Happy Birthday, Ms Honeybee!

Here’s wishing Ms Honeybee many happy returns of the day from the core of my heart! She has been helluva fun and a steady source of weekly entertainment. I am fond of her sharp wit.

Well, Ms Honeybee is officially a weekly cinema gossip column featured on the backpage of Calcutta Times, the daily supplement of the Times of India, on Sundays. It is one wicked pleasure that I am sure many don’t wish to miss in the daily dope of entertainment news. Now, as any reader of the column  knows what is mostly seen in the column is actually insider information of the Bangla cinema industry that is not fit to be published in byline news/ features. So, it’s dope for those seeking interesting trivia and juicy, intimate nuggets of information from the industry. It sometimes breaks news too. Like it has informed of a star kid who would possibly be cast in the lead role in a big period piece helmed by a leading director and scheduled to release next Puja.

So, you get to know about projects before the media brings it to you, the real picture of the box office of big movies, the show of might of a big producer, how warm the vibes of Bengal’s hottest star pair actually are etc apart from the familiar dose of industry romances.

What the readers surely enjoy is the straightforwardness of Ms Honeybee. She doesn't hint at persons but takes names, unlike other gossip columns where the readers keep figuring out, often with struggle, who is what from the hints. There is one exception but, a mighty industry mogul, whom she refers to as ‘He who must not be named’.

I once shocked a friend of mine who runs a leading theatre in Behala with the precise information of which show of a new Bengali release was cancelled in his theatre, gathered from you know where.

Ms Honeybee has been wished by big stars on her special day and you know what? Reading that was as much fun as reading the column. The wishes separates the men from the boys and women from the girls. Ms Honeybee hardly spares anyone, so all have had a taste of her sting. Now, some have taken it in their stride and wished her well, like Birsa, Srijit, Jeet and Rituparna. But some have made it apparent that they have found her sting a bit too much to handle at times by requesting her to check facts before writing or that her gossip was baseless at times. They include Dev, Raj Chakraborty, Nusrat and Mimi. To me, Birsa’s quip takes the cake, which states, “Bob like a beetle, tittle to the tee/ Oh my quirky, zany Honeybee.” Also liked the pun-loving Srijit saying “Honeybee ‘hani karok’ noy, borong mishti. In months to come, I wish to read more interesting trivia from her.”

Before signing off, let me put down which wish made for a ROFL moment for me. It’s Dev’s, who has requested her to check the ‘authenticity’ of the ‘news’ as “Not every gossip is true”.


#MsHoneybee #BanglaCinema #Tollygunge


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An ordinary Indian wants to know

Take 2: A so-called firebrand television journalist who is a brand himself just a while back demanded to know in his talk show (now branded after his name as it is his channel now) why Hindus are being selectively targeted in Bengal under the present government citing the Basirhat incident. His pitch was high, oh so typical of him.

Really, is that the situation of the entire Bengal today? Have you got enough evidence (which you have a knack of flaunting before the camera) to back your statement?

Take 1: Same journalist, same channel. A few days ago. Now sitting a few feet away, face to face with the Chief Minister of UP. The journalist calmly demanded to know why the CM had said a few days back that 'Taj Mahal does not represent Indian culture'. The CM asked back "Tell me, what does 'Hindustan' mean?" and kept on repeating himself till the 'firebrand' journalist almost meekly answered "It does not mean the country belongs to only Hindus."

Why didn't he shut up the CM firmly (he wouldn't dare to do so remotely resembling the style in which he often shuts up/interrupts his guests on his talk show but he definitely could counter the CM in a civilized manner) and clarified that the word 'Hindustan' most certainly does not mean a country of Hindus?

What's wrong, Mr Goswami? Why is your famous voice of integrity not sometimes sounding like yours after you started your channel? An ordinary Indian citizen wants to know.

#Television #NewsChannel #EnglishNewsChannel #West Bengal #UttarPradesh #Politics

The political circus: Rezzakism

Abdur Rezzak Mollah, the veteran politician of West Bengal, has never been known to measure his words. His verbal ‘gems’, often at the expense of his own partymen, have been widely circulated in the media when he was with CPI(M) and entertained many. As it is common knowledge, he had been expelled by CPI(M), formed his own political outfit (Bharatiya Nyaybichar Party) and got expelled from it (!) before joining Trinamool Congress earlier this year with which he had great enmity as a communist. He kept a low profile since then.

But his remarks in an interview with ABP Ananda on 20^th April showed his return to ‘true form’.  It happened when the interviewer asked for his opinion on actors joining politics. There is a common chord among all who were at the receiving end of his bouncers and no prizes for guessing it- all of them are actors. Two of them are MPs from his own party- Dev and Moon Moon Sen and the other one is a candidate in the ongoing assembly elections from Howrah district for BJP- Roopa Ganguly. Rezzak was certainly back to the form with a bang, considering he has just been censured by the election commission for violating the code of conduct the verbal way. By the way, the interviewer was quite embarrassed as he was a well-known actor too- Dhritiman Chattopadhyay.

The nature of the remarks varies but. While he dismissed Dev as ungentlemanlike, Moon Moon’s effectiveness as a politician was questioned. But the fiercest and the most vulgar one was reserved for Roopa. He took a dig at her smoking habit and her multiple partners (who he said he knew), and compared her to "Draupadi'- a role which brought Roopa national fame on television.

We’ll soon know the outcome. But here is the immediate thought. Due to his strong political acumen and mass following, he used to get away with all this careless talk while he was in CPI(M). But Trinamool is no CPI(M) who will hold discussions at the highest state level and wait for the ‘recommendation’ of the concerned committee entrusted to decide his fate. Here everything is decided by the supremo and she can even make her once-trusted second-in-command redundant.

He also hadn’t taken note of the fact that it was his party chief who had reportedly handpicked Dev to fight the election. Before that, Dev had no direct connection with Trinamool. So Rezzak’s bouncer hits two persons- his target and his party chief and amounts to ridiculing her political wisom. Even Moon Moon Sen must have been the captain’s pick as her selection as a candidate for assembly election had no backstory. So the outcome of his remark is expected from the top and shouldn’t take a long while.

  

About his remarks on Roopa, I condemn them in the first place. But honestly speaking, I don’t find it out of place coming from the member of a party where a well-known sitting MLA and ex-minister questioned the character of the Park Street rape victim and another woman MP put a ‘perspective’ to the said rape to kind of justify it and even said that it was the result of a disagreement between a woman and her customers. Only that this time it is politically sensitive and wrongly timed (the election is going on and an evidence like television footage can be brought to the notice of the election commission). Last heard, Rezzak has showed no repentance for the remarks. I am not sure whether the outcome of this can come from the same place as the one of the other remarks, because Roopa is one of the harshest critics of Mamata Bandopadhyay.

#PoliticalCircus #AbdurRezzak #BengalPolitics #AssemblyElectionsBengal2016

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Ananda Plus Bioscopey Bajimat season 6: Part II

After the third round Kaushik-Mimi was leading and Dev-Subhashree was trailing, with company from by….surprise….Srijit-Rupam! Srijit got a really tough question in this round (What was the name of the character played by Churni Ganguly in her film Nirbashito?). The answer was: No name was given to the character. Ironically the question got passed on to Kaushik-Mimi who answered it as expected (For those uninitiated, Kaushik Ganguly is the husband of Churni and produced the film).

 

The fourth round called ‘Playscope’ was not quiz. It was the highlight of all the fun that the audience had out of the show. Mir called each team and asked it to perform to a given situation or gave a challenge. Here are the funniest ones.

Team 2 (Rituparna-Joya) was called and after a brief note on the Indo-Bangladesh friendship and a reference to the recently concluded Asia Cup final (Where Bangladesh lost to India in a closely fought match), the contestants were asked to do arm wrestling! Both were taken aback for a moment. To add to the embarrassment Prosenjit was called (rather persisted by the emcee to come over) to officiate it. After an initial resistance by both Rituparna and Joya, the game started amid cheers from the peers in the audience and ended in a draw (no prize for guessing why, smarter women!). But it was great fun seeing two leading actresses in an official fight! It seemed the contestants enjoyed the most. The pictures will tell you.

 

  

 

 

Next up- team 3 (Srijit-Rupam). Rupam was asked to sing ‘Benche thakar gaan’, his chart-topper from Autograph, Srijit’s directorial debut, and Srijit was asked to, hold your breath……..match steps with it! The resistance this time (from Srijit) was obviously longer. Kaushik Sen taunted that it was destiny’s way of doing justice to all the hardship that he had put Kaushik through filming Zulfiqar. Srijit had no other way but to fall in line as refusal would be unsporting. So as Rupam sang, he matched steps in the most disinclined manner, holding Mir.

 

Team 4 (Anindya-Kaushik) was given a tougher task albeit on similar lines. Kaushik is playing the evil ‘Kalo Bhromor’ in the under-production movie based on Niharranjan Gupta’s story (both named Kalo Bhromor) on his popular fictional sleuth Kiriti Roy. Anindya had to sing the song ‘Ghorete bhromor elo gunguniye…’, prefixing ‘Bhromor’ with ‘Kalo’ on the request of the emcee and Kaushik had to play the ‘Bhromor’ (bee) and move all around. Kaushik pulled it off with his presence of mind by indicating the moving bee with hand gestures.

 

In their turn Parambrata and Paoli (Team 6) was asked to do this: Param was to play Anjan Dutt (His director in the upcoming Hemanta) who was auditioning Paoli. Param lapped it up and with the help from the pair of Anjan Dutt-style dark glasses provided to him gave us a brilliant act peppered with the familiar gestures and vocal style of the eminent director. He deserved bonus points for this which was easily one of the most hilarious parts of the contest.

 

 

 

Last turn- Team 7 (Dev-Subhashree). In their comeback film Dhumketu the unit was to shoot in Narkanda, a town in the Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh last winter. Due to heavy snowfall the director had returned as he had fallen sick. It was incredibly cold and senior journalist of Ananda Plus Indranil Roy, who was with the unit to cover the shoot, felt like returning leaving his assignment. The story narrated by Mir goes like this: Dev and Subhashree sustained the inhuman weather staying together in a hotel room thanks to a single piece of blanket and a room heater. Mir asked the pair to show the audience how they achieved this feat. He also helped them with a blanket and a room heater (which he said were the same blanket and heater. He even smelled the blanket and asked Subhashree if the perfume was Chanel). Dev struggled to play this bouncer and ducked it saying he had no other way as he was the co-producer.

As obvious to those who are familiar with Mir’s performance, he was at the top of his game throughout this round and even put up mimicry of Indranil Roy calling up his boss Gautam Bhattacharya from Narkanda and pleading to be allowed to return. This got the loudest applause! He also kept on flirting with the girls helping with hand mikes and props.

 

 

The last round was a rapid fire and Gautam Bhattacharya took over. It was the ‘Ananda Plus’ round and comprised of questions based on articles and film reviews published in Ananda Plus in recent times. Each team had to nominate one contestant and he or she had to face the quizmaster form a seat centre stage. There were 45 seconds to answer all questions.

All the teams except Srijit-Rupam and Anindya-Kaushik performed decently to competently in this round but Kaushik Ganguly, representing his team, outshone others. Dev used his guessing skill to come up with a good performance. The other teams were represented by Abir, Rituparna, Srijit, Kaushik Sen and Param.

 

 

 

 

As expected, Kaushik Ganguly and Mimi Chakraborty were the winners. This marks Kaushik second win in this contest. Parambrata and Paoli ended as the runners up. Dev-Subhashree ended well. The final tally:

Team 1- Abir & Jisshu: 50

Team 2- Rituparna & Joya: 50

Team 3- Srijit & Rupam: 30

Team 4- Anindya & Kaushik Sen: 35

Team 5- Kaushik Ganguly & Mimi: 65

Team 6- Parambrata & Paoli: 55

Team 7- Dev & Subhashree: 50

Every team was called and given away a memento and other prizes. Soumitra Chattopadhyay was called to do the initial honours. Param probably loved the dark glasses so much that he continued wearing it. I couldn’t wait to catch the winners receiving the trophy as it was quite late. You can catch it on Ananda Plus or the Anandabazar Patrika website www.anandabazar.com.

 

 

 

The dinner was hosted by Oh! Calcutta. We walked into the clubhouse to sit and eat. It was a pleasant surprise to see the biggest of all stars closely- Saurav Ganguly enjoying his meal surrounded by a constant stream of visitors- common people to celebrities. Everybody who was there seemed to want to say ‘Hi’ to him. He figured high on the selfie wishlist. These few moments took the enjoyment of the pleasant evening a few notches higher.

#BioscopeyBajimat #AnandaPlus #AnandabazarPatrika #CelebrityQuiz #BengaliCinema #FilmQuizKolkata

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Ananda Plus Bioscopey Bajimat season 6: Part I

The entire film industry turned up at this annual event of Ananda Plus, the entertainment supplement of Anandabazar Patrika (the largest circulated Bengali daily in India), celebrating Bangla cinema, to contest or cheer, at Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC). This is the sixth edition of the biggest celebrity quiz show of Bengal. The film quiz with film personalities was started as a brand initiative of Patrika, the weekly supplement of the said Bengali daily in 2010 at the same venue and this blog talked about it in this post (Link).

As I walked in with my daughter who wished to be starstruck, I saw Rupam Islam giving bites to the TV channels exclusive to this event. He was followed by Rituparna Sengupta, Dev, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Parambrata and Paoli. Rituparna wasn’t much late because she was a contestant.

Mir took the stage at 7.34 pm as the emcee of the evening, slightly more than half an hour post the scheduled time. He walked through the audience and went up on stage in characteristic dramatic fashion. He was surrounded by bouncers, his hands were tied and lips sealed.  The reason as revealed immediately after being freed was that he being the quizmaster had been receiving a constant stream of ‘friendly’ requests from the contestants for letting out some of the questions. As things reached a peak close to the show time, he was locked in a room in that state.

The teams (of two contestants each) were called on stage one by one, and the stars arrived in style- driven one each by a golf cart. After a customary short banter by Mir they were seated.

 Joya Ahsan being taken to the stage in a golf cart

The team 1 was Abir Chatterjee and Jisshu Sengupta- the ‘Twin Byomkesh’.

Mir with Team 1- Jisshu and Abir 

Team 2 was high on glam quotient- The reigning queen Rituparna and Joya Ahsan- the popular actress from Bangladesh, who wowed us with her performance in last year’s hit Rajkahini.

 Team 2- Rituparna and Joya Ahsan

Team 3 was made up by director Srijit Mukherji and one of his favourite singers- Rupam who has sung in most of his movies. Srijit has an enviable track record at Bioscopey Bajimat since he propelled his team to win the first edition back in 2010.

Team 3-  Rupam and Srijit 

Two new faces in the starry league formed team 4- singer-turned-director Anindya Chattopadhyay whose star-less directorial debut Open Tee Bioscope was a success of 2015, and actor Kaushik Sen, who is increasingly being considered for major character roles these days. Kaushik was suavely dressed in a white shirt and grey trousers. His close crop and toned physique seemed to be for Srijit’s Zulfiqar.

 Team 4- Anindya and Kaushik being welcomed on stage

Team 5 had director Kaushik Ganguly and actor Mimi Chakraborty. No prizes for guessing who this team depended on. Kaushik’s team won the title in 2014 with Raima Sen as the co-contestant.

 Team 5- Mimi and Kaushik

Team 6 was a fine balance of ‘cerebral’ and ‘graceful’- Parambrata and Paoli who acted together in Kaalbela (2009) apart from other movies.

 Team 6- Parambrata and Paoli

And the last but surely not the least in box office value, team 7 had the eagerly awaited comeback pair Dev and Subhashree.

  Team 7- Dev and Subhashree

There was a match referee too, going by the practice in this contest, in case arbitration is required. Prosenjit played the role. He was seated on a throne.

 Prosenjit (right), the match referee

The contest rolled out after a short audio visual on the 1922-born Anandabazar Patrika. There were 10 marks for each correct answer, 5 bonus marks and no negative marking for wrong answers (which relieved a few teams). The first round was called ‘Bioscopey Big B’. There were questions (including audio visual questions) on Amitabh Bachchan. The second round was ‘Bioscopey Soumitra’, based on questions on Soumitra Chattopadhyay (who was present in the audience) in a similar pattern.

Dev’s answer to one question in the second round created the first ROFL moment. On asked in which Satyajit Ray film Soumitra was cast opposite Waheeda Rehman, he, after a deep discussion with Subhashree, answered ‘Abhisar’. The answer was ‘Abhijan’.

Post second round, except Kaushik-Mimi and Dev-Subhashree, all were at par at 20. Kaushik’s team lead at 35 and Dev’s team trailed at just 10.

A packed lawn at RCGC

 The quiz in progress

Round 3 was ‘Bioscopey Ekal’. The contestants were asked questions based on contemporary Bangla cinema which they were all part of. There were questions based on Chotushkone, Bunohansh and Belasheshe. Rituparna got her second sitter in this round and she scored at ease. The question to her team was “Who sang the female version of Basanta ese gechhe after Anupam’s version was shown. But poked by Mir, she couldn’t answer what Lagnajita’s surname was.

There was a touching gesture from Ananda Plus after this round. A competent but unsung actor was recognized for his 35 years of film career- Kharaj Mukherjee. His acting prowess is unquestionable, he gets frequently cast in all kinds of cinema, yet he is neither much seen on posters nor is nominated for awards. Gautam Bhattacharya, sports editor and entertainment editor of Anandabazar Patrika and the man behind the show went on stage to call the actor. Koel Mullick, who has shared the screen in numerous movies with the actor, presented the memento named ‘Awprokashyo Nayak’ (Loosely means unsung hero). Needless to say, it was a deeply emotional moment for Kharaj who I consider as one of the best in the business and capable of playing a protagonist any day in the right role.

 Gautam Bhattacharya (Left) and Kharaj Mukherjee

 Kharaj being handed over the memento by Koel

Mir was in his elements as he mimicked Ranjit Mullick right after Koel was back to her seat. This act was repeated later on.

The first part ends here. Watch this space for the second part which had some intensely hilarious moments, mostly thanks to the next round called ‘Playscope’ where the each of the teams was called to act or do anything (in performing art) as directed. Part II is coming later today.

#BioscopeyBajimat #AnandaPlus #AnandabazarPatrika #CelebrityQuiz #BengaliCinema #FilmQuizKolkata

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Happy Streets

A group of men boxing…..kids sketching on the street…..youngsters playing football (with mini goalposts in place) or a game of volleyball or badminton…young boys and girls zooming on roller skates or cycling around…..children practising karate……adults practising yoga or meditation, and all of it in the middle of the street on the Park Street-Camac Street-Little Russel Street-Russel Street quadrangle with no traffic around……sounds absolutely surreal! Then what will it be if one sees all of this actually happening on two consecutive Sunday mornings?

Welcome to Happy Streets, a gift to the city of Kolkata from Times of India (TOI) in association with Kolkata Police. This is its season 2 in Kolkata after a successful debut in 2015.

As TOI, known for creating innovative events over many years in Kolkata (and in other cities), describes it, “Happy Streets is to promote community bonding and healthy lifestyle for the people of Kolkata. The objective is to reclaim a stretch of road space from automobiles and opening them to the public every Sunday to create a whole new healthy, sustainable & vibrant city street experience. Everyone is welcome to participate in healthy activities of all kinds, from highly intense Zumba to street cricket, Yoga or other games like basketball, football, badminton and karate or just enjoy a theatrical performance.”

Here are glimpses of what I saw on my first ever visit to Happy Streets on 31^st January and on 7th February. It will be an experience to cherish in a long time.

Balloon sellers this young to old were aplenty to cater to the carnival mood

The police deployment was noticeable. Senior police officers were on duty so that we have unhindered fun.

The longest queue was at the rent-free cycle booth.

The cycles were being issued upon submission of an I-card and mobile phone.

Ah! She finally got hers after a long wait.

The age of visitors had a wide range. 

The Facebook photo booth was a popular attraction

The stage at the Park Street-Free School Street crossing

Volleyball arena

Cashing in on the need for breakfast after the morning activities

It is expected to continue over the next few Sundays. It starts at 6.30 am and goes on till 9.30 am. Keep an eye on the Happy Streets Kolkata Facebook page or on the paper. Head for it with your family if you can, for a new experience in life.

#HappyStreets #TimesOfIndia #ParkStreet

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