The Magnum Masterclass in the city

Chocolate or ice cream? The answer would be either of the options or even both in one, like, a chocolate cone or a choc-o-bar. As it is, in the latter choice, chocolate, at least in this city, plays second fiddle to ice cream. But that’s going to change now, and your choice of ice cream will be driven by the chocolate used in it to take it to another level of pure experience. That’s what the Kolkata edition of the masterclass at Taj Bengal showed on 21^st February.

Celebrity chef Kunal Kapoor, who has been a judge in Masterchef India, came to the city to teach an audience of mediapersons a thing or two about chocolate and Belgian chocolate in particular and introduce it to the Magnum experience that drives home the point made above. Giving him company was actress Soha Ali Khan, a self-confessed Magnum lover. The audience was overflowing in attendance (perhaps for the pull of the chef). It was an honour for this blogger to be invited to the coveted event by Magnum, one of the world’s leading ice cream brands from Unilever. It was another pleasure to meet other familiar bloggers connected to the Kolkata Bloggers Facebook page in the event.

The masterclass started with the emcee asking to recall fond chocolate memories. Kunal told how gifting imported chocolates to girlfriends was fun and the fact that they were ‘imported’ did its bit to impress.  Kolkata being a city that knows its desserts, the talk shifted to what their favourite Kolkata dessert was. While Soha’s answer was a typical celeb type “I am torn between rosogolla and mishti doi”, Kunal mentioned patisapta as his favourite. Why, asked the emcee. Because “it’s easy, doable and full of flavour.” Full marks to the chef for being able to win the hearts of Bengali foodies. Kunal was fun and down to earth, cracking jokes every now and then (including at the expense of Soha) and slipping into Hindi often. His easygoing charm hooked the audience and stood in contrast to very starry Soha.

The discussion came back to chocolate and turned to Belgian chocolate, and the chef gave a short, enlightening lesson here. He asked the audience to try the chocolate pieces kept on the table- dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. He told to break a piece of dark chocolate in the mouth and push it against the palette. That it melted away, and didn’t stick at all, showed it was good quality dark chocolate. He also reinstated what chocoholics know- White  chocolate is not really chocolate, as chocolate has to have cocoa in decent proportion and white chocolate doesn’t have it. The cocoa butter gives the chocolate its distinctive flavour, and dark chocolate has it in abundance, but milk chocolate, the kind that is popular among masses, has a good amount of milk fat that makes the taste different. Percentage of cocoa varies in chocolate. While in milk chocolate available in the market it is as low as 15%, it can go upto 70-75% in niche dark chocolates. Belgian  chocolate, which is legendary, contains a minimum of 35% cocoa, which is amongst the highest in the world. It gives the chocolate a rich and indulgent flavour and a high grade, and it makes it premium too.  Another interesting fact is that white chocolate will mellow you, while dark chocolate will keep you awake.

Magnum uses Belgian chocolate only, and the chocolate that goes into it is even more special, being patented for the brand by the biggest chocolate maker of Belgium. It comes in three variants (only in stick or bar)- Classic (which is your good old choc-o-bar), Almond (almond studded chocolate crust covering rich vanilla) and Chocolate Truffle (Chocolate sauce running into chocolate coated vanilla). It will be available in the leading outlets in the city from 1^st March and costs quite a premium- Rs 90 each bar (90 ml).

The chef, the star and all of us bit into Magnum together, and the first bite gave a distinctive crack that the product is known for. I had chosen the Classic. The chocolate was definitely distinct and its slight bitter, rich taste left a mark. The vanilla inside was top grade too!

Now, what’s a masterclass without some cooking? So Kunal made his special, Kolkata dish with Magnum, which was a spin to his local favourite- patisapta. It turned out a cone made with the pancake of patisapta (held up by a paper cone), and cut out Magnum pieces, along with khoya (milk solids), nuts, cranberry etc making the filling.

Photo by Anirban Saha

Kunal's fusion patisapta with Magnum

It ended with the chef opening the floor and getting his audience members in various round tables make their own versions of sundae using a Magnum bar and other dry ingredients provided at each table. And some tables did a good job that the chef found interesting.

The press kit was innovative. It included the soft copy of the press release and other support material in a chocolate bar shaped pen drive!

Fellow bloggers from Kolkata Bloggers group.
Group admin Anirban Saha third from right  

Looking forward to Kolkata loving its Magnum experience! 

The life and times of Miss Shephali

To those of us born before eighties the mention of Miss Shephali is synonymous with the died art of cabaret. It wouldn’t be wrong to call her ‘Queen of cabaret’. We know that she would perform the hot and sensuous dance form in numerous plays in the golden era of professional theatre as a crowd-puller and did so in many movies too. Those who have watched Ray’s Seemabaddha have seen her in performance in a hotel scene, and his Pratidwandi had her play a small character unlike her real self with Dhritiman Chatterjee, the protagonist. Her name had high recall value among the youth of sixties and seventies- the period of her reign in first in city nightlife and later on in Bengali theatre.

But much of her life is lesser known and does evoke curiosity still now. I wish Gulbahar Singh made his planned biopic of hers with Paoli. It could have been our answer (at least content-wise) to The Dirty Picture.

The current issue of Anandalok, path-breaking indeed, satiates the curiosity to some extent. It coincides with the publishing of her official autobiography Sandhya Raater Shephali from Ananda Publishers.

It is full of trivia like the Seemabaddha scene was shot in the same restaurant in the hotel where she would perform every night, and she had to dance before camera with zero preparation as Ray had never briefed her about shooting her, or the abrupt beauty tip she got from Suchitra Sen who used to keep tabs on her, to extremely sensational ones like how she literally ragged Uttam Kumar at Firpo’s Hotel- her own domain, just for fun (She would perform in this elite hotel where the superstar was a frequent ‘front table’ customer) and the subsequent affection of his that lasted many years, and her chance witnessing a private world of the great Amitabh Bachchan.

The youngest of three sisters in a struggling refugee family from east Bengal, originally known as Arati Das, she started her career in mid sixties at just twelve to earn bread for her family, as the first Bengali cabaret dancer in Lido Room of Firpo’s Hotel. She never had to look back.

For more, go grab the collector’s issue from the stands.

The Mitra Café on VIP Road

We were terribly hungry after a long client meeting in DLF (New Town) that got us exhausted, followed by an airport drop of a senior executive from HO. Our car was on VIP Rd moving towards Baguiati and boss suggested KFC (on VIP Rd), which we agreed to. But as we were about to get in to KFC, we noticed that Mitra Café, the famous snack joint of Sovabazar, has opened a muticuisine restaurant in the same building. It’s the Metro Bazar building near Bazaar Kolkata on VIP Rd (on way to airport from Joramandir). K popped the question- KFC or Mitra Café, and I changed direction to the latter (on the fourth floor) as I find it a better option.

The restaurant looks decent. It’s spacious and the décor is minimal and nice. Only eight wrought iron tables (four-seater) and chairs and four sets of two off-white three-seater sofas and a table are laid out. Many more tables can be fitted in, given the open space left out. The colour palette is warm and sober shade of yellow with matching light coloured floor tiles. Press articles about the famous chain (with branches at Shyambazar and Golpark) are framed to adorn one wall. Three of us made ourselves comfortable on a sofa set.

Unless one has made up his/ her mind, he/ she will be spoilt for choice to order from the expansive ranges of fried items in fish, chicken and mutton. I had pre-selected fish. K and I ordered Fish Diamond Kabiraji.

The kabiraji didn’t take long to arrive. Its length covered the plate. I love the bird’s nest look of the crust of kabiraji they make at Mitra Café. For a change, the sauce served was the good old mustard, and not the off-white bland sauce they serve at Sovabazar. But disappointingly chopped onion was far outnumbered by cucumber pieces.

The kabiraji was well made as usual. The egg crust felt pure, having been made from quality ingredients with no compromise. It cost Rs 100 apiece, which is not expensive given current fish prices. It was finished soon. Boss was not hungry, so didn’t eat anything. He and K rued the fact that this dish was made with a whole lot of oil. K pointed out that the because of the egg crust, it absorbs more oil.  I don’t feel like joining such talk while one has willingly chosen to snack on such stuff. I just gently pointed out that had we gone for KFC, it wouldn’t have been a healthy option either.

One thing that puts me slightly off about Mitra Café is the use of vanaspati as the cooking medium. I don’t expect it in such a place of high repute. Besides being unhealthier than white oils, it gives a sticky feeling on the tongue while the food is not so hot.

Overall, a good snacking experience. What elevated it was having the Mitra Café experience at a comfortable ambiance at a new location.

The singara muri at Chandni Chowk

I am gastronomically in a happy space at work since I joined my current office at Chandni Chowk nearly five years back. The area is a foodie's delight to put it mildly. Almost everything that comes to one's mind (and more) when one looks for food on the go is served.

I don't remember when I came across this wonderful snack. Must be in the first year in this area. It's called 'Singara muri'. Yes, they have married the ubiquitous jhal muri with singara in an innovation and created magic! Basically a singara (doesn't matter if not hot) is first beaten in the pot of jhal muri, then the ingredients of jhal muri are poured in and mixed. And it's ready. It's unbeatable taste is helped by three chutneys- one with chilly, a sour one and a sweet one. Needless to say it makes the best of the taste of singara and jhal muri. Costs just Rs 15. Used to cost Rs 10 when I started.

It's not as healthy as jhal muri. But if you are watching your waistline, yet can't help a bit of indulgent snacking, you can go for it and get away with a little guilt, unlike gorging two singaras.

It used to be one of the options for my evening snacking. My trusted vendor sits at Princep Street, at the crossing of Bentinck Street, bang opposite erstwhile Orient cinema. He's a regular jhal muri-wala but. I know one more who sits at Bentinck Street, a few metres away towards GC Avenue crossing. But haven't tried him yet.

Wish to come back with a full-fledged post on the food map of Chandni Chowk soon.

Review: Ebar Shabor

One genre where Tollygunge had a void for long is adult detective thriller set in contemporary times. Ebar Shabor finally addresses it and clears the test, and that is its highest accomplishment.

Shirshenu’s Shabor Dasgupta, a senior police officer in detective department, is not celebrated like Feluda. Little wonder the author stopped writing the stories after a handful as they were not lapped up by the readers over time. Nevertheless Arindam was right in his decision to pick up Shabor for adaptation on big screen in addressing the void mentioned earlier. Also Rwin, the story on which Ebar Shabor is based, is a verbose one set mostly indoors. It does go to Arindam’s credit to have intelligently translated it on big screen by taking the story outdoors exploring various locations of Kolkata that give it its character. The scenes in Pondicherry also add freshness to the frames.

I have a hunch that the seed of the film was sown during the filming of Kahaani, where Arindam was the executive producer. Kahaani had a Bengali soul and many like me must have thought something like this could have well been made in Bengali. It showed the potential of making such smart urban thrillers sitting in Tollygunge that blends the old world charm and heritage of Kolkata beautifully with storytelling.

Mitali (Swastika), a rich heiress gets mysteriously killed by stabbing in her bedroom one night after a party hosted by her at her place. Shabor takes up the case. He draws up the list of suspects all of who are found to have reasonable motive to kill. The audience is kept guessing till the end and here lies the success of a murder mystery. Through his interrogation we come across an ensemble of characters that give the story its rich tapestry- Mithu Mitra (Abir), a banker and Mitali’s ex-husband, Pantu Halder (Ritwik Chackraborty), a motor mechanic and Mitali’s neighbour, Samiran (Rahul), her close friend who is a spoilt son of a rich businessman (Santu Mukherjee), Khonika (Debleena Dutt), Samiran’s live-in girlfriend, Joyita (Payel), Mitali’s cousin and a shady woman Julekha (June). Mitali had fallen for Pantu in college and later left home for a whimsical marriage that lasted six months.

Ebar Shabor’s strength lies in its story, slick making, casting and performances. Shirsha Roy’s camera aids Arindam’s storytelling in an outstanding manner. Shirsha’s use of close-up shots help build the emotional map of the characters in a story that delves deep into their mindscape. Bickram Ghosh’s background score helps create the thriller tempo and his signature notes lend it a freshness. The director has preferred on-location shooting over studio floor and he is spot on in choosing his locations.

Good casting is director’s job half done and the performances are well delivered as expected from a well cast film with well-written characters. Despite someone of Saswata’s calibre playing the lead, I found Ritwik outshining everyone with his Pantu Halder, a motor mechanic who has a past of sound academic record. It was a treat to watch him bring edge to the uncouth character with nuanced diction among other things. Saswata has shown controlled emotions as Shabor, a hard-boiled cop who never lets his emotions out. He carries himself right, avoiding unnecessary flamboyance. He has worked hard on the action scenes, lost weight through workout and diet to look believable as the character. However I feel the characterization held him back from shining bright. He’s hardly shown thinking. It would be wise on the director’s part to spend some time showing his detection. Swastika, Abir, June, Payel and Dipankar (Mitali’s father) are apt in their roles. Rahul is typecast in such characters, though his comic timing is good as usual. Debleena has potential but she’s portrayed such character traits before. She underscores the glam quotient shared by Swastika and June.

Padmanava Dasgupta and Arindam’s  script is decent, but could be tighter in the first half. The dialogue written by them is the weak link of the film. While the comic bits are good (Mostly with Rahul), it lacks the much-needed punch.

I expected the chase scenes to be racy, like we saw in Kahaani, but honestly speaking they didn’t really match up to it and looked repetitive as they continued. I also can’t help but wonder how realistic it is for Pantu to run that fast and long with an injured leg.

The songs are good and well-written (by adman Sugata Guha), and well used too, but not spaced out. One follows the other a little too soon.

But all these glitches are covered by the story with special mention to the high emotional note of the climax.

Overall, a good, entertaining watch. A new franchisee is established. Looking forward to the next instalment which is already being planned.

Photos sourced from Ebar Shabor Facebook group.

Twitter-savvy Railway official

It was surprising to find out that the Divisional Railway Manager of Sealdah division actively operates a Twitter handle. As it was, the other day on my way to office, I was pleasantly surprised to find out a PA system in the Sealdah-bound local train compartment. A recorded voice did station announcement like it is in metro rail. I tweeted my finding. Later on I found out that it had been retweeted and favourited by the said Twitter handle (named 'drmsdah'). It also replied that the plan was to extend the PA system to all rakes in the division.

It is not usual that we, the general public, get to interact with a senior official of a govt. institution, especially which renders a service like transport. So I tweeted about the handle, which was favourited by it too. Then yesterday while I noticed a no. of snack stalls on Bidhannagar station, which I hadn’t noticed before and tweeted about it, the handle responded stating such stalls often occupy precious public space that results in a compromise of security of passengers. Such spaces need to be reclaimed.

Hence as it appears, the Railway official, who is the like the CEO of the division as the position means,  is not on Tweeter just for giving updates of new services , development and train schedules (which it does) and retweeting praises off and on, it is also interested in engaging in dialogue with commuters, which is indeed praise-worthy. For example the above-mentioned conversation which extended beyond what is stated, informed me that there is (at least) an intent to have quality assured vending at all stations (like one sees at large and important stations like Dum Dum and Barrackpore) provided Railway gets "the space required freed".

A visit to the museum

Relived my childhood through a visit to Indian Museum with my daughter on last Christmas eve. Visited the place only once with my father ages back. Have wanted to go back many a time all this while. The museum turned 200 years last year.

It has extensive collection of exhibits of anthropology, archaeology, geology, botany, zoology and art spread in 25 galleries on three floors. The ticket has a do-it- yourself guide of all the galleries and facilities of the museum at the back which I found very useful. It was a tad disappointing that many galleries were closed for modernization. But it did feel good to see the improved aesthetics and presentation of the modernized galleries- for example terracotta, zoology and Egypt. The ticket costs just Rs 10 and you can do photography of the exhibits on collecting a permit for Rs 50 (and it’ll be worth it) from the counter.

Not much is to be said about the collection. It’s amongst the best in India. A child of any age will be mesmerized by the exhaustiveness of the exhibits in various sections. The visit will be especially enriching if he/ she has been studying Indian history and life science for a few years. My little one was obviously excited to see the dinosaur skeletons and the mummy in the Egypt gallery (which is one of the museum’s major attractions) in particular.

I was amused by two exhibits. One was a 19^th century chessboard from Murshidabad in the Decorative Art section on the second floor. It’s a standard size marble board with chessmen made in ivory. The unique feature was that all the chessmen were actual- so there were actual boats, elephants, horses and soldiers. The other one was a life size Durga idol completely made in jute in the ‘Plants in the service of man’ section on the same floor.

The chessboard

The collection is so vast, an entire day (It’s open 10 am to 4.30 pm/ 5 pm) may feel short if almost all the galleries are open. We spent about three hours and had to rush through many sections. There’s a sprawling, well-manicured lawn inside where you can rest your aching feet after/ in the middle of the tour in the mellow sun in this season. Food isn’t allowed inside. There’s an in-house cafeteria, but though the food is decent and reasonably priced, it lacks variety. In the afternoon we found nothing other than kachuri (puri)-ghooghni  (which we had) and rice meals available and the items were getting sold out fast.

The pristine white Raj era building and the lawn

Kolkata lives the ISL dream

This football-obsessed city dreamt of this moment a little more than two months back when country’s first private international football league kickstarted in this city itself among massive fanfare. What made it special was that it was co-dreamt by its loved warrior prince. Atletico de Kolkata started with a stunning opener of Indian Super League and kept the tempo burning...before it hit a plateau from the middle of the season till the end (the precise reason why I haven’t blogged about it so far). It lost its league topper position and the ‘undefeated’ distinction down the way. And then it crawled to the semis. The home match was a disappointment, adding to its increasing list of draw games. When the away match took it to the coveted finals, the dreaming eyes were wide open again.

It was an exciting match with some attacking football. So much so that some moments found the box unguarded at either end. But the ninety minutes didn’t see a single goal again. ATK didn’t have its full strength. Its out-of-form striker Fikru had been dropped from the squad earlier and the skipper and marquee player Louis Garcia had to watch from the sidelines due to a hamstring injury. As injury time started rolling, we got ready for a tie-breaker decider which would fall short of a desired triumph if in our favour. And then..............the moment came from an underdog. The match was over soon. The dream came true. We are the champions of the first ever Indian Super League!

Mohd Rafique, take a bow for that stunner of a header off the measured corner kick that gave us the first ISL and made history. You gave ‘opportunistic’ a new meaning in your replacement stint of those few minutes (Due credit to the coach for this).  Despite your short height, you emerged the tallest among all in the evening. And the icing of the cake, again, is the fact that you are from this city.

A shoutout to our ‘wall’ Bete on the goal line too. Had it not been for that incredible save off Kerala’s aggressive striker Michael Chopra, the match would have ended differently.

Atletico de Kolkata with the trophy. Also seen are Ms Neeta Ambani of Reliance, co-promoter of ISL and ATK co-owners Utsav Parekh (sixth from left sitting) and Sanjeev Goenka next to him. Mohd Rafique is sitting next to Ms Ambani and the trophy, facing.

ATK coach Antonio Habas and co-owner Saurav Ganguly with the trophy

And yes, my heart goes to Kerala Blasters. Not because it gave us some wonderful buddy moments with Saurav and Sachin who watched the match from the stands cheering for their respective owned teams, but for the superb football it gave us in the final. If we are the champs, they’re not far off.

I sincerely hope ISL lives the football dream of this nation in every possible way. The eyes will be on spotting and nurturing talent from all corners in for the long term. The euphoria that it has generated is enough to drive that.

 Photos sourced from http://www.indiansuperleague.com/

Ebar Shabor: the poster

Stylish, classy. Innovative layout and interesting colour play with a dash of red on the Aviator in dark blue monochrome. Will stand out among all releases- Bengali, Hindi and Hollywood. Loved the first poster of Ebar Shabor- Arindam Sil's detective action thriller catching a new year release.

Designed by city-based creative agency Inner Circle Advertising who have always maintained fine standards in their film publicity work (Some of their past work includes Chalo Let's Go, Madly Bangalee and Antaheen).

For the uninitiated, Shabor Dasgupta (played by Saswata)- a police detective working in detective department of Lalbazar (Kolkata Police HQ)- is a creation of eminent author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay who wrote a series of novels based on him. Pure adult fiction, it's USP is the exploration of the dark alleys and twists and turns of human mind through an ensemble of characters. Arindam wishes to film a series, and starts with Rwin. After the legendary Feluda and Byomkesh, Shabor is being eagerly awaited by cine lovers. Obviously the actor playing him has added to the excitement. 

Open Tee Bioscope- recreating north Kolkata of adolescents

Open Tee Bioscope (Wrote about it in this recent post) seems to have its heart in the right place as it tries to touch upon the soul of north Kolkata of the adolescents, all thanks to the director who's an authority on it, being a true blue north Kolkatan. Loved this picture on the movie's Facebook page which also took me to my childhood in a town called Barrackpore in north suburbs of Kolkata, when we would criss cross our para (locality) on cycle in a group. Looking forward to learn more about this January '15 release.

Atanu Ghosh talks ‘Ek Phali Rodh’

I have liked the craft  of Atanu Ghosh right from his telefilm days for his choice of subjects, his ability to develop the characters and storytelling. His debut film Angshumaner Chhobi (where he gave first break to one of my favourite actors Indraneil Sengupta) was critically acclaimed. I liked most of his second film Takhan Teish. But I loved his last outing Rupkatha Noy which was received well by the cinema-loving audience. As the countdown for his December 5 release Ek Phali Rodh is on, the director makes time for an exclusive interview to this blog on his new film. It has an impressive lead cast of Dhritiman Chatterjee, Ritwik Chakraborty, Jisshu Sengupta, Tota Roychoudhury and Aparajita Ghosh Das.

Kolkata Curry (KC): Ek Phali Rodh revolves around the bystander effect. The subject sounds more documentary than a full length feature film. What made you approach and develop such a subject for the big screen? Weren’t you apprehensive of audience acceptance?

Atanu Ghosh (A): On the contrary, I feel there is little you can ‘document’ about Bystander Effect, because it happens in reality and you do not know when it is going to happen ! So you cannot get prepared to photograph it unless you have CCTV cameras fitted in every nook and corner of the city that captures real life. What drew me to the subject was the method adopted by social scientists to study it, that is, the process of creating ‘mock’ crisis. Fiction films are about ‘mock’ situations and ‘crisis’ is the most dominating dramatic interest in any fictional film. So I had no apprehension whatsoever regarding the choice of the subject and I knew for certain that it has all the ingredients that go into making of an engrossing fiction film.

KC: Like your last film Rupkatha Noy, does it also have stories running parellely?

A: No, here a group of people get assembled towards the common cause of exploring the process of Bystander Effect, that is, the socio-psychological phenomenon where people do not offer any help to a stranger in crisis. But, thereafter the film branches out exploring other facets of life. So the Bystander Effect is actually the springboard from where the film originates and then undertakes a journey of self-discovery.

KC: The shooting must have been challenging, considering you did candid shooting on real locations for some outdoor scenes.

A: Since the issue is straight out of our lives and directly related to our own experience, I wanted the film to have the feel of emerging out of ‘real’ life. I avoided all sorts of made-up or decked -up situations, which is normally done in case of fictional films. So it is like ‘photographed reality’. No superficiality. No overplayed emotion. No pretension. We shot in crowded roads using hidden cameras and even when the locations were indoor, we chose places like general ward of public hospital during visiting hours. So, the actors, in a way, mingled with the general crowd to get as close to reality as possible. Yes, it was very difficult at times, but very really challenging as well.

KC:  Like the last one, this also has an ensemble cast. Please share with us how you went about casting the main characters.

A: Never before, I had so many of my favourite actors working together, as in Ek Phaali Rodh. I craved for those who keep us glued to the screen not only for the principal cast but also for the notable cameos. So we have Dhritiman, Ritwik, Jisshu, Tota and Aparajita playing the lead while Rudranil Ghosh, Arunima Ghosh, Dulal Lahiri, Barun Chanda and Arindam Sil have enriched the film with their brief but glowing presence. And keep your eyes open for two young debutants who are bound to steal the show - Mahua Halder and Aritro Dutta.

KC: Do you think Tota is an underrated and underutilised actor ?

A: Undoubtably so. The effort Tota puts into a role is incomparable. His willingness to push his capacity to its limits has given us memorable performances in Chokher Bali and Angshumaner Chhobi and I really believe he would be a revelation in Ek Phaali Rodh as well. He has put in an entirely different body language to bring out the contrasting qualities of strength and vulnerability in the role of the blind author of love stories.

KC: Joy Sarkar has scored the music again for your film. How have you used it in the film ?

A: I always want music to flow out effortlessly from a film. I don’t want them to remain separate entities as song numbers or background pieces. They should integrate into the fabric of the film and become quite invisible. Joy is remarkably spontaneous. He can effortlessly blend a song into the fabric of the film. In Ek Phaali Rodh, the songs provide an alternate layer of input – sometimes they hold a torch to a character’s psyche, sometimes they add a footnote to the images and sometimes they even suggest an alternate interpretation of the scenes.

KC:  Finally, which Bengali films have you liked in 2014, and why?

A: In the last few years, I am really drawn to the wide range of subjects that Bengali films are trying to explore. It’s really fascinating to come across some specimens of unique concept and novel treatment. In 2014 too, I liked quite a few films for various reasons, the last one being Chotushkon for its distinctly different form of storytelling.

Here’s wishing Ek Phali Rodh all the very best.

Turtle’s call for some action

Well, when you see a teaser like this on social media, before you go to the bottom, the expectation built comes with a dash of naughtiness. Here’s the revealer that follows:

You are drawn towards the picture and the hashtagged campaign name. Then immediately looking further, you notice the message at the right. It’s not matching your expectation, but the proposition is probably not something you would like to brush away.

In keeping with its image of a socially conscious brand, this time Turtle spares a thought for the underprivileged as the winter is setting in, by engaging people to donate clothes in any Turtle store in India. The clothes will go to the underprivileged (after washing) through Goonj, a well-known national NGO, and give them a little more warmth this winter. So if your clothes are winterwear, great! To spread the word, Turtle is encouraging you to post a picture on the social media with (hashtag) #idroppedmyclothes and nominate your friends/family to do the same. For a change doing your bit for the people less fortunate than you comes with its share of fun. 

The campaign was launched by team Ebar Shabor (The eagerly awaited Bengali detective flick starring Saswata Chatterjee in the title role, releasing this December). The director Arindam Sil and cast members including Saswata, Subhrjit Dutta, June Maliah and music director Bickram Ghosh donated clothes in the South City Mall store. They posted pictures and nominated their friends to do the same.

Team Ebar Shabor at the launch

Clothes have started pouring in the boxes in various stores. Here’s a shoutout for Somshubhra Ray (picture below), one of the early supporters, for dropping fifty clothes in the Gariahat store.

So if it sounds interesting, go ahead and drop your clothes in a store. Get clicked and share it on social media to get others join in. Otherwise you may also share this post on your social media pages to spread the word. Happy dropping.

Open Tee Bioscope: First look

Here's the first look of Open Tee Bioscope, the eagerly awaited Bengali movie which will mark the directorial debut of Chandrabindoo's Anindya Chattopadhyay. It was launched by none other than Amitabh Bachchan among much fanfare on 17th November, 2014.

OK, for the uninitiated about this very special guest unveiling the first look, he was shooting in the city for Piku, directed by Shoojit Sircar, who happens to be the producer of Open Tee Bioscope.

Coming back to the movie, it's a growing up tale of a bunch of adolescents in north Kolkata, where Anindya himself has grown up and became famous. The movie has been extensively shot in that part of the city, and ends with a football match, underscoring the north Kolkatan's passion for the sport. Interestingly among the lead cast- Riddhi, Rwitobroto and Dhee are sons of well-known fathers like Koushik Sen, Shantilal Mukherjee and Shilajit respectively.You have seen Riddhi and Rwitobroto in Kahaani. I hope to come back with more about the movie.

The charms of rail journey

Came across this unique group of rail lovers on Facebook. I am an ardent lover of rail journey and a firm believer of the fact that to know Bharat (not India) you need to travel long distance by rail. Rail journey throws open a plethora of beautiful visuals of nature, and rural, suburban and urban lives. It brings to us villages, towns and cities and gives us a peek into the lives being lived there which we wouldn’t have known or seen otherwise. Not to mention the railway infrastructure- various trains, stations of various sizes and era etc- which can be a study in itself. The members of the group, called Railway Lovers, frequently post photographs shot en route. Here starts a series of curated pictures from the group.

Nilgiri Mountain Railway through Glendale Tea Estate
by Bhaswaran Bhattacharya.

 The above is the cover photo of the group.

Guwahati-Kajiranga Express towards Burdwan in winter. By Vivian Boye.

 Pichkurir Dhal halt (near Bolpur) by Arunava Das. 

Between Takipur and Lohapur in the evening. By Akm Jasimuddin.

Galsi station (Burdwan), pre-winter 6.40 pm. by Suraj Samuel Hansda.

The middle class brand that charms the mind

I got hooked to this brand in my first job, which was late nineties. At that time it was young too.  One of its outlets was near our office and I used to be one of the two volunteers among the new batch of trainees who would love to go there to fetch refreshment for the Sales team after a hard day on the field. I am a savoury person and it didn’t take long for me to get familiar with all items in the savoury section of the outlet.

Monginis still leads the cake shop space at ease in Kolkata and its suburbs in the economy segment and the reasons aren’t hard to gauge. It delivers value for money, which includes a reasonable quality. It started long after Kathleen and was followed by new entrant Sugar n Spice in a few years, but it left the former far behind and the latter still has a long way to go before it becomes a challenger. Sugar n Spice, interestingly, is often visible near Monginis, but it is still struggling (or is it really trying?)  to come close to the quality that Monginis has been consistently delivering.

Yes, Monginis is far behind a Cakes or Kookie Jar in cakes, but who cares? There’s no competition as such, as they operate in mutually exclusive spaces. And as a matter of fact, there are customers who like both kinds of brands. I am one, for instance.  The choice depends on the occasion, mood or budget.

Being a loyal customer, what I feel, based on my observation of more than a decade and a half, about what makes Monginis tick is that it completely understands its audience- the middle class Kolkatan and suburbanite- what they like and how much they are happy to pay for it. The factors that contribute to its consistent leadership include a knack for constantly refreshing its range (That is adding new products and dropping products which aren’t finding patronage), right pricing with nominal revision time to time (Its chicken patty is sold at Rs 20 and I can’t remember the time when it was revised from Rs 18) and excellent penetration. If you are in proper Kolkata, you aren’t probably very far from a Monginis outlet.

Few of my constant favourites are the very basic chicken patty, chilli paneer roll and Date Walnut Slice (which is capable to impress those who swear by premium cake shops). Over all these years of my patronage I've tried almost all savoury items, liked most of them and ticked off some that I have found to be falling in quality. Among a little expensive items, I like Chicken 65 roll (Rs 35), as it satiates my craving of something very spicy and non-veg in the afternoon. I don’t really have a weakness for its cakes, as I don’t have a sweet tooth and generally stick to its savoury section. However I love its baked pudding (named Manohara Baked), garnished with nuts. Of late Monginis is adding premium products to offer its customers a wider choice and among them are Chicken 65, Olive Chicken Sub, Fishwich (a fried fish sandwich) and various mousse. The sub is a favourite, but Fishwich didn’t work for me. I felt it could do with less of soggy French fries and a bit of more fish. Liked the butterscotch mousse.

I have a friend with who I regularly exchange notes on our Monginis recommendations. One of his favourites was potato cheese sandwich which they no more sell. One such favourite of mine is chicken salad roll which I sorely miss.

A curious case of surnames in Tolly

Was struggling to find the subject of the comeback post. Then this one struck and instantly liked its lightness. Was thinking of making this a Facebook post first and seek contribution from friends.

A close look at the names of famous and well-known actors and directors of Tollygunge curiously revealed that certain surnames rule here. Let’s start with the biggest- Chatterjee. This one has an amazing span over generations. No prizes for guessing who comes first- The matinee idol Uttam Kumar, whose official name read Arun Kumar Chatterjee. Next is, obviously, Soumitra. And then Biswajit, Subhendu, Sabitri, Moushumi and Anil. The baton is being ably carried in this generation by Prosenjit, Saswata, Parambrata, Abir and Ananya. Will have to add Dhritiman at present times, as more of his work than in the past is happening now. It is to be noticed that there are not one but two father-son pairs here. And though not famous, Abir has company of his parents Phalguni and Rumki at work. Also, though his claim to fame was one iconic character, Tapen (Gupi) was a Chatterjee too. I think it’s fair to call Chatterjee the ‘Big C’ of Bangla cinema.

If Chatterjee comes, can Sen be far behind? There are so many famous bearers of this surname- Starting with none other than the timeless heartthrob Suchitra, followed by Aparna, Mrinal (director), and then Moon Moon and Raima through the generations. Add famous filmmaker Asit Sen and also Subrata Sen, who once told this blogger that in film festivals abroad all the Sens are thought to be related!

The third position certainly belongs to the Chakrabortys. And no credit to guess who comes first- The Mahaguru- Mithun. Giving him company are Lili, Chiranjit (aka Deepak Chakraborty), Sabyasachi and Raj (Director). The would-be members of the Chakraborty Hall of fame seems to be Sabyasachi’s sons- Gaurab and Arjun.

Mukherjees aren’t way behind. Lead by the eminent Srijit, two of his colleagues form a trio with him Kamaleshwar and Shiboprosad. Among actors- Father-daughter duo Santu-Swastika and Kharaj.

Though the queen bee, Rituparna Sengupta has company of, not many, but Indraneil and Jisshu.

Same with Ghosh and Ganguly. Robi Ghosh has been joined through generations by Gautam (director), Rituparno and Rudranil. Roopa Ganguly is joined by Kaushik and Churni. Duttas are few too- I remember Anjan and Anik.

Signing off here, but this is not an exhaustive list for sure. It can go on and on. You are welcome to contribute. In fact I would love to do a follow-up post if I smell enough meat.

Song Connection

Am liking the concept of this brand new weekend musical show- Song Connection- on Zee Bangla Cinema that is visibly inspired by Coke Studio and is giving a new spin to the golden oldies of Bangla cinema. Wish to gather more and come back.

Kolkata Shutterbugs 1

Here's the beginning of a photo post series featuring the work of my chosen shutterbugs of the city. The inaugural click features my favourite actor and his angel beautifully shot by Rana Basu Thakur, who runs JLT Solutions- a 'creative agency and more'. Couldn't resist picking it up from Rana da's Facebook page.

Indraneil Sengupta and Meira shot by Rana Basu Thakur

Creative Canvas

Got an invite a few evenings back to 'Like' this group Creative Canvas on Facebook. It's created by some enthusiastic school students in standard XI to cultivate art- Photography, painting, writing and the stuff. Did the needful and thought of publishing something interesting that I come across on the page. And here's the one I liked:

 2nd Hooghly Bridge by Chandrayut Pal

This photograph has also won the distinction of  'Most Popular Art of the Week' last week. Looking forward to see more interesting work in Creative Canvas.

The black beauty's chosen ones

The winners' list of the first Filmfare Awards east (held on 29th March, '14) is more or less satisfactory. Am happy about Ritwik Chakraborty winning Best Actor (Male) for Shabdo, and for Indraneil Sengupta (Best Actor- Male in a Supporting Role- Mishawr Rawhoshyo), Shabdo (Best Film, Critics' Choice), Soumitra Chattopadhyay (Best Actor- Male, Critics' Choice), Arijit Singh (Best Playback Singer- Male- Mon majhi re- Boss) and Sohini Sarkar (Best Debut- Female- Rupkatha Noy and Phoring). Kudos to these winners!

The coveted black statuette

As  a pleasant surprise the highly aspirational black lady is coming to Kolkata to cast her lethal charm on the film industry of East- Bengali, Odia and Assamese to be precise. Yes, it's common knowledge for everyone now: to honour the Bengali film industry and its popular cousins, Filmfare Awards is opening its East edition this year. It distinctively marks the next level the Bengali film industry has been able to reach, thanks to the new wave cinema, especially since 2010 (the year Autograph released).

All eyes will be on Science City auditorium this evening as the award ceremony takes place. The awardees are going to make history. Would love it if some capable actors who are not yet stars, and a film (or two) which didn't get its due make it. Looking forward to the winners list in tomorrow's Times of India.

Riya and Red Sketchbook

Came to know about Riya and Red Sketchbook (in that order) sometime back from Kausani, my deputy and a friend of hers. Was wowed by this girl's sketches on her Facebook page called Red Sketchbook. Her forte is portrait sketch and she does amazing celebrity portraits frequently. Her Suchitra Sen adorned this blog's cover (after the diva passed away).

Riya is an artist by passion and profession (again, in that order).

Just came across this one, and couldn't resist asking her for publishing it here.

Madhabi Mukhopadhyay by Riya of Red Sketchbook

Hope to see more of her craft here.

Wanna get your or someone's sketch done by her? Drop a mail to redsketchbook.riya@gmail.com.

By the way, Riya is doing wall art too, professionally. It's for office and home interiors (and elsewhere). Would love to check out some work and come back here to talk of it.

Biriyani & Kebab Festival

Visited the second edition of Biriyani & Kebab Festival organised by t2 at City Centre last Saturday with my new foodie gang. K drove us in her family car from our office at Chandni Chowk. Big names like Aliah, Shiraz, Royal, Zeeshan, Aminia were seen with Mezban, Tamarind, newer names like Krazy Kebab and Lazeez (a chain from Shiraz) and a lesser known India Restaurant from Khidirpur. We stared with Chicken Peshawari Kebab from Aliah, suggested by partner Shamim saab (known to A and P). Malabar shrimp biriyani from Tamarind, mutton biriyani from India Restaurant, mutton chanp from Royal and firni from Aliah (courtesy Shamim saab) followed. Liked all. The rich, sinful mutton biriyani with succulent meat pieces lead to an encore at the end. But the shrimp biriyani (incl. portion size) didn't work for us. Met Poorna, fellow blogger, at the venue. We kept on collecting food and moving to a dark corner to polish it off standing, till we got a place to sit. An experience to savour for long!

The lunch at Mezban

Revisited a long lost joy on working days: A lunch outing with colleagues. The initiative was from A of my team. The venue was Mezban (on my wishlist for long for its biriyani). For the uninitiated, it is located next to the small triangular park on Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Rd (near Elliot Rd Bata). We were seated in Dustarkhwan, next to Mezban (basically its AC section). We ordered mutton biriyani (Rs 130) for each of four of us (A, P, K and me) and shared a mutton pasinda and salad. P was hungry, so was A. So these guys ordred a naan and a lachchha paratha. Contrary to feedback, I found the rice and potato (an important indicator of quality of Kolkata biriyani) average. The piece of mutton was succulent though. The biriyani wasn't rich as I had heard, rather light, like Shiraz (not my type). My favourite Aliah beats it any day. The pasinda was rich, heavily spicy and tasty, as expected.

Chander Pahar: A short take

Here's sharing my take on Chander Pahar (Posted on Facebook), which I watched last night in a night show (as tickets for two evening shows in the fourth week had sold out by afternoon in each of the two close by theatres in Hatibagan). Not sure when I can (and if I can) post a full-fledged review, so here it is, suitably edited:


Loved Chander Pahar....despite its flaws and the desperate, 'market-driven' attempt to be a mass product. Kudos to the makers - director Kamaleshwar Mukhopadhyay and Shree Venkatesh Films- for attempting something as different and as grand as this, and telling the world that we CAN do this!

The cinematography is at a different level! Looked like a Hollywood film in many a frame. Soumik Halder, take a bow! The background score (Indradeep Dasgupta and Debajyoti Mishra) and title track (Debajyoti Mishra) are also competent job.

Wish it was less over-simplistic ..... and the lion and black mamba scenes weren't as over the top. Too much of Bengali lines by the Europeans and Africans, including the tribes (making it unintentionally funny in places). A spattering of English and native language wouldn't be that difficult for the 'mass' audience to handle. The special effects in a couple of scenes could be better (especially the volcanic eruption)....but guys (to those finding it all tacky), ever imagined we could reach this level? And though look-wise Bunyip disappointed many a CP fan, I think imagination and execution-wise it was pretty good! We must allow creative liberties in cinema. So let's not judge a classic on screen by the deviations from the book. We need to spare a thought on how could it be to recreate such an old classic it in this age and appeal to audiences at an international level.

And yes, a word on Dev as Shankar. Well. it suffices to say that he has worked hard on the role, especially the look. Acting-wise, I expected Kamaleshwar to have a better job extracted from him. Yes, a star of his stature was probably needed to mass market a film on such a mammoth budget.

City in winter

Wanted contributions on the theme in the heading from the Facebook group of this blog and from a few friends (incl. virtual friends) . This was the first to arrive. Loved the essence that it captures- Bengali's obsession with monkey cap as soon as winter arrives! Underlines the thoughts that the 'photographer by passion' puts in his craft.

By Kanad Sanyal

Here's one more by another friend that I thought of putting up. Just picked it up from his Facebook wall. A new resident comes to Park Street in place of an iconic resident.

By Rana Basu Thakur

The annual dining out

We all knew the annual dining out from office is going to score a hat trick at Barbeque Nation. But it changed to Flame n Grill- the place where we first relished almost an entire meal with starters (unlimited kebabs, that is!).We are going to Flame n Grill Mani Square this year in the last week of December as our annual ritual, the day we keenly look forward to throughout the year.

Asked for an opinion, I voted for Flame n Grill, though I love BBQ Nation a lot. Here's why: 1. FNG's fish kebab has an edge over the one BBQ N's, and 2. FNG beats BBQ N in frequency of service (at least that has been the experience twice at the now non-existent Flame N Grill Park Street).

Jatiswar: the poster on social media

Liked this poster in the Facebook community of Jatiswar (the Srijit Mukherjee film slated for a 20^th December release) and made it the wallpaper of my workstation, something I am habituated to. It drew attention of a few younger colleagues, who were unanimous that Prosenjit was looking impressive and convincing as a European. I agree. Shared a brief of the movie to the curious audience.

Ashchorjyo Prodip: a micro take

Loved Ashchorjyo Prodip. Compact and precise, with an optimum length of two hours. Well made in all departments, with good performances lead by the superb Saswata as protagonist (This proves his mettle yet again as a dependable leading man, given the right role).

Anik has evolved from Bhooter Bhobishyot, as was expected of him (Considering the film could be better in some aspects). He can now be counted among the best in Tollygunge.

Not only one can relate to it, it does make one think and look back at life.

Audience has also lapped up the film as evident in leading plexes holding on to four shows in third week, including three in prime time.

Hoping to come up with a full-fledged review.