Mukherjee came with not one rather two brilliant films. The first one was "Jaatishwar" and it was followed by "Chatushkone" later. With both these movies he once again proved his versatility of choosing subjects. "Jaatishwar" was a twisted tale of reincarnation based on the life of Antony Firingy and "Chatushkone" was an interesting thriller based on the personal and professional equation of four film directors coming from different world of cinema. With every new film Srijit Mukherjee crosses the expectation limits set by his own previous films and he did the same with his two 2014 releases. In spite of having totally different subjects both the film has the common ingredients of a Srijit Mukherjee film an engaging story, a fresh approach to tell the story, a well sound technical crew, an appropriate ensemble cast and of course super hit music.  
Another added attraction was that "Jaatishwar" received three national awards too.
We are eagerly waiting for Srijit Mukherjee's two 2015 releases "Nirbaak" and "Raj Kahini".

2.Kaushik Ganguly -  Kaushik Ganguly has done specialization in telling unconventional stories. He can choose a subject about which others can not even dream of. In 2014 too he

continued this with his two releases "Apur Panchali" and "Khaad". "Apur Panchali" was about the life of the child artist Subir Banerjee who had played the young Apu in Satyajit Ray's classic "Paather Panchali". With his wonderful vision Kaushik Ganguly showed us how similar was Subir Banerjee's real life and Apu's reel life, blending the footage's of original Satyajit Ray classic very well in the screenplay. The another film directed by Kaushik Ganguly was "Khaad" which was based on the fate of the passengers on a bus journey who caught with an accident. The main highlight of the story was the inner message about the journey of a soul from this real world to the surreal world leaving behind all the pains , guilt and other dark secrets. For both the films Kaushik Ganguly had chosen a set of brilliant actors and a talented technical team. Content wise always Kaushik Ganguly's film are the winners but the good thing about his 2014 releases was that the movies got good response at ticket windows too.
We are very much hopeful about his two 2015 releases "Chhotoder Chhabi" and "Cinemawala".

3.Shiboprasad Mukherjee & Nandita Roy -  With their each and every film

Shiboprasad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy has proved that story is the main hero of their film and with their 2014 release "Raamdhanu" they have proved it once again. There was no big star in this movie, Shiboprasad himself was the leading man and Gargi Roychoudhury was the leading lady who has hardly played any leading role before. The film deal with the problems of the young parent what they are face to get their child admitted to a good school. The director duo has given us the very beautiful message through their film that we should focus on best education not on best school. But in spite of giving a social message they never compromised with entertainment quotient. The screenplay had been written so skillfully providing enough scope for comic relief as well as for emotional connect too. With its engaging story with which everyone can relate and some heart touching performances the film got a good response from the audiences and became a box office hit.
Another moment of joy came for the director duo and their fans in 2014 when they received the first ever Filmfare award for Bengali movies for the Best Director for their 2013 release "Aleek Sukh".
We are looking forward to the director duo's 2015 release "Bela Shese".

4.Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury - With his first three films as a director AniruddhaRoychowdhury had already made a name as a filmmaker who makes movies based onhuman relationship but in 2014 Aniruddha Roychowdhury came out of his comfort zone and made a crime thriller "Bunohaans". It was based on a novel by the same name ,written by Samaresh Majumdar. The story was about a innocent guy Amal from Kolkata who got trapped in the world of crime for the need of money. With this film Aniruddha Roychowdhury showed his skills as a brilliant director and proved his talent is not limited to a particular zone only. He took another bold step by taking commercial film stars Dev and Shrabanti to act in performance based roles and he succeeded in that too. The movie got a huge opening and it became a moderate hit at the box office.

5.Anjan Dutta-  Anjan Dutta has made a lot of movies in last 7 years with subjects varying

to different zones but as a director he gave his best film till date in 2014 as "Byomkesh Phire Elo". It was the third installment of his Byomkesh series based on the story "Benisanghar" by Sharadindu Mukhupadhyay. As director he passed with distinction marks in every aspect of film making in this film whether it was casting good actors in perfectly  fit roles or converting the story to an engaging screenplay keeping the audiences interest intact or recreating the era of old age Calcutta of 70s on screen.

We are very much hopeful about the director's next installments of Byomkesh movies and also we are eager to know whom he will cast as the next Byomkesh as Abir Chatterjee is not going to play the role anymore.

Apart from these extremely talented directors we also loved the following:
Soumik Chatterjee - Chirodini Tumi Je Amar 2
Birsa Dashgupta - Galpo Holeo Satyi
Atanu Ghosh - Ek Phali Rodh

Bengali Movies To Watch Out For In 2015

Movie	Director	Cast	Reason To Watch
Ebar Shabor	Arindam Shil	Saswata Chatterjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Abir Chatterjee, Payel Sarkar, June Malia, Ritwick Chakraborty, Rahul Banerjee	The ensemble cast featuring a group of talented actors. It is introducing a new detective Shabar Dashgupta in Bengali movies.
Open Tee Bioscope	Anindya Chattopadhyay	Riddhi Sen,Surangana,Rajatava Dutta, Sudipta Chakraborty	Chandrabindoo man Anindya Chattpadhyay is making his directorial debut with this and we are hopeful about his direction. Some talented actors in the cast. The subject is very interesting which takes us to down memory lane of the 90s decade.
Chotoder Chobi	Kaushik Ganguly	Dulal Sarkar, Debalina Roy	It is directed by Kaushik Ganguly so obviously there is an expectation from him. The subject is very unique which deals about the life and pain of the short height-ed people. The film has already got lots of awards and appreciation at different Film festivals.
Roga Howar Shohoj Upay	Debaloy Bhattacharya	Parambrata Chatterjee, Raima Sen, Riya Sen	The title itself suggests it will be a interesting comedy. The leading cast is also attention grabbing specially two sisters Riya and Raima coming togather once again.
Boss 2	Baba Yadav	Jeet, Subhashree Ganguly	It is the sequel to blockbuster hit Boss. Jeet is still ruling the commercial masala films market.
Nirbaak	Srijit Mukherjee	Sushmita Sen, Jishu Sengupta	It is directed by Srijit Mukherjee. It is marking the debut of the talented actress Sushmita Sen in bengali movies.
Raj Kahini	Srijit Mukherjee	Rituparna Sengupta,Kaushik Sen, Abir Chatterjee, Sudipta Chakraborty ,Parno Mitra	The director is Srijit Mukherjee. It has an ensemble cast of so many talented actors including nine ladies of different ages. It is marking the comeback of Rituprana Sengupta to the Venkatesh Films banner and also she is working with Srijit Mukherjee for the first time.
Arshinagar	Aparna Sen	Dev, Rittika Sen	The director is Aparna Sen. Dev is working for the first time with Aparna Sen. It is the first ever adaptation of Romeo and Juliet in Bengali cinema.
Cinemawalah	Kaushik Ganguly	Parambrata Chatterjee, Sohini Sarkar , Kamaleshwar Mukherjee	The director is Kaushik Ganguly. The fresh pairing of Parambrato Chatterjee and Sohini Sarkar. After leaving an impression in "Khaad" , once again Kamaleshwar Mukherjee will be acting in an important role.
Untitled Love Story	Kamaleshwar Mukherjee	Prasenjit Chatterjee, Paoli Dam	Director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee has made so many good movies earlier so we hope he will do the magic once again. Prasenjit Chatterjee is also an added attraction as the leading man.
Nirbashito	Churni Ganguli	Churni Ganguli	Extremely talented actress Churni Ganguly is making her directorial debut with this movie. It is based on the life of controversial author Taslima Nasrin. This movie has been already appreciated in many Film festivals.
Anubrato Bhalo Achho	Partha Sen	Swastika Mukherjee, Ritwick Chakraborty	For the first time two talented actors Swastika Mukherjee and Ritwick Chakraborty are getting paired togather. This movie has been already got lots of appreciation in many national and International Film festivals.
Bela Sheshe	Nandita Roy , Shiboprasad Mukherjee	Rituparna Sengupta, Soumitra Chatterjee	The director duo Nandita and Shiboprasad has always made good movies which does good business too. They always choose a subject which is very unconventional.
Shunyo	Rudranil Ghosh	Anjan Dutta, Kaushik Ganguli, Tanushree	Extremely talented actor Rudranil Ghosh is wearing the director’s hat for first time for this movie. We are hopeful that he will choose a good subject and treat it well.
Kadambari	Suman Ghosh	Konkona Sensharma, Parambrata Chatterjee, kaushik Sen	The story revolves around the life of Kadambari Devi, sister in law of Rabindranath Tagore. Also it gives a view of the inner world of Jorasanko Thakur bari. The cast includes some very good actors leading with Konkona Sensharama, Parambrata Chatterjee, Kaushik Sen.
Shesher Kobita	Suman Mukherjee	Rahul Bose, Konkona Sensharma, Swastika Mukherjee	The movie is based on the famous novel written by Rabindranath Tagore. Looking forward to see the chemistry between Rahul Bose and Konkona Senshrma once again as Amit Ray and Labanya. Also Swastika is looking promising as Ketaki.
Cross Connection 2	Abhijit Guha, Sudeshna Roy	Shayan Munshi , Tanushree	Its prequel was a good film and a surprise hit.
Kathmundu	Raj Chakraborty	Abir Chatterejee,Soham Chakraborty, Shrabanti, Mimi Chakraborty, Rudranil Ghosh, Shaswata Chatterjee	Raj Chakraborty is once again making a movie with a original script. It is a out an out comedy. The startcast includes lots of talented as well as popular actors.
Family Album	Mainak Bhaumik	Swastika Mukherjee, Paoli Dam	Mainak Bhaumick is back with yet another controversial subject. The two talented leading ladies.
Teenkhon	Bauddhayan Mukherjee	Sabyasachi Chakraborty	It has got good response at many Film festivals across India.
Abby Sen	Atanu Ghosh	Abir Chatterjee, Raima Sen	After two back to back success in 2014 we are very much hopeful about Abir Chatterjee
Bitnoon	Abhijit Guha, Sudeshna Roy	Ritwick Chakraborty, Gargi Roychoudhury	It is a comedy based on the side effects of marriage. The fresh pairing of Ritwick and Gargi. Both are wonderful actors.
Naba Jibon Bima Company	Swaroop Ghosh	Shrabanti, Soham Chakraborty	It is a comedy based on th emarketing company of Bengali film industry. The successful pair of Soham and Shrabanti.
Cholochitro Circus	Mainak Bhaumik	Paayel Sarkar, Paoli, Tanusree Chakraborty, Neel Mukhopadhyay, Ritwick Chakraborty, Sudiptaa Chakraborty	The director Mainak Bahumick. The ensemble cast.
Himmat	Ravi Kinagi	Dev , Koyel	Superhit pair of Dev and Koyel.
Herogiri	Ravi Kinagi	Dev , Koyel , Mithun Chakraborty	Superhit pair of Dev and Koyel.
Shatru 2	Raja Chanda	Jeet , Nusrat Jahan	Superstar Jeet is the leading man here. It’s the sequel to the big hit "Shatru"
Amanush 2	Rajib Biswas	Soham Chakraborty , Payel Sarkar	It’s the sequel to the successful film "Amanush". The hit pair of Soham and Payel is coming back opposite each other  after a long time.
Ekti Galpo	Debaloy Bhattacharya	Soham Chakraborty , Shubhashree Ganguly	The leading man Soham Chakraborty