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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