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.

Kolkata Titbits 0002

• As Boss ended the first week on 15th August with a whooping Rs 3.2 cr (as per Reliance, the producer), it was interesting to follow an exchange on Twitter between Reliance, Rana Sarkar (its production partner for some of its Bengali productions) and Venkatesh Films- the biggest production house in Tollygunge- on whether this is the biggest first week collection in the history of Bengali cinema as claimed by the producer.The challenger claimed that it's their Challenge 2 which is the biggest so far with 3.8 cr, followed by Paglu (3.6 cr) and Dui Prithibi (3.5 cr, also from their house). The jury is still out on it.
• It was a delight to see Lake Mall opening after a painful wait of 8 years, on 14th August. At times I thought whether it would ever see the light of the day in 10 years or so. It is the first PPP venture of KMC in markets that matured (The others being the 'partially opened' Barnaparichay in place of College Street Market, Lansdowne Market and the aborted Park Circus Market). Among mentionable brands it has a Big Bazaar (so proper south Kolkata finally got one!). And a multiplex- Sun Cinema- is starting around this November (giving the close by Priya some competition). For people in the area so far the nearest quality multiplex was at South City Mall. It will be interesting to see how the big brother of single screen- Priya - takes on the competition.

First look: Mishawr Rawhoshyo

The first look of the eagerly awaited Santu-Kakababu movie made by Srijit Mukherji was revealed earlier this month. It instantly took me back to my teenage when I would wait for the Sharodiya Anandamela, especially for the new Santu-Kakababu novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay. The illustrations by Subrata Gangopadhyay would enrich the reading experience. The cretaive has been done precisely in that style to bring back that nostalgic feel. The teaser design, with no mention of Kakababu, and only his crutch showing is interesting indeed. I even tweeted my thought on the first look to Srijit, who retweeted it.

Mishawr Rawhoshyo is one of my favourite Santu-Kakababu stories. The setting in Egypt is its key attraction (which probably made Srijit pick it as the first among the three novels he wishes to film, with the other two set in jungle and hills respectively). 

The trailer, released on Sangeet Bangla later stoked the fire. It gave the real feel of the fascinating adventure in the land of pyramid. The film has indeed been mounted on a huge canvas, and look-wise compares with a Hollywood adventure. Indraneil is playing the sinister Hani Alkadi, with a bald and clean-shaven look. Prosenjit looked perfect as Kakababu (and the best so far, compared to Samit Bhanja in Sobuj Dwiper Raja and Sabyasachi Chakraborty in telefilms). He has the right age to play this legendary character, which is a hot favourite of Bengalis, besides Feluda and Byomkesh. Santu has been played by Devdan, who is a known face on television and was Prosenjit’s son in Chawlo Paltai.

Needless to say, I am following the run-up to this Puja release. Hope to come back here with more on it. 

The likely challenger

Looks like someone is on the rise to reach the highest sphere in Bengali cinema. And no prizes for guessing the name. Yes, finally Saswata Chattopadhyay seems to reach where he deserves to be - the league of lead actors in Bangla cinema - the space currently ruled by Prosenjit. In fact, he will be a challenger to the numero uno. There's a condition here but. C/o Sir, his yesterday release, where he plays the title role, needs to score high at the box office, following the footsteps of the huge applaud that his performance in the lead role in his last release Meghe Dhaka Tara  is generating.

That he is an actor of outstanding capability was not in doubt for some years now. But he was always meant to shine in a 'character role'. His 'Bob Biswas' in Kahaani changed all this, helped by his 'Haathkata Kartick' act that lit up the second half of the 2012 blockbuster Bhooter Bhobishyot. Around that time (or a little while ago) he was being considered for the lead roles thanks to years of consistent good work, that started with Bong Connection in 2006.

Besides C/o Sir and Meghe Dhaka Tara, he will be seen as the leading man in Anik Dutta's (of Bhooter Bhobishyot fame) Ashchorjyo Prodip, a satire on today's consumerist society (which, I have a hunch, will pay a tribute to Parash Pathar by Satyajit Ray, who has an ardent admirer in Dutta). And his portrayal of a police officer in Raj Chakraborty's eagerly awaited Proloy is also likely to consolidate his position as a truly versatile actor.

Saswata doesn't have the screen presence of Prosenjit, or the youthfulness of Parambrata, who is also doing the lead roles (thanks to Kahaani and Bhooter Bhobishyot again). Nevertheless he can rule the screen, on the sheer merit of his acting prowess. And if he finally reaches the top league, given the right opportunities, he will stay there for years.

Review: Maach, Mishti & More

Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Raima Sen, Swastika Mukherjee, Parno Mittra, Shauvik Kundagrami, Rachita Chauhan, Anubrata Basu, Pamela Singh Bhutoria, Neha Panda, Pradip Mukhopadhyay and Anuradha Roy

Director: Mainak Bhaumik

The opening credits unfold with sketches of Kolkata, setting the mood for a light-hearted, enjoyable two hours with your popcorn. Maach, Mishti & More is a mint fresh urban romantic comedy set in the cosmopolitan Kolkata. Mainak’s third film tells the tale of the trials and tribulations in the relationships of three brothers in a joint family in an old house.

The eldest, Rahul (Shauvik), is an NRI based in US who chucks his high-paying corporate career to come back to his city with the dream to start his own restaurant (‘To cook for others’ in his mother’s words). Rony, the middle one (Parambrata), is doing well in a corporate job, earns handsomely, and struggles to meet expectations of his Marwari girlfriend (Rachita) from a rich family. Raju, or Raj, the third one (Anubrata), is a struggling actor who dreams of his big break in Bollywood. All of them love to spend time with their ‘Dadu’ (Soumitra), who believes in living life on his own terms and is at ease dealing with gen Y (He goes to his morning walk in cool roundneck tees). While Rahul and Raj are sorted out in their personal lives - Rahul has a settled and routine life with Rina, his wife of three years (Swastika), and Raj doesn’t date a girl for long - Rony is the confused soul. He is in love with Swati but not sure of committing to marriage. Each of them happens to meet a new girl and life takes a turn from that point. Rahul comes across June (Pamela), his friend’s colleague, who helps him in setting up his business. Rony bumps into Ishani (Raima), his college mate, now a yoga & reiki teacher and Raj meets Neha (Neha), with who his past two encounters were unpalatable, in a meeting set up by his mother to help her son in his career. Meanwhile Dadu meets Sunny, a college-going tomboy (Parno) in the local tea shop and helps him sort out her love life.

What is refreshing to see is that the women in Mainak’s film are , in varying degrees, confident, liberated, unapologetic for the right reasons and take their own decisions, yet are true to their feminine selves. The men are overshadowed by these stronger women, which reflects the changing equation of modern urban society.  Mainak takes a look at the idiosyncrasies of the Bengali and never stops short of having a hearty laugh at it. In the same spirit the film shows a young girl lighting up in the middle of the conversation with someone her grandfather’s age or a homemaker sharing a fag with her much younger brother-in-law. Going ahead, it treats the death after a life well lived with a song, rather than the familiar background score. Some moments of the film did remind me of Aamra – Mainak’s debut film.

The performances elevate the film, helped by apt casting, and taut script and dialogue by Mainak (with additional writing by Pratim D. Gupta, the maker of the last Puja release Paanch Adhyay. Everyone fits the bill for his / her part. Soumitra is superb as the old man of the family rediscovering life in his city of love. I have always wondered why none offered an actor of his calibre a role like this, breaking out of the stereotype he has been forced in. Neha (also one of the stylists in this film) is impressive as the kickass Neha driving bike with Raj riding pillion. Swastika is good as the bored wife thanks to an ever busy husband, and disgusted by the middle class practices in her in-law’s family on return from abroad, yet making an effort to win over her husband from the other woman. Though Anubrata is the natural choice for his role, he is just rocking as Raj representing gen Y. His telephonic conversation with a prospective landlord in a coffee shop is uproariously funny. The three leading men show fabulous comic timing. Ajopa Mukhpadhyay, the other stylist of the film, also shone in the small role as sister to her real life sister Swastika. Neha and Ajopa have done an equally good job in styling. Shauvik’s accent sounded a little too heavy though. And I wish Anuradha Roy (the mother) was given a better wig.

The sepia frames lovingly embrace the different parts of the old and the new Kolkata. They are perfectly complimented by the well-worded songs (by Srijit, Rituparno and others) put to hummable tunes by Neel Dutt and sung by Rupankar, Somlata and Timir among others. The title track, the one with Param-Raima and one with Anubrata-Neha are particularly good. Supriyo Datta has done a good job behind the camera. The editing job could be better though, the cuts in some scenes look a bit rushed.

There are minor glitches, like Sunny’s character could have been fleshed out a bit more to lend it a credibility that it lacks or the mother’s shock at her son’s return from abroad to pursue that silly dream being too mild. Rony’s frequently walking into Ishani’s ongoing classes and starting a very personal conversation also looks odd. But one is still able to set aside all this once out of the theatre thanks to the overall feel good factor.

Mainak said in his Calcutta Times pre-release interview that he sincerely believes he is a mediocre director who has a shitload of interesting stories to tell. Well, Maach, Mishti & More is indeed an interesting story, but it’s no mediocre work either. In fact, this is the best from Mainak. Go for it!

Bengali releases to look forward to

The Bengali releases that I would like to watch / keep an eye on in this year is: Ashchorjyo Prodip by Anik Dutta, Meghe Dhaka Tara by Kamaleshwar Mukhopadhyay, Room No. 103 and Mahapurush O Kapurush by Aniket Chattopadhyay, Chorabali by Rituparno Ghosh, Hanuman.com by Gaurav Pandey, Goynar Baksho by Aparna Sen, Mishar Rahasya by Srijit Mukherjee, Aleek Sukh by Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay-Nandita Roy, Ganesh Talkies by Anjan Dutta, Abhishopto Nighty by Birsa Dasgupta, C/o Sir by Kaushik Ganguly and Kanamachhi and Praloy by Raj Chakaborty. The genres in the list have an amazing variety.

Special mention goes to Meghe Dhaka Tara – I’m extremely curious to watch Kamaleshwar’s take on Ritwik Ghatak’s life, Mishar Rahasya- Srijit’s take on the iconic Kakababu, Chorabali - Rituparno’s fresh take on Byomkesh Bakshi and Praloy- Raj’s take on the late Barun Biswas- the idealistic teacher known for his collective protest against the gang rapes in Sutia.

'Bhooter Bhobishyot' - a brief take

Here goes my wall post on Bhooter Bhobishyot on Facebook:

'Bhooter Bhobishyot' is witty, hilarious, a fresh concept and a nice tribute to the Ray brand of humour. Has some super one liners. Go for it!

Would like to add, Paran Bandopadhyay is superb and Saswata Chatterjee lights up the second half as Haat-kata Kartick (once again after his outstanding 'Bob Biswas' in Kahaani).

Wish the film all the very best!

The 'Kahaani' BO magic

Bidya’s BO magic

Loved to read this article in today's Telegraph about Kahaani's rare box office magic in Kolkata and Bengal! Cheers to Sujoy Ghosh & Co. & the entire cast (Specially the Kolkata actors) to make it happen with a shot-in-Kolkata film with a majorly Kolkata cast and a crew partially from the city. Kahaani magic is largely Kolkata magic as well!

Kolkata random 2

by Shreyas Surya DasGupta

Loved this surreal shot by a friend who loves shooting the city in its various moods and moments. Showing a slice of Kolkata 'adda' (The legendary 'chat' by Bengalis) among some senior citizens.

Bhooter Bhobishyot : Srijit's take

Here's Srijit Mukherjee's oven fresh view on Bhooter Bhobishyot on his Facebook wall :

In Tollygunge, we might not have lavish budgets, infinite timelines, never-ending resources and enviable infrastructure, but we do have fantastic actors, superb technicians and most importantly...an incredible storytelling bug. For a milestone comedy cum satire, and one of the wittiest scripts in the recent times, watch Bhooter Bhobishyot!!

The curiosity to check out the new release is on accelerator mode now!

Bhooter Bhobishyot : TOI rating

The Bhooter Bhobishyot poster

Bhooter Bhobishyot gets a **** rating in the Times of India review today. Am all the more keen to check it out at the earliest. Some audience feedback will be fine.

Kahaani : a brief take

In a hurry, but can't help sharing my view on Kahaani briefly. Saw it yesterday. So, here goes my Facebook wall post on the same, slightly edited: 

Kahaani is the Kolkata film made in Hindi that finally hits the bull's eye (after failed attempts like Yuva and Raincoat, and Anjan Dutt's BBD that unfortunately never made it to theatre screens). Highly recommended for all Kolkatans and non-resident Kolkatans and all others who love a story-driven, smartly-made film rich with performances. Sujoy & Co., Vidya and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, you rocked! And proud of you - Param, Kharaj, Shantilal and all other actors from Kolkata. Loved to see Indraneil too, who's more of a Kolkata actor now.

Hope to post a complete review. Watch this space.

The 'Kahaani' we are loving to watch

Couldn't resist this one. Just couldn't. Kahaani has been increasingly generating unprecedented buzz in the city since its last Friday release. Nationally too, I learn, the scene is no different. Predictably so, as Kolkata is not a backdrop, but a well-etched lead character in the film, besides Vidya Balan (Or would 'Bidya' Balan be in the right spirit?). The strong reviews, feedback from friends and colleagues.... all are tempting me to catch it ASAP and post something here. Oh... at last a film with Kolkata featuring prominently in it scores with audience (Didn't like Yuva, the last example of such a film that comes to my mind).

The 'neutral' police administration

It was good to know that the arrogant and foul-mouthed youngster Akash Banerjee was finally arrested in an unusual climax of a not-so-uncommon road drama where he and his friends in a car violated traffic rules yesterday, then abused and assaulted a traffic constable and shoved the traffic police inspector on duty while dropping the name of his famous aunt (father's sister) - none other than the CM of the state - Mamata Banerjee and threatening with grim consequences.

It was great to know that the arrest was at the behest of none other than the CM who was on visit to Darjeeling, and showed good governance in a quick, exemplary action (Though this must be noted that that media had raised its voice about the incident by then). It was indeed a new and welcome experience for people of the state.

But a question remains. Is this the 'neutral' police administration that the CM promised after she took the charge? She has the moral duty to answer (Especially since she heads the home ministry) what precisely led the police to let the brat and his gang walk out of the police station scot-free initially?