Review of Bengali movie Amanush 2

"Amanush 2" is not a continuation of its prequel neither in terms of story nor in terms of film making style.The only similarity is that the production house, Director and the leading man is same. Just like "Amanush" ,this is also a story of a man dealing with his psychological problems but this time he is not doing all the inhuman activities to get his lady love rather he is doing all these in search of a new identity to leave his past behind.

The story begins with Raghu a young teenager in Siliguri. His life became hell when his father committed suicide after knowing about the extra marital affair of his mother.To take revenge he kills his mother and he has to go to the remand home until he becomes adult Raghu (Soham Chakraborty). After coming out from jail Raghu tries to make a new start in his life but no one is ready to give him a fresh chance due to his past records. In such a situation Raghu gets an unpredictable opportunity during a bus journey from Siliguri to Kolkata, when his co-passenger Salim dies in the bus accident. Raghu takes Salim's identity proofs and decides to get a fresh start in his life being Salim, who was going to join Medical college in Kolkata. In his college Raghu who is Salim now befriends with Ashok (Anindya Chatterjee), a rich kid who likes to enjoy everything in life but study. Salim and Ashok starts to live in a same apartment where he becomes friend with Ashok's girlfriend Riya (Payel Sarkar) and his other friends. After becoming Salim , Raghu starts dreaming about a good future but is it possible to live whole life with this fake identity? Will it be possible for him to hide his past from his friends? Up to how much extent he has to go to survive with his false identity, that develops the rest of the story.

It is a south Indian movie's remake but unlike other commercial Bengali movies the treatment is more subtle here, there is no routine song and dance and foreign location sequences in this film rather the look and feel is more realistic. But the thing which is missing in this realistic set up is an authentic story. The basic idea of the story is still reliable but it has been stretched a bit too much which make it highly unconvincing. In the first half it took too much time to setup the story which makes it very slow in pace. Although the story picks up in the second half after a surprising twist just before the interval. But again in second half after a point of time it looses its track. The actions taken by the protagonist looks totally confusing and  it is very tough to identify with whatever he is doing with his fake identity.

As a director Rajib Kumar has changed his style of film making a lot in comparison to his earlier masala entertainers. He has succeeded too some extent in the new approach of story telling making the look of the film more believable. But he looses points in developing a gripping story and characters.  We hope to see more improvement in his movies in future.

Among the cast members there is no doubt it is a one man show by Soham Chakraborty. He has got the best role to showcase his acting talent and he has done a fair job as the psychologically challenged protagonist. He has handled the grey character effortlessly. 
Among the rest of the cast it is Anindya Chatterjee has shined in probably the best role of his character so far.Here he has got a character which is more than just a friend of the leading man and he has utilized this chance in the best possible way within his limits.
Rajesh Sharma appears in a cameo in last 20 minutes and he lefts his impression in the small screen time. Payel Sarkar has nothing much to do apart from looking glamorous.

As the movie has skipped the routine song and dance sequences so there is not much scope of music in the film. Still the songs in background and background score works for the movie. It is not a kind of movie where technical team is extraordinary but there job is okay.

Overall it is an average film which may look boring to commercial movie lovers because of lack of commercial ingredients. For the audiences who are looking something beyond just commercial movies it can worth a watch in spite of its unconvincing plot because of the wonderful performance of the leading man.

Review of Bengali Film Bitnoon

Abhijit Guha and Sudenshna Roy have made their own brand of films in recent past where they made light hearted films about urban people, for urban audiences. Sometime they got success too but not every time. Last year they had tried to focus on the subject of post marital issues, after having kids how the equation between husband and wife changes, in the film "Biye Not Out". It did not worked at all may be that's why they came back with another movie "Bitnoon" with almost similar topic only with more reliable actors and some added glamour.

The subject of "Bitnoon" is very cliche it has been told so many times in so many movies in different languages. When a married couples love life or better said sex life goes stagnant as

the wife gets busy with household works and kids then the husband have to look out for an extra marital affair to add some spice to his boring life. Here it is the story of a not so young married couple Rahul (Ritwick Chakraborty) and Mousumi (Gargi Roychoudhury) who are happily married with a school going kid. But after having their son they don't get much scope to have sex. As a result both of them are frustrated but still their life is going on as they have no other option. But one day Rahul gets an opportunity to make an exciting friendship with an attractive girl Rusha (Sayani Ghosh). Very soon their friendship becomes something more than just friendship and they start liking each other. Rusha is all aware of Rahul's marital status from the beginning, but still she moves on with the relationship. After spending some more time with Rahul she start feeling the need of marriage with Rahul. Now Rahul is in a dilemma to chose between his family and responsibility or his love for Rusha. Finally  in the climax he comes to a conclusion which is very cliche and politically correct and everyone have seen that so many times. Although there is a twist in the tale in the final reel but that too is not totally unpredictable and does not add any extra value.

No matter how cliche the story is but still there are lots of scope of entertainment and lots of script writers have made hilarious comedy out of extra marital affair stories but unfortunately screenplay writer Padmanava Dasgupta could not do that with the script of "Bitnoon".Except for the opening sequence, from the beginning the story looks very tired

and boring. The monotonous marital life of Rahul and Mousumi makes the audiences more bore than the protagonists on the screen. Even after addition of the character of Rusha people expect to have some funny moments but it is missing. Also Rahul and Rusha come close to each other so rapidly that it looks very unconvincing, specially where Rahul is still in love with his wife then why he gets attracted to Rusha so easily and Rusha almost jumps to have an affair with a married man that too without any purpose as if he is not getting any other good guy for having an affair. So the track of Rahul and Rusha looks very much forced. Although there are some funny moments in the second half when Rahul goes for a secret outing with Rusha at a resort , but that too does not stayed long. The climax of course is very cliche and no one cares about the decision taken by Rahul or Rusha because their relationship was not convincing enough from the beginning so no  one is bothered about their future.The dialogues are very ordinary and not funny at all.

As directors Abijit Guha and Sudeshna Roy has done an average job. They have chosen a very old story and also presented in the same way, the way we have seen such stories so many times. It could not be a story of any perfect zone, neither its a comedy nor a serious drama about extra marital relationship. The treatment to the film is very much kind of short films made for television. 

There are three main characters and all the main three leads are dependable actors which is a good thing about the movie. It is refreshing to watch Ritwick Chakraborty in well educated high ranking officer's role otherwise he was too much repetitive as lower middle class para guy type of roles in his last few films. Ritwick has played his part honestly , his fear , his dilemma , his longing for sex looks real on screen. He is a good actor and has done good job in the limited scope of such type cast husband role.
The same can not be said for the leading lady of the film Gargi Roychoudhury. She has played the similar role of a housewife in "Raamdhanu" last year and it looks like she is just doing a continuation of the same role of a housewife busy with husband, kid and household works. In fact a good actress like her who can light up the screen in just a cameo has not been given a good role here. Still she tries to do her job quite well and she looks very natural in her performance.
The spice part of this boring story is Sayani Ghosh. She is very flamboyant , chirpy , bubbly kind of girl with fresh energy just like her onscreen character Rusha. She does her part very well, only in the dancing sequences she looks little fat and her dancing was also not that good provided she play a professional dancer. But if we can overlook that part then she is good in the rest of the movie. Though her character is half baked but with her smart presence and good acting she makes up for that.

The technical team has done just an okay job. Although the film is just 108 minutes but it still looks stretched specially in the first half may be the editor could have done a better job in that case. There are some issue with sound designing too. Every time in the film.when a song is playing on TV, the songs video and and audio does not match. As the songs playing on TV are so much popular that it is difficult to overlook that.
The music has been composed by Raghav-Sudeen duo who have made their debut as music composers. Their first film album has nothing good to offer , the songs has been used in background in the movie and does have any added value in them.

Over all it is just an average movie about the post married life crisis. The film has nothing new to offer. The film can be avoided without any doubt unless you have any other option to spend time or you are a die hard fan of Ritwick Chakraborty. 

Review of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy

Byomkesh Bakshy is a very familiar fictional sleuth for Bengalis all over India and so many directors have tried their own adaptation of Byomkesh from TV series to movies in Bengali. But for the non-bengali audiences the only reference point to Byomkesh is the old TV series featuring Rajit Kapoor as Byomkesh , the smart detective from Calcutta in dhoti kurta. But most of the today's generation have hardly seen that old TV series on DD National. Yashraj films and Dibakar Banerjee have taken a good initiative to bring back the old detective from the pages of literature to the big screen in theaters.

But one thing should be made very clear that although the makers have taken rights of all Sharadindu Bandopadhyay novels about Byomkesh but for the first movie they have used only the backdrop and some leading characters from the original text the rest of the story is not based on any of Byomkesh novel. Dibakar banerjee and Urmi Javekar has written a totally new story in the backdrop of Calcutta in 1943 during the world war II season.

The story traces the journey of Byomkesh Bakshy of becoming a detective from a just passed out college graduate. Unlike other Byomkesh stories, here Byomkesh is not a professional detective rather he is looking for a job of some lecturer to settle in his life. But all of a

sudden, a wannabe author Ajit Banerjee (Anand Tiwari) comes to him with a case of his missing father Bhuvan Banerjee. With some initial curiosity Byomkesh agrees to take the case and starts his investigation. During his investigation he meets lots of suspect persons among them some have some connection to the disappearance of Bhuvan Banerjee. Byomkesh have to figure out among the persons in his suspect list who are actually connected with this issue and how. Doing his further investigation Byomkesh senses the big danger around this conspiracy, it is not just that a person is missing only, their is some large conspiracy around that like opium smuggling, threat from Japan and safety issue of Calcutta. How he solves the mystery and saves his city is the climax.One thing should be told about this story that it is a murder mystery but the revelation at end lacks shock value as if you are a regular to the mystery movies then you can sense who is the culprit much before than Byomkesh. Moreover it deals with so many issues and characters specially in the second half that it becomes too much complicated to keep track of each character so finally when the truth is revealed you are not much bothered about the fate of all the persons associated with it. Still that could have been overlooked if it would have been a bit faster and if there would have been some interesting twists in between. Although the mystery is  not that gripping but it is interesting at some points specially in first half where Byomkesh explains how he got his clues the audiences will like the guessing game. Another good thing is that throughout the film it has been maintained that Byomkesh is a learner,he is intelligent, smart but still he too makes mistakes, even he is not very much comfortable to see blood and this scenes are justified with his character.

As a director Dibakar Banerjee has done a wonderful job. Directing a detective story that too set in a periodic era is a new thing for him and he has shown his brilliance as a director in this new territory. He has carefully created the era and the characters. And we are thankful to him for showing Calcutta in a fresh way unlike the cliche way other Bollywood directors normally shows.

Among the actors it is Sushant Singh Rajput in the title role who has steal the show. After his debut film two years ago Sushant has once again proved himself. His body language, mannerisms are too perfect for the role of Bengali young guy of pre-independent India. With

his wonderful acting he has made his character of a novice detective more believable. Just like his character Ajit who is kind of assistant cum friend to Byomkesh , Anand Tiwari has given superb support. He too has perfectly adapted the old age mannerisms. Anand Tiwari is a very good actor and he hardly gets chance to show his talent in Bollywood films, after his wonderful job in "Go Goa Gone" few years ago, he is superb once again in this movie. We are hopeful if their would be a Byomkesh franchise then we will be able to see more of him. Another actor who shines very well is Neeraj Kabi. Though he is comparatively newer in mainstream movies but he has done a fabulous job as Dr, Anukul Guha, the owner of the hotel where Bhuban used to stay before his disappearance. His performance is very natural except for last few minutes where he unnecessarily does over the top acting. Although it is indeed a mystery why such a good actor need to do such over acting.Bengali actress Swastika Mukherjee has made a confident debut in Hindi movies as the seductress Angooribala Devi. She is very confident in doing skin show and adds glamour to the story. Acting wise she has not much to do but she impresses with her sexy avatar. Another new find Divya Menon has nothing much to do as Satyabadi and she is just functional may be in the next installments we can see more of her as Byomkesh's wife. There are some other actors from Bengal, China, Japan and America who have been perfectly cast as per their role and does a fair job.

The technical team has done a commendable job to recreate the era of 1943 so beautifully.

The research has been done very well and it shows.The story totally syncs with that era and the backdrop or the look and feel never looks like that it is too loud and attention seeking. The cinematography done by Nikos Andritsakis is wonderful. The production design by Vandana Kataria is very realistic, each and every prop has been used wonderfully to give the look and feel of old Calcutta. The costumes designed by Manoshi Nath and Rushi Sharama looks very authentic and the research work shows. Also not to forget Manish Malhotra for giving Angoori Devi the seductive look. The visual effects by Prana studios have also played an important role in recreating the periodic era.

The music which has been mostly used in background is good and goes well with the movie though the experimental use of hard rock in the background may not work for all but its nice to hear something different and experimental.

Overall it is well made film with superb periodic details. The story lacks punches but still with the good performances by the leading cast it can be overlooked. But if you are a die hard fan of Byomkesh created by Sharadindu Bandopadhyay then you should give it a miss as it will be tough for you to accept this version of Byomkesh.

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.

A quick update of Bollywood in 1st quarter of 2015

The first quarter of 2015 was not so good for Bollywood as per box office business. There was not a single 100cr film only few movies fared well at the box office that too because of their low budget. Very few big budget movies were released specially from the second half of February and the month of March because of the world cup cricket season. But quality wise it was not so bad ,there were some movies which were not made with big stars or big budget but the movies were very well made and got appreciated by both critics as well as audiences.

Lets have a quick month wise recap of the Hindi movies in first quarter of 2015.

January

The first big release of the year 2015 was Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha starer "Tevar". It was a full on commercial south Indian remake and trade analysts were hopeful with this

movie considering the box office success of Arjun Kapoor's last few releases and the pre-release buzz of the film but in spite of getting a good opening weekend collection it became flop on the final run. It was followed by Bipasha Basu starer "Alone" which did average business due to the onscreen as well as off screen sizzling chemistry of Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover but it also could not be a successful film. There were some other flops too like Sonam Kapoor starer "Dolly Ki Doli" , Ayushmana Khurranna starer "Haawaizada" and Bhatt camps horex (horror + sex) movie "Khamoshiyan". The only successful movie of this month was "Baby". The successful combination of director Neeraj Pandey and actor Akshay Kumar got a good response from both classes and masses. It was an action thriller about the secret agents and their fight against terrorism. This movie was released in the long weekend of Republic day and got an advantage of that too. Also the good word of mouth publicity and good reviews helped the movie to continue good revenues till 3rd -4th week. Though it could not make it to 100cr club but so far it is the highest grossing film of year 2015 with a collection of around 95cr.

February

The month of February started with Big B starer "Shamitabh". Trade analyst and Big B fans were very much hopeful with the combination of director R. Balki and Amitabh Bachchan but this combination did not work this time. Although the performance by

Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush was very much appreciated but the story did not worked in favor of this duo. The next release was the valentine day special "Roy". It got the biggest opening of 2015 so far considering it was a Ranbir Kapoor starer after a gap of almost one and half years and also for the superhit music of the film. But in actual, Ranbir Kapoor was just in an extended cameo in the movie and leading man was Arjun Rampal. Very soon people realized the fact that it is not a Ranbir Kapoor film and its collections kept dropping rapidly. On the final run it became just an average earner that too because of the big opening weekend collection. Next big release of this month was Sriram Raghavan directed revenge drama "Badlapur" featuring Varun Dhawan in a character ,totally opposite to his screen image. It was

a well made engaging thriller with good story and wonderful performances specially by Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Huma Qureishi. The music was also a big hit. It got a good opening for the presence of Varun Dhawan and later it continued the good business at box office because of the good reviews as well as good word of mouth publicity. Finally it earned more than 50 cr at the box office and became a hit. The last release of this month was "Dum Laga Ke Haisha" a small budget film from a big banner, Yashraaj films. Aditya Chopra was very much sure that the heart touching story will work for the movie so he kept its promotions in very low profile.Even it was released in comparatively smaller scale. As a result it got a poor opening but due to the positive reviews and feedback, the film did good business later and finally became a surprise hit considering its small budget. A thing that should be mentioned about the business of this movie is its lifetime box office collection was three times than its opening week collection which is very rare in today's times.The sequel to "Ab Tak Chhappan" also came in the last week of February but could not repeat the magic of the first part and went unnoticed. 

March

The month of March saw so many small budget movies which was neither have star

power nor have a good content, like "The Dirty Politics" featuring Mallika Shehrawat, "Dilliwaili Zaalim Girlfriend", "Hey Bro", "Badmaashiyaan" etc. As expected all these movies flopped badly at the ticket windows. The only film which shines perfectly in this month was "NH10", a well made thriller in a limited budget. But for a good movie, its content works more than its marketing and same happened for "NH10". It was an edge of the seat thriller with brilliant acting lead by Anushka Sharma. It got an average opening and later for its wonderful reviews and feedback it did a good business and became a hit with around 28 cr collections. Later another movie came in March which got some good reviews and an average collection and it was "Hunterr", the directorial debut of Harshvardhan Kulkrani.  It was an adult comedy about a sex addict person which stars no big star and have almost zero publicity but still it manages to earn more than 10cr because of its good content. No matter how vulgar  the subject was but the treatment was very nice and the actors lead by Gulshan Deveiah and Radhika Apte had done a wonderful job.

On a whole the first quarter have provided some good movies but did not provided good amount of money at the box office. We are hopeful about the next quarter which have some big releases lined up to release specially in the month of May and June.

Best Films of Q1 2015

• Baby
• Badlapur-Dont Miss The Beginning
• Dum Laga Ke Haisha
• NH10

Top Performers of Q1 2015:

Actors:

• Akshay Kumar - Baby
• Amitabh Bachchan - Shamitabh 
• Dhanush - Shamitabh
• Varun Dhawan - Badlapur
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui - Badlapur 
• Ayushmann Khurrana -Dum Laga Ke Haisha
• Raj Kumar Rao  - Dolly Ki Doli
• Sanjay Mishra - Dum Laga Ke Haisha
• Gulshan Deveiah - Hunterr

Actresses:

• Bhumi Pednekar - Dum Laga Ke Haisha
• Anushka Sharma - NH10
• Huma Qureishi - Badlapur
• Radhika Apte - Badlapur
• Sheeba Chaddha - Dum Laga Ke Haisha
• Seema Pahwa - Dum Laga Ke Haisha
• Sonam Kapoor - Dolly Ki Doli
• Radhika Apte - Hunterr

Top Songs of Q1 2015:

• Khamoshiyaan, Batein Ye Kabhi Na - Khamoshiyaan
• Suraj Dooba Hai, Tu Hai Ki Nahin,Chitiyaan Kalaiyaan - Roy
• Jee Karda, Jeena, Judaai - Badlapur
• Chheel Gaye Naina - NH10

Review of NH10

Few years ago director Navdeep Singh had made an unconventional suspense thriller "Manorama Six Feet Under" which goes almost unnoticed in spite of being a good film but this time he has been more lucky to get a better subject as well as to get a mainstream actress Anushka Sharma as the main lead of his latest film "NH10" and both these factors have worked in favor of this movie and it has got a good pre-release buzz.
It is an intense, engaging, hard hitting film which targets the the difference in the mindset of the urban and rural India.It also tries to loud its voice against violence and discrimination against woman in India and tries to teach how to cop up with it.

The story begins with a happily married urban couple in Delhi, Arjun(Neil Bhoopalam) and

Meera(Anushka Sharma). They make a plan to spend a holiday in a private villa at the outskirts of Delhi  to celebrate Meera's birthday but destiny have planned something else for them. During their journey on the National Highway they stop at a roadside dhaba for lunch and there they see some local villagers are beating a couple badly. Arjun tries to intervene but it goes against him and unwillingly he brings himself and Meera in danger  as they witness the gang of the villagers to kill the newly married couple. After that it follows a typical cat and mouse chase of Arjun and Meera to survive from the gang of ruthless killers in a unknown jungle where some unknown danger is waiting for them at every corner. In her different attempt to survive , Meera tries to get help from every possible person whether it is car driver passing by the highway or the local policemen or a local migrant labor or the sarpanch of the nearby village but she fails to bring help for her and her husband. Later she realizes that she have to help herself , to survive among the killers she has to be like them and have to fight back.

The story is inspired by the English movie"Eden Lake" but it has been scripted very well by Sudeep Sharma , in Indian backdrop raising some burning issues in India in today's times. Very effectively it highlights how different is the mentality of people in rural areas from the the residents of metro cities though the geographical distance is not too much. Although the film took more than required time around 10 minutes to introduce the urban lifestyle of Arjun and Meera in the beginning but once they start their road journey the screenplay takes its pace and after that you will never feel bore rather you will get involved unknowingly with Arjun and Meera in their journey. The script is so engaging that after sometime you will start caring for the safety of Arjun and Meera. The climax is also superb and deserves rounds of applause for the way the character of Meera fights back with courage.

The screenplay has all the elements of an edge of the seat thriller as it maintains the tension till the end and also keeps throwing surprising twists in the regular intervals as a result in spite of being an uni-dimensional story it never feels monotonous or boring. But only one thing should have been done in a better way and that is the way Arjun involves himself in the danger. The writers could have think a better situation for that.
There is some other good points of the script that makes it a better watch than an average thriller and that is the social message it tries to deliver that too very silently without giving over the top dramatic dialoguebaazi, through some small references. Like there is a reference of how a toll tax collector gets killed by someone just to prove his power or how simply a policeman demonstrates that democracy is a meaningless word once you crossed the last mall of Gurgaon. There is reference how woman are unsafe even in big cities and how their hard work is considered as a special favor from their boss for being a girl.Also there is the brutal honor killing sequence where a couple is killed just because they have chosen their life partner from the same gotra. This small moments will surely force the audience to think about the current situation of our country. The dialogues penned by Sudeep Sharma is very realistic and effective.

As a director Navdeep Singh has hits the bulls eye. From choosing a good subject to presenting it in a proper way to the audience, he has done it very effectively.He has created such a realistic world that while watching the film the audience will find  themselves in the center of the action. Very efficiently he has created the contrast between the two different worlds.

The whole cast of the film is perfect in their roles. As the leading lady Anushka Sharma

is excellent. She is the hero of the film in every sense. There is no doubt it is the best character of her career to showcase her talent and she has given more than 100 percent to utilize this opportunity. Her transformation from a young educated professional in a big city to the helpless woman fighting for survival in an unknown territory is superb. In the climax for around 10 minutes there is hardly any dialogue but by her impressive eyes and body language Anushka Sharma has succeeded to convey the mindset of her character Meera, very clearly. Anushka Sharma's portrayal of Meera will be remembered as one of the finest performances done by the any Indian actress ever.

Among the other actors , Neil Bhoopalam is very impressive in a comparatively short role. He looks genuine as scared and wounded Arjun who is struggling for his own life and his

wife's safety. Darshan Kumar who was last seen in "Mary Kom" has played a totally different role in his second movie as the menace, ruthless Satbir who can kill his own sister effortlessly in the name of her families honor. Darshan Kumar shines very well in this negative role and his acting his credible enough that the audiences will hate him for his brutal act. Deepti Naval appears in a cameo in a role which gives a surprise element in the story and she is impressive in her small appearance. Among the supporting cast Ravi Jhankal is effective as Mamajee in Satbir's brutal gang.
The rest of the cast has provided good support in their small roles. The credit should be given to the casting director for casting such nice actors in the supporting roles.

The technical team has done a fine job to give this film a realistic look and feel. The cinematography by Arvind Kannabiran is very impressive. Most of the film has been shot in night and the light arrangement is wonderful. The editing by Jabeen Merchant is very sharp as required for fast paced thriller only the first 10 minutes portion in Delhi could have shortened a bit. Special mention should be given for the sound design for the film which is very authentic. Another special mention is deserved by the make up artiste and stylist of the actors. As the story is of just one night that too is very eventful so the make up artist have a huge responsibility to maintain the continuity of the look of the characters.

There is hardly any scope for music and the all the songs has been used in background and are just functional has not much impact on the film. The only song which works well is the song "Maati Ka Palang" in the climax.

On a whole it is hard hitting thriller which is brave enough to show the reality of today's burning India without compromising its brutality. Don't just go for entertainment rather watch this thought provoking movie and salute the brave attempt of the team. Also watch the film for the arresting performance by the leading lady of the film Anushka Sharma.

Review of Bengali film Bheetu

After making his directorial debut with a satire "Half Serious" director Utsav Mukherjee is back in a totally different form with a dark thriller with "Bheetu".In his second movie he tried a totally different way to deal with the dark side of human psychology.

It is a story of two sisters Rohini (Sudeepta Chakraborty) and Sohini (Parno Mitra). Both of them do not share a good rapport though Rohini loves her younger sister Sohini very much but Sohini is not very fond of her elder sister. Because she always thinks that when she used

to be abused by one of her uncle in her childhood, her elder sister could have save her from that but she did not managed to get the courage to protest that. So Sohini has not forgiven her elder sister. Both the sisters have their own problems too in their lives to deal with. Rohini has became a handicapped due to a fatal accident and for her physical disability her husband (Anindya Banerjee) wants to divorce her and also he wants to take back their daughter Jojo with him. All this mental stress has made Rohini mentally too weak to resist against anything. She doesn't have the courage to protest for herself or for her family. On the other hand Sohini is confident working woman who lives her life on her own terms. She has a boyfriend Andy(Saheb bahttacharya) and she is happy with him. But somewhere in the deep in her mind she is yet to recover the trauma of her disturbed childhood but she tries to hide her fear within herself and at least tries to protest if something is going wrong with her. There is another important character too who has a large impact on Sohini's life and he is Ronny(Ritwick Chakraborty) a waiter by profession at Andy's father's restaurant. Ronny is a pervert with psychological disorder. He is too much obsessive about Sohini and can go to any extent to get her. He has an unsatisfied sexual life and he does very absurd things for that like capturing  videos of girls in his mobile or collecting under garments of women. In the beginning Ronny started as a stalker but later his obsession for Sohini grows much more and at one point Sohini also understands that. Now how Sohini will fight back against Ronny and will Rohini can help her this time by overcoming her internal fear that forms the climax.

The subject is relatively fresh and rare for Bengali movies but the screenplay is not a smooth one to justify the subject totally. The screenplay has its low points and high points it does

not go in a same pace. It starts in a promising note where we can see two young girls have been raped and murdered by a group of goons. Later the story shifts to the two sister's personal life but an investigation for the two murder's keeps on going on a parallel track. Which looks out of place though the stories got connected in the climax but before that audience will be clueless to think why the parallel track is going on. Also in the first half there are some scenes and a song too involving Andy and Sohini's love story which was not required and it makes the film lengthier. Even in the second half specially in the climax involving the two sisters and Ronny and his sidekick has been stretched out a bit more. But the twist in the tale at the end saves its faults too some extent. Another minus point for the film is its too much boldness, though it is an adult film but there are some scenes which are very much disturbing specially the rape scenes. It could have been shot in a more subtle way without being too direct. 

As a director Utsav Mujherjee should be given credit for choosing a bold and a different subject. he has handled this mature subject quite well but he should have been a bit more control to his screenplay and editing to keep the pace a bit fast for the film. 

Among the actors who has snatched attention from the crowd is none other than Ritwick Chakraborty. As the sly pervert negative character Ronny , he is just awesome. His body

language and his dialogue delivery is in very much sync with his onscreen character. He has portrayed it so well that you will hate him for being such a negative character and that is his prove that he is a brilliant actor. Only in the climax he has done little more drama which could have been avoided.
Another brilliant actor in this brigade is Sudeepta Chakraborty. Her portrayal of a helpless handicapped Rohini is superb. She has less dialogues but she has managed to express with her eyes as well face.
Parno Mitra has a very good scope to showcase her talent and she shines in some parts too but still it can be said she is not mature enough as an actor to handle such complex role. But she is improving herself as an actress film by film and we should encourage her for that.
Saheb Bhattachraya has very little to do and he is just okay in that. Anindya Banerjee has left his impression in only four scene role. Watch out him in his first scene where he tells Sohini that he will leave his wife Rohini. His facial expressions shows his characters' hesitation very well.Kamaleshwar Mukherjee has played a police officer who is   investigating the murder case of two girls. He is a very good actor and done a goo job. His scenes with his junior are the only source of of humor in this serious film. But one thing need to be said that Kamaleshwar is too good as an actor to play such unimportant characters. The rest of the cast members are just okay.

The technical team of the film has done an average job. There is scope of improvement specially in the editing department. The music of the film is also not too much popular and it does not lives with you even after leaving the theaters. The songs have not been used that well in the movie too.

Overall it a refreshing subject and if you like psychological thriller then you can give it a watch. But the USP of the film is obviously the acting by Ritwick Chakraborty and Sudeepta Chaltrabrty.