No Sunday without ‘Robbar’

A complimentary Sunday magazine distributed with the daily paper is something many look forward to, Sunday being the only day with the luxury of leisurely reading that covers a variety of subjects that a daily paper doesn’t deal with on weekdays.

In the past the Sunday magazine used to be associated only with only the English newspapers, like The Telegraph and Hindustan Times. Graphiti from Telegraph and Brunch from HT are two quality offerings that I am sure command a great readership. To many these magazines must be the main attraction of reading the Sunday papers. In the recent years one of the prominent Bangla dailies has joined the league with its unique Sunday offering – Robbar ( which means Sunday). It is from the house of Sangbad Pratidin. The paper, though paints a certain political image through the broadsheet, has been doing a competent job when it comes to the supplements (apart from Robbar it publishes Popcorn – the Friday entertainment supplement and Ami – the Saturday women’s supplement).

With Rituparno Ghosh at the helm and Anindya Chattopadhyay (of Chandrabindoo fame, who’s a competent writer too) as the associate editor, Robbar has successfully carved out a niche of being a literary magazine, offering a quality, wholesome weekend read without which my (and many other loyal readers’) Sundays are incomplete.

I was introduced to Robbar by Anindya Chattopadhyay. Went to the supplements section of the paper (at the top floor of Sangbad Pratidin office-cum-press next to Hindu Mutual House at Chandni Chowk) for some work with him in 2008. He gifted me some old issues of the magazine, and I was gradually hooked. Over more than the last two years, Robbar has refreshed its content at a healthy interval. Many columnists have left and new ones joined. But my engagement with it has grown only stronger. I am in love with its quintessential Bengali essence which, besides providing food for thought to the top end of the educated class, deals at ease with middle class Bengali sensibilities, likes and preferences, and the underlying wit in its nature.

It comprises, apart from a well-penned editorial by Rituparno, a cover story on some well-chosen aspect of Bengal and Bengali life, regular columns by noted writers Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Ranjan Bandopadhyay (about books by authors across the world), Samaresh Majumdar, Joy Goswami (discussing poetry), Chandril Bhattacharya (of Chandrabindoo fame, and an established name in sarcastic writing) and Sudhir Chakraborty. Two of the recent additions are a mythology column by the expert – Nrisingha Prasad Bhanduri and another by Sanjib Chattopadhyay. These are peppered by two serial novels - Ashtam Garbho by Bani Basu, and Kshama Karo He Prabhu - a religious thriller (a new genre) by Rupak Saha, and a food column that talks about food, food joints and the story behind them by Amitabha Malakar. Rupak’s engaging and highly informative novel is my first read in Robbar. The cover story is one of its core strengths, providing the take of a set of handpicked people from various walks of life on the subject.

You can also read it online here.

Ritu's angel

Congratulations to Rituparna Sengupta on being the proud mother of a "cute little girl" (in her own words) on 12 May 2011. She's in Singapore now, at her husband's place. Both the mother and the baby are doing well, as per Sanjay, the proud father.

Wish Rituparna and the little angel good health.

Finally....it's a green Bengal

It was sooooo disappointing not to be able to blog yesterday - The Historic Day in Bengal. Blogger was kept out of access by the site administrators.

Anyways, so finally Bengal is green now, putting an end to the longest-lasting communist rule in a democratic set up in the whole world, all of about 34 years, through the storming triumph of the Trinamool Congress & Indian National Congress coalition that won 227 sets out of 294, throwing out the ruling Left Front that managed only 62 seats. Being someone brought up in the communist-led Bengal it's hard to sink in.

Let's look forward to a new regime with renewed hopes. All the best to Mamata Banerjee & Co. Hope the life in Bengal gets only better now, albeit gradually.

A working lunch

Had an all-agency meeting at the client's office yesterday. Enjoyed the pizza and chicken wings lunch from Domino's ordered in. Never imagined Domino's served chicken wings (Picture above). The sauce used in the chicken wings added to the taste. And the complimentary Choco Lava Cake (Picture above) with liquid chocolate inside was sinfully tempting.

I used to rate Domino's after Pizza Hut as far as regular pizza is concerned at least, but liked their thin crust pizzas.

A pleasant onset

This is the most relieving onset of summer in a long, long time. A complete contrast with the cruel same time last year.

It's hard to believe that it's feeling cool at the night and the dawn. One can even feel like switching off the fan. And we've already had about 4 nor'westers by now. It's raining once almost every week. Let's see what's awaiting us.

The first D Day

One D Day is over, another coming 13th May. Kolkata, along with North and South 24 Parganas went to polls on 27th April. It was by and large peaceful and well-organised, thanks to Election Commission.

But I was disappointed by Kolkata's polling rate: just 64%, while North 24 Parganas polled 83% and South 24 Parganas 84%. The ratio is in line with the last civic poll in 2010 and general elections in 2009. South 24 Parganas did a shade better this time. Despite the stats, I expected Kolkata, being the thought leader in Bengal, to lead from the front and turn up to ink the finger in an impressive number, as this is not just another election. It is the most watched, closely fought, adrenaline-pumping assembly election in the last three decades that has shown a possibility to end the 34-year communist rule in Bengal that has made international history.

Hind : a new avatar

Hind cinema, after a painfully long wait spanning years, is opening again today in a cool new avatar - Hind Fame. Yes, it's a multiplex now, a two-screener at that (with a robust capacity of 701 seats, by multiplex standards), under the Fame umbrella, making it the third Fame plex in town.

It should be a good option for the mammoth office crowd in central business district, close to which it is located (76 Ganesh Chandra Avenue). Particularly for cinephiles like me who look for convenient (read 'not far', comfortable and moderately priced) movie-watching options post work. Am excited because it's just a less-than-10-minutes walk from my Chandni Chowk office!! The ticket prices will be kept lower than market rates, they said in an interview in a t2 preview sometime back. The theatre will cater to the burning need for good theatres in Central Kolkata, which used to be a movie buff's delight with a wide array of quality theatres like Lighthouse, New Empire, Globe and Metro long back.

Wish it all the very best!

t2 : the big bore

The 24-page t2 can really be a big bore, like today's edition. Since its debut in January it is yet to plan well to fill up the 24 pages (save a few for advertisements). The variety of features and consistency of new columns has been lacking all this while. Even MySpace, a fresh sub-section in Tollywood (Check my earlier post MySpace debuts in t2), has't been continued.

Today's edition is all about Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 4, end to end. It covers pages on Dav Whatmore, Gautam Gambhir and Brett Lee's bites, celebrity take on KKR, fan frenzy, KKR quiz.....and two pages on how to dress like Shah Rukh (when he is with KKR) and how the suits for SRK and his KKR men were stiched!! Can you believe it? Wait, there are more. There are two more pages on....hold your breath...Shah Rukh's bowling action and a few of his other moments on-ground (including the jersy-lifting to show the packs on his stomach)!! It almost looks like an advertiser's supplement by KKR. All this is plain nonsense, from the point of view of the universe of t2 readers who are, well, not really obsessed with KKR and look for other things to spice up their day. It is a brainless proclamation of the fact that t2 is the print partner of KKR.

The new year : 1418

Shubho Nababarsho to all the readers of Kolkata Curry.

To the Bengalis and all Bengalis-at-heart : May we become better and more proud Bengalis for the right reasons and inspire our fellow people to be so in 1418.

The changing economy at Barrackpore

I went to watch a movie at Jayanti – a popular single-screen theatre that has been recently converted to a 3-screen multiplex at Barrackpore, my hometown. After buying the ticket, I had some time to kill before the show. I was feeling a little hungry and thought of treating myself to a mutton roll. There are two popular roll joints adjacent to one another at Chiria More, where Jayanti is located. As I reached the first one, called Anil Saha (after the owner’s name), the price of a mutton roll on the price board in front of the joint shocked me. It was Rs 35. I am aware of the rising prices of mutton, but it completely freaked me out. How can people pay Rs 35 for just a mutton roll! It costs far less in Kolkata. And a few rupees added to it, it can buy a plate of chicken fried rice from a decent small joint there.

In hindsight, the realization dawned on me. It is a popular roll joint. Every evening it has customers crowding in front of it. The owner knows the market. Therefore he surely knows how to price his products. I have little doubt that even at that price mutton roll is in high demand at Anil Saha. At the same time, I’m sure a mutton roll is available at a lower price in some of the other popular roll joints in this district town.

Anil Saha is part of the fast-growing snacks and eating out market in Barrackpore, once a sleepy sub-divisional town on the main line of Eastern Railways from Sealdah (on road it is the place where BT Road ends). It has always had an educated population and a good number of people coming to it everyday for education, job and entertainment. It has a number of Bengali and English medium schools and two colleges including Rashtraguru Surendranath College - one of the better colleges in Kolkata’s suburbs, Palta Waterworks is located here and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. is nearby, apart from the sub-divisional administrative building, the sub-divisional criminal court, banks, a head post office and other government offices. It has 4 single-screen theatres apart from Jayanti. All this hints at it’s being a good market for out-of-home food consumption. Some of the food joints are riding the demand curve in such a way that they comfortably started pricing their stuff higher than their city counterparts long back. And thus the price of a plate of mutton biriani at the hugely popular biriani joint ‘Dada Boudir Hotel’ near Barrackpore railway station has touched Rs 100 now, where in New Aliah Hotel, one of the best in Mughlai cuisine in Kolkata it costs Rs 83. A mutton korma (or some similar mutton dish with gravy) costs Rs 130 with just about a moderate quantity of mutton in one of the popular restaurants here, our next door neighbour shared the other day.

Supporting this phenomenon are the real estate prices. A kottah of land near Barrackpore railway station may easily cost Rs 5-6 lac. A local friend, a software engineer by profession, who I met the other day, shared that he was taken aback by the price per square feet (Rs 2000 or more) for an apartment at Genexx Towers, being constructed by a big real estate player from Kolkata at Palta, a place next to Barrackpore, as he went looking for an apartment.

Real estate is growing fast in Barrackpore, with vacant land and old houses fast making space for apartments. Many upper middle class families are eyeing the town for setting up home due to its inherent characteristics – peacefulness (there are hardly incidents of political turbulence / hooliganism, education facilities, good train and road connectivity with city (Local trains starting from Barrackpore go to Sealdah, BBD Bagh – the central business district and south Kolkata). And the corresponding rise in total disposable income of the population is showing in various aspects of living and changing the economic balance.

Run-up to elections 2 : A strange game

The state Housing Minister Goutam Deb seems to be into a strange game. He is repeatedly opening his mouth in support of Majid Master, who has a number of police cases against him (that includes murder and rioting), had been officially 'absconding' till a few days back, yet had accompanied CPI(M) MP Amitava Nandi to the Left Front headquarters for a meeting with none other than the CM, and subsequently arrested following TMC's complaint to the state election office highlighting this incident.

First Goutam said in an election rally this month in south 24 Parganas (where Majid is reportedly a terror and manipulates the elections in CPI(M)'s favour) that Majid had been framed in 'ridiculous' cases. He announced that his party (CPI(M)) was consulting lawyers to get Majid released on bail at the earliest and assured that he was going to get bail and come back to take charge of elections in Deganga and Haroa, his home territory.

The day after the Special Secretary (Home) clarified that the Left Front government would oppose the bail plea for Majid, clearly indicating state government's intentions and embarrassing the party.

However there hasn't been a reprimand to Goutam from his party not to repeat the incident. And he did just what was not called for. He mentioned yet again in an election rally at Duttapukur yesterday that the effort to get Majid released was still on.

There is no reason to believe that Goutam is another rebel like the late Subhas Chakraborty in his party. In fact he is one major face of his party in the ongoing election campaign. The mechanics behind this strange game he is playing is not clear but his statements seem to be intentional and serving the interest of the party in terms of votebank and election machinery (especially Majid's follower base) and maybe have other deeper reasons.

Arsalan delicacies

Loved the 'Special chicken reshmi kebab' and 'Mutton rogan josh' from Arsalan brought in at office. Am yet to try the biriyani of this famous mughlai restaurant at Park Circus that has shot up the popularity chart extraordinarily fast in recent years and is considered among the best by city foodies, besides media recommendations. The reshmi kebab interestingly had a cheese crust! The prices seem to be a little premium compared to its peers like Zeeshan, Shiraj, Rehmania and New Aliah Hotel.

Momo at Barrackpore

Loved the steamed chicken momo at China Cooks at Barrackpore (near rail gate adjacent to Barrackpore station) on Old Calcutta Rd. Had tasted them before too. The momos at this tiny Chinese takeaway joint were juicy, with decent quantity of chicken inside (by roadside standards), served with a generous helping of sauce, and soup. The soup is their USP: It has egg in it and tastes.........(slurp)........delicious. You may get a second serving of soup if you ask for it (Depends on how fast it is exhausted). 6 momos at just Rs 25 - can value-for-money get any better?

Life in metro : 2

A friend overheard in Kolkata metro:
"Apni?"
"Ami Nazrul."
"Aar dada...apni?"
"Ami Netaji."
"Tahole sore asun, ami Uttam Kumar."

It can't get more hilarious than this when it comes to the Rail Minister's penchant for naming the new metro stations after great sons of the soil, deviating from the practice of naming after the location.

The architect.....and the celebration

The nail-biting finish to the World Cup final on 2nd April was in contrast with the final on 25 June 1983. That evening we saw it coming after Kapil caught Richards incredibly. Finally, thanks to Gautam Gambhir's and Mahi's resolute knocks in a high-pressure situation we rule the cricketing world......after 28 long years.



Couldn't resist posting this picture of Sourav, watching the celebration of India's World Cup triumph at Wankhede stadium on 25th April 2011 from a distance. Didn't anybody remember to call him to join in, like they called Anil Kumble for a photo op? After all he was one of the early architects of today's invincible Team India, someone who took an underperforming XI to the World Cup finals in 2003.

(Photo courtesy: Debasish Sen of 'Extra Time'.)

Remembering 25 June, 1983 again!

Loved this advertisement by Times of India in today's edition to bring back the memory of 25 June, 1983. I was in standard III then and watched the match in a black & white television in a neighbour's place. India accomplished the unimaginable - beat the mighty West Indies in the World Cup final.

Feeling nostalgic today. The difference is that today it's not unimaginable any more. India is a top cricketing power and can beat any team on earth. Looking forward to Mahi & co. beating Sangakkara and his tough men in today's World Cup final in Mumbai.

Will be finishing work and join the boss and colleagues in the conference room in cheering for Men in Blue in front of the projection of online live streaming of the match the entire nation will be watching 2.30 pm onwards. Over lunch and drinks, for which everyone has pooled in money, to add to the mood. Let's Bleed Blue, as Pepsi urges us to.

For a better view of the advertisement, click on the picture.

BESU's green initiative

Kolkata Curry cheers to the news of Belur Math and Dakshineshwar Temple going solar (Published in Times of India today). Due credit goes to the newly set up green research centre at Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) for taking up the project. It's also heartening to know that Bengal's green energy champion SP Gon Chaudhuri who was the Managing Director of West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) some time back is now the advisor to the state on renewable energy and involved with the project.

These heritage institutions with large campuses, drawing thousands of people regularly, will be showing the way in saving a great deal of conventional energy that can be used to light up other places.

The next on line are two more heritage institutions - Indian Museum and Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah. Kudos to BESU for championing green energy, starting off with public places that matter in terms of scale, at this critical time of global climate change.

'Makha sandesh' from Bhatpara

Relished the famous 'Makha sandesh' (It is the sandesh in dough form - a distinct variant of the famous Bengali sweetmeat) from Bhatpara, located near Kankinara railway station on the Sealdah main line. It was gifted by our next-door neighbour hailing from that place. Packed in a saal leaf inside the paper box, it was utterly d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.

I didn't have high regards for sweets from Bhatpara, as my brush thus far was limited to a reddish syrupy sweet (typical of the place) that I had been offered on several occasions and found to be excessively sweet. But I loved the makha sandesh. Shall look forward to more of this delicacy.

A cool Bengali tongue-twister

Kolikatar Kalighater Kalichoron Kormokarer Konishtha Konya Komolkoli Kormokar Kopal Kunchito Koriya Kohilo,'Kalukaka Kalukaka,Kak Keno Ka-Ka Kore'?

Shared by Shreyas Surya Dasgupta, a friend, on his Facebook wall. Couldn't resist sharing this with you, the KC readers.

Do try it if you are game for tongue-twisters. Tongue-twister is a part of Bengali and Indian culture and finds its place in films (A good example would be the picnic sequence in Ray's Shakha Prashakha) to reality shows to good old Bengali adda.

MySpace debuts in t2

Ever since t2 has become 24 pages (from 1st January this year) I've wondered like some others I know if team t2 knew what to do with the additional space. I saw regular sections (like Tollywood, Bollywood et al.) expanded to 2 or more pages to utilise the space. Larger pictures, a signature characteristic of t2, are being seen in higher numbers and more often. Not much of new sections or sub-sections are visible.

So it was pleasant to look at MySpace which debuted as part of the Tollywood section today featuring a close look at Koneenica Banerjee's life at home in Kolkata (She has shifted to Mumbai for greener pastures three years back).

Findings about Koni (as she is referred to in industry circuits)? She is a cleanliness freak, and cleans up her place or put things in order everyday, she loves to Facebook, she can cook and rustle up a machher jhol, one of her favourites, in 5 minutes flat, does pranayam every morning (for the past three years) and...........has put back all the weight she had lost a few years back.

Read MySpace here. Would love to have your comments.

Run-up to elections 1: Two distinct candidates

Amit Mitra, Padmashree, Ex-Secretary General of FICCI, noted ecomoist.

Being fielded by Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Khardaha constituency for 2011 assembly elections in West Bengal, against Asim Dasgupta, Finance Minister. Looks like a smart move.



Bratya Basu, noted playwright, actor (Play and television), play and film director.

Being fielded by Trinamool Congress in the Dum Dum constituency, against Gautam Deb, Housing Minister. His getting a ticket wasn't unexpected.

If they and their party win, will they become the Finance Minister and Information & Culture Minister respectively?

The mystery is over

Srijit Mukherjee unveiled his new film this month. Finished with the controversial script (Read my earlier post Storm over the mystery pages), he let out that this is a ‘Serial killer-cop drama’ where a group of special branch police officers are investigating a series of murders in the city.

Crime thriller is a less-explored genre in contemporary Bangla cinema. Hence Srijit is spot on in picking the subject of his second venture, curiously named 22shey Srabon, after his immensely successful debut with Autograph. Enriching the film that will show the dark side of Kolkata will be the ensemble cast. Prosenjit will be playing Prabir Guha Neogi (the protagonist), a senior police officer, with a mix of attitude, sense of humour and body language that will make him different from familiar cop characters in Bangla movies (Rahul Bose also played an intelligent senior police officer in Antaheen, but he wasn’t shown much in work). Working with him will be Abhijit Pakrashi, an intelligent, bright, young officer coming from small town Bengal, played by Parambrata Chattopadhyay, and Rajesh Sharma as another interesting cop. Raima Sen and Abir Chatterjee play two characters who happen to be childhood friends, working in a television channel. Raima Sen and Abir Chatterjee will be shown as childhood friends who work in a television channel. Raima plays Amrita- a spirited and tough journalist. Parambrata is her love interest (they will be seen in a relationship again after The Bong Connection in 2007). And Srijit has done no short of a casting coup in bringing back Goutam Ghose before the camera to portray an eccentric poet from the sixties. I still recall his tough nut investigative journalist act long back in Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Grihajuddha (1982). He last acted in a cameo in a French film called The Wall (1983), so it’s a gap of 28 years before he’s going to face the camera again! Anupam 'Autograph' Roy will be scoring the film which will have five songs, including two romantic songs, and two intense ones “heavily influenced by classical music” as he put it.

A little peek into Prabir Guha Neogi - He lives in an old mansion in north Kolkata, and has a rich, old-fashioned taste. The pride that Srijit has showed in this character was once immortalized by Chhobi Biswas in many films, including Jalsaghar. He is clued into modern technology but prefers gramophone to CD player for listening to his favourite music. Termed ‘mad’ by his department and suspended, he is recalled to solve the murder case. He is arrogant and treats his juniors like slaves, but eventually bonds with them as a father figure as the story progresses. A very, very unconventional and intriguing protagonist, isn’t he?

Am keen to come back on 22shey Srabon, produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. Watch this blog.

Challenge Nibi Na....

Shooting stills of Challenge Nibi Na - the under-production reality show on Bangla television (Re: Earlier post Bangla avatars of national shows) jointly produced by Kaustuv Roy's RP Techvision and Nitesh Sharma's Bangla Talkies, targeted at an adult audience. The show will have celebrities 'fighting' it out in the real sense of the term for the top prize (Rs 10 lakh). As per media reports the fight often got dirty and abusive. The show will be aired on ETV in a few months.

The first photograph shows Silajit in a sack race. And the last shows the men behind-the-scenes including co-producer Nitesh Sharma (First from left) and line producer Saran Dutta (second from left, in specs).

'Memories in March'

.

Loved the promo of debutant Sanjay Nag-directed Memories in March. It's an English film made in Kolkata with Deepti Naval, Rituparno Ghosh and Raima Sen in the cast, under the banner of Shree Venkatesh Films. It's about a mother's discovery of a slice of her son's life (he lives in a different city for work) after his death. The well-made promo gives a peek into this sensitive film that may touch a raw chord. Looking forward to the release on April 1.

Royal Bengal Rahasya

It's news now! Feluda's next - Royal Bengal Rahasya - one of the most thrilling adventures of Feluda - is being produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. Directed by Sandeep Ray of course, starring Sabyasachi Chakraborty as Feluda, Saheb Bhattacharya as Topshe and Bibhu Bhattacharya as Jatayu.

SVF will be the fourth banner producing a Feluda film directed by Sandeep Ray, after D Rama Naidu (Bombaiyer Bombete), T Sarkar Productions (Kailashe Kelenkari and Tintorettor Jishu, after taking over the latter from RD Banshal & Co. under-production) and V3G Films (Gorosthane Sabdhan).

Am sure the SVF stamp will be visible on Royal Bengal Rahasya, from production to the marketing.

A new breakfast option

I lament at the fact that Kolkata does not have a good breakfast market. The options are handful for a breakfast. The main choices are toast (with butter or jelly), omelette and kachuri-alur tarkari.

Was surprised to find this tandoori roti stall that operates in the morning by the flyover at Sealdah (on the road at the right from Jagat cinema end to the station). There were many takers, including some students presumably on way back from their coaching class, relishing the healthy breakfast option. The curries they serve with the over-fresh rotis include tarka, matar paneer, mixed paneer (paneer with veggies) and 1-2 other paneer dishes, alur dum, chana masala and mixed vegetables. And the prices are at market rates of street vendors (Tandoori roti at Rs 2 apiece and half a plate of tarka at Rs 7).

The makeshift stall operates in the evening also, feeding lots of hungry, Sealdah rail station-bound officegoers, and I suppose they are open at lunch hours too. A day's business must be pretty good for the youngsters who man it, as they are strategically located on way to the station. Their success may inspire many others to open up roadside eateries serving tandoori roti right since the morning.

Real women...

.....have curves. And real men truly appreciate that.

And thank you t2 for always celebrating real women, like in todays cover story.

LCD screens at metro

Was happy to learn from a junior colleague that LCD TVs are being installed at metro stations in the city, replacing the old, bulky television sets. Never thought the process would be rolled out so fast. Noticed the other day one LCD TV at Dum Dum station, at the platform where a journey begins, and heard that the other sets there have also been replaced.

The old sets far outlived their lives, and at Dum Dum some of them adopted their own colour themes. So in one set the picture looked green and it looked purple in another. Such was the pathetic state they were in. Now, this new development indeed is far ahead of expectation.

It seems to be a reflection of the large funds sanctioned for Kolkata metro by the new Railways minister, after years of neglect by central government.

Chinese street joint 1

Had lunch from this Chinese joint on RN Mukherjee Rd on 26 February. Run by an old Chinese man, this place offers what every average middle class Bengali identify as the basic Chinese dishes – fried rice, chowmein and chili chicken, along with Vegetable Manchurian. Unlike an average roadside Chinese joint they serve chili dipped vinegar along with chili and tomato sauces (Though not a Chinese sauce, they possibly serve it on popular demand).

I ordered a plate of vegetable fried rice and two pieces of Chili Chicken (they sell it by pieces like an average street joint, reflecting the democratization of this dish that happened more than a decade back) and took two more pieces later. They didn’t spoil the fried rice by adding soya sauce, and the chili chicken had adequate chicken in it, unlike some of the joints where you find little of it inside the thick cornflour crust. The rice was well-cooked with the right vegetables. The chicken was not pungent and the gravy was slightly lighter than its street counterparts. And the prices were as per market rates only (Vegetable fried rice at Rs 14 a plate).

They cater to the lunch market and wrap up by 5 pm. The joint is located at the crossing of Mangoe Lane and RN Mukherjee Rd, at the sidewalk by the old CTC office at 14 RN Mukherjee Rd. Would like to come back.

Life in metro : 1

Given Kolkata’s fast rising preference for the metro as the best mode of mass transport, recently noticed in a big way after the extension from Tollygunge to Garia, the announcement of airconditioned rakes coming in was like a dream. But the experience of service so far has varied from pleasant to below par.

Boarded one such train (There is one, or two at the most now) from Dum Dum, the terminal station, on 26 February on way to work. The AC wasn’t working, and it started feeling hot, and suffocated to some older co-passengers. Some of them remarked that the regular rakes are better and they are happy with them as they allow air flow. Some said that if there was a problem in running the AC, this rake should not be run at office hours. To add to it, the announcement of next station in public address system which is in sync with the LCD display in the compartment was wrong. Some joked at the announcement bit that since it was just after the rail budget day, the Metro staff were probably taking it easy. The airconditioning was started and the announcement (and the display) got corrected at Central station (The 7th station from Dum Dum).

To be fair, I’ve boarded an AC rake a couple of times in the past. The airconditioning works fine, and coupled with the new design, the experience was cool.

As summer approaches, the crowd for AC metro is set to rise a lot this year. It’s high time the snags are rectified, else it can give vent to passenger dissent in a major outburst. Till it is smoothly operated, running the rakes in off-peak hours may not be a bad idea.

Srabanti and Ananya - most searched on KC

Srabanti (Picture on top) tops as the most-searched celebrity on Kolkata Curry, closely followed by Ananya Chatterjee (Picture above), as the blog traffic analysis by Blogger.com shows! And it's happening for the last few months. A true reflection of how their work is working for them in the popularity charts.

Bangla avatars of national shows

Looks like it's the season of Bangla avatars of reality shows on national television. After Challenge Nibi Na, a show apparently inspired by Desi Girl that was aired on NDTV Imagine, being produced by Kaustuv Roy of RP Techvision and Bangla Talkies and currently being shot in a village in Bolpur, Venkatesh Films announced its forthcoming reality show on Star Jalsha, having seemingly taken inspirtaion from Iss Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao, which was aired on Sony Entertainment Television, on Facebook today.

Challenge Nibi Na will feature celebrities like Swastika Mukherjee, Arindam Sil, Rimjhim Mitra, Sohini Pal, Kanchan Mullick among others. It will engage the celebrity participants in various rustic games and tasks (incl. ploughing) for a good number of days, totally cut off from their familiar urban life.

The Venkatesh show will challenge the participants, this time it's common people, to survive 1000 hours in a jungle. Those interested can call 9062428521 to register.

It's hot on Bangla reality television now. Looking forward to more interesting bits on the shows and more.

Storm over the mystery pages

The extra-sensational story by Indranil Roy on Patrika (the Saturday supplement of Ananda Bazar Patrika) on 5th February has surely made the audience of Bangla meaningful cinema sit up and take notice, especially those who watched and liked Autograph. The story clearly hints at a suspicious resemblance of the script of Srijit’s new film, a thriller about a serial killer, to a script penned by noted film journalist Pratim D Gupta.

Those who follow Pratim may know about his script-writing, and an aspiration to make films one day. As per the story in Patrika Pratim penned a similar script years back and have been trying to make it into a film thereafter. In his script the killer’s victims are from the film industry. Pratim had even spoken to Rituparno Ghosh long back to make him act in a character from the film industry. As per Indranil’s story Rituparno noticed the similarities between the scripts after he heard Srijit’s. Prosenjit is playing one of the lead characters, of a police officer, in Srijit’s film. And he is one who has heard both scripts. He reportedly denied hearing Pratim’s script in full and maintained that he didn’t notice any similarity between Srijit’s script and whatever he heard from Pratim’s.

Pratim is obviously hurt, and refused a patch-up appeal from Srijit over phone. He might contemplate legal action if it is true that it’s his script that Srijit is going to film, despite clever changes as reported. The story also informs that one of such changes was shifting the victims from the film industry to the world of music, and Anjan Dutta was approached by Srijit to play such a character, but he refused because of the controversy.

The action has obviously spread to Facebook, where Roopa Ganguly has put up a sarcastic remark on her wall and rubbished the story in Patrika in Srijit’s favour, and also wondered how without proper evidence such a story can come up in a paper of Ananda Bazar Patrika’s repute. Srijit has commented in response to to his fan’s comments on the social networking site that he will take his stance when it’s time. Pratim has poured in his heart about his dream script having got hijacked by someone. Director Aniket Chattopadhyay, basking in the glory of ‘Bye Bye Bankok’, his January ’11 success, has pledged his support to Pratim.

Will be keen to follow the developments, and keep you posted. Watch this space.

Cholo Paltai

Came across this promo of Chalo Paltai on Facebook. It's an under-production film from Venkatesh Films, directed by Haranath Chakraborty, starring Prosenjit and Mouli Ganguly, besides child actors Tathoi and a new boy. The music is by Anupam Roy of Autograph fame. Apparently the theme is today's education system and how it prevents students from pursuing their non-academic dreams and aspirations. Prosenjit plays the father of a young boy who dreams of becoming a successful cricketer. Though the film seems to be addressing the masses in terms of script and storytelling, the plot is indeed refreshing and contemporary. Will look forward to this film, releasing March.

'Ranga alur puli'

Albeit late, was fortunate to taste the season's first yummy puli (The dessert prepared at this time of the year at Bengali homes) today. It was Ranga alur puli (See picture), a distinct, syrupy variant of the famous puli, made of sweet potato (Ranga alu) brought in by boss (Cooked by his mother) to indulge his team in the office. To put it simply, as I shared with the colleagues too, no one can eat just one. I ate two and restrained myself from going for more.

The Jan Ahaar experience

Checked out the revamped cafeteria renamed Jan Ahaar at Sealdah station today for breakfast. I was curious for long to see the menu and the food at promised low prices for the masses. The breakfast menu has veg sandwich, aloo vada, sada dosa, masala dosa, veg and non-veg breakfast combos etc. The lunch menu has vegetable chowmein with Schezwan sauce, plain rice options in veg and non-veg (fish and chicken) combos and regular beverages. The overall prices are cheap. The environment is clean and sports a contemporary design. It operates on self-service.

Tried the  vegetable chowmein with Schezwan sauce. At Rs 19 the portion size was okay, so was the taste. Liked the sauce. The decent-sized masala dosa, with the right quantity of sambhar and chutney comes at Rs 14 only. Will have to try it next. Wish to come back once in a while for a hygienic and comfortable evening refreshment.

Raima and diet

Came across this interesting photo tweet from Raima Sen! In line with her self-description on her Twitter profile that includes 'Foodie' and past confession on her undying love for food (that includes junk food with a capital 'J') and refusal to go on a diet, rather working off the excess.

'Pithe' and Dev

Yesterday and today are special days in the calendar for making two of Bengali's favourite desserts : Pithe and Puli. An interesting tweet from Dev says he loves 'Pitha', but unfortunately there's nobody around to make it for him now. Anybody who wishes to volunteer are welcome and the stuff is to be dispatched to his South City flat.

So all Dev fans reading this, get into action! You know how to impress your matinee idol. Girls specially, as the act will be more credible!

Bite and cry

It's a tough time. The weather is biting and onions are making people cry. This winter is hitting the Kolkatans (Not familiar with the temperature touching 10 degrees and intending to dip further) below the belt. And the onion price is throwing a tough challenge for the daily shopper to keep within the budget. The kitchen queens are forced to innovate. Onions are vanishing from mashla muri, alu kabli, rolls. Piyaji, a favoured delicacy in such cold days, is getting discouragingly smaller.

Fab 2010

The Japanese Wife, Byomkesh Bakshi, Shukno Lanka, Autograph, Moner Manush, Gorosthane Sabdhan....and finally a brilliant Arekti Premer Golpo to wind up 2010. The year was peppered with cinema that delighted sensible audience. Teens to octogenarians visited thetares, including many who returned after a long hiatus.

Though their success may not be worth writing home about, Abohoman, Mahanagar@Kolkata, Clerk, 033, Natobor Not Out, Banshiwala and Sthaniya Sangbad impressed many. And the first two made us proud again with national awards that we kept on counting.

Priya Cinema, which always successfully balances between Bollywood and Tollygunge in its 5-6 shows a day, couldn't accomodate any Hindi movie since November, such was the number and box office wonder of the Bengali releases. And Arijit Dutta, owner of the largest single-screen theatre chain in Bengal with Priya Cinema as the flagship, is not complaining.

2010 was easily the best year for Bangla alternative cinema in a long, long time. Both in terms of content, genre and box office success.

Mainstream did well as usual, with successes like Balo Na Tumi Amaar, Wanted, Amanush, Le Chhakka, Josh, Dui Prithibi, Kellafate and Sedin Dekha Hoyechhilo which did a superb finishing job in December. Le Chhakka and Dui Prithibi, both by Raj Chakraborty, one of the top league names, brought in a whiff of freshness.

2011 looks set to take off from where 2010 left, with Bedeni, Iti Mrinalini, Bye Bye Bangkok and Takhan Teish hitting the screens back to back in January and many more interesting stuff in the pipeline.

RIP Suchitra Mitra

She is no more. It's end of an era. We have grown up equating her name with Rabindrasangeet and have always been in awe of her voice and dignified appearance.

The picture shows her (right) with her friend and another legendary Rabindrasangeet singer Kanika Bandopadhyay, who passed away in 2000.

(Photograph sourced from Suchitra Mitra fan page in Facebook)

Autograph - 75 days

Autograph completes 75 days in theatres. Kudos to Srijit Mukherji & team and Shree Venkatesh Films. It's great news for Bengali alternative cinema in its year of glory marked by a handful of big successes - the highest in recent years.

Nondinee first look

Here is the oven-fresh first look of Nondinee (Releasing in 2011), that marks the return of director Subrata Sen five years after Bibar. Nondinee is a light take on contemporary urban relationships.

Bioscope-e Bajimaat

It was a memorable, chilly evening dedicated to 90 years of Bangla cinema on 22 December. The Tee Lawn in RCGC was sparsely filled at 6.50 pm, both the small general arena and the expansive VIP arena. All were waiting for Bioscope-e Bajimaat - the film quiz on the history of Bangla cinema, organized by Ananda Bazar Patrika and contested by film personalities - to start (Read my earlier post Bioscope-e Bajimat countdown). It was indeed the first-of-its-kind in the city.

It started at about 7.30 pm, precisely late by an hour, in true-blue Bengali tradition. Mir, the main emcee for the evening, appeared on stage and said "Byapar-ta jome gechhe" (He actually referred to getting frozen in the biting cold). He called on stage Gautam Bhattacharya, a senior journalist from Ananda Bazar, known for his verbal skills and knowledge of trivia, to introduce the celebrity pairs who would sit for the contest. The teams were Rituparno Ghosh-Indraneil Sengupta, Srijit Mukherji-Gargi Roy Chowdhury, Rituparna Sengupta-Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Prosenjit-Roopa Ganguly, Sandeep Ray-Sabyasachi Chakraborty and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury-Ananya Chatterjee. Rituparno's long earrings, Prosenjit's Bengali look complete with dhuti-panjabi-shawl and Anyanya's short white dress were noticeable. Roopa looked elegant in black westerns.

Gautam did the prelude on a funny note by engaging Mir, the quizmaster for all the rounds except the last (the rapid fire round, to be hosted by Gautam), into answering googlies. "Which lady in the industry Rituparno doesn't address in tui?", "How many times has Supriya Devi uttered 'Apnader Dada' (referring to Uttam Kumar) till date?", " In how many Artist Forum meetings attended by her, Roopa Ganguly hasn't wept?" flew some of the deliveries, catching Mir off-guard and having the crowd in splits. Well, the answers are 'Bijoya Ray', '34738' (Mir got it right according to Gautam) and 1 (Only in one AGM Roopa wasn't seen weeping ever).

As the quiz started, the competition gradually shifted between Rituparno's, Srijit's and Aniruddha's teams. Some of the questions were pretty interesting, while some were too easy for the contestants and some others plain ridiculous. For example, a) In the picture round, where each team were to find out someone’s name from a still shown, Parambrata’s team got it as easy as to tell the person’s name from a photograph of Pulak Badopadhyay, the noted lyricist and b) In the audio-visual round Sabyasachi’s team was asked to tell the name of the saree that was in Bipasha Basu’s hands in a footage from Shob Choritro Kalponik. Even Rituparno, the director of the film expressed ignorance for the answer, terming it a bad question. The question was changed as Mir also thought it was a little unfair to ask. As an instance of a really interesting question, the footage of the ‘Peters’ fan TVC from Seemabaddha was shown and the name of the film was asked.

The buzzer round went haywire, with the rule being the buzzer could be pressed anytime to attempt answering a question, and Srijit kept on pressing it just after the photographs flashed on the screen and before the questions related to the photographs were asked (even after Aniruddha did it once and failed to answer the question). The risk was that if they answered it wrong they would lose 5 points, but if they could, they would score 20 points. Objections from other teams flew thick that no team should be allowed to press the buzzer before the question, but Mir stuck to the rules. Srijit-Gargi’s score shot to such a level after the round that no other team could catch up to till the end. Rituparno’s knowledgeability about cinema was well-known to all, and it obviously showed, but Srijit’s cinema quotient was found to be very impressive and comparable to the former. As obvious by now, Srijit-Gargi triumphed as winners with a superb all-round performance, followed by Rituparno-Indraneil and Aniruddha-Ananya.

Mir’s antics kept on entertaining the audience as usual. The highlight being, as he noticed that Indraneil and Rituparna never answered a question or spoke anything else on the microphone till the middle of the show, he made the two recite ‘Ba ba black sheep’, with each one saying the alternate lines. The funniest part was that even in this Indraneil needed Rituparno’s prompting. Mir indeed handled the show very well. Only a professional of his skill and quick-wittedness could handle so many celebrities on such a competing platform.

The contestants were cheered (even prompted sometimes) by many from Tollygunge in the audience, including Rudranil Ghosh, Kanchan Mullick, Saswata Chatterjee, Sudipta Chakraborty, Mithu Chakraborty, Kaushik Ganguly, Shayan Munshi, Subrata Sen, Aniket Chattopadhyay, Koustuv Roy and Moni-Shrikant. Arijit Dutta and Hiran came in quite late. The only put-off was that general audience sitting at the rear didn’t get to answer questions though there were 99 t-shirts to be own.

Christmas cakes from Kathleen

While I was a child, Christmas cakes (or cakes per se) would mean Great Eastern Hotel bakery or Kathleen. Flurys was elite for us living in Barrackpore, a suburban town of Kolkata. That was not the age of cake shop chains, thus for good Christmas cakes one had to queue up at certain shops very limited in count.

Kolkata and its suburbs have gone through a major transformation meanwhile. Today Monginis as a cake shop chain has left Kathleen much behind. In savouries Monginis is matchless in budget category. And it makes decent cakes and pastries too, considering the prices (Though many may not agree here). The pastries from Kathleen never appealed to me, and its quite a few years that I last tasted a Kathleen Christmas cake.

It really sucks to be compelled to work on Christmas day, which stands as a 'cancelled holiday' this year in office due to some late development. But it was made partially good by the slices of cakes served to desk. And it was precisely because the double bonanza of the fruit cake and the plum cake, from Kathleen and Bisk Farm respectively, tasted yummy. Nice to know that Kathleen still bakes good cakes.

Arekti Premer Golpo - positive buzz

The buzz on Arekti Premer Golpo (Just Another Love Story) on Facebook is positive after yesterday's premiere ta Priya (Picture above). Rituparno's performance impressed those who've shared their take. Keenly waiting to watch the movie.

Picture courtesy: Rana Basu Thakur.

Bye Bye Bangkok: First look

The first look of Aniket Chattopadhyay's (of Chhoy-e Chhuti fame) second movie - Bye Bye Bangkok - a rollicking comedy at the backdrop of Bangkok is out. One may spot this hoarding/poster in the city now. The movie, set to release in January 2011, flaunts an ensemble cast of talented actors, including some masters of comedy (Kharaj, Rudraneel, Kanchan). Watch this space for more.

Bioscope-e Bajimat countdown

Keenly waiting to experience Bioscope-e Bajimat - the celebrity film quiz organised by Patrika - the Saturday supplement of Ananda Bazar Patrika this evening at Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

The hook? The contest will be fought by actors and directors in six pairs. The list goes: Prosenjit-Roopa Ganguly, Rituparna Sengupta-Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury-Ananya Chatterjee, Rituparno Ghosh-Indraneil Sengupta, Srijit Mukherji-Gargi Roy Chowdhury and Sandeep Ray-Sabyasachi Chakraborty. Mir and Gautam Bhattacharya (Ananda Bazar sports editor who is well-connected with the film fraternity) will be the MCs.

To the best of my knowledge it is the first time at least in recent past that such a film celebrity quiz is being held in the city. The last time the local film industry celebs collaborated in a live show of this nature was the 'Directors vs Journalists' debate on the current state of Bangla cinema at Star Theatre in January 2009. It saw Aparna Sen, Rituparno Ghosh and Goutam Ghose coming together with Suman Mukhopadhyay and Prabhat Roy to take on the media. Yours truly was among the organisers. The battle was closely and very engagingly fought.

This one should be an interesting show of 'film quotient' of the industry insiders. Am particularly interested to see how Prosenjit-Roopa, Rituparna-Parambrata, Aniruddha-Ananya and Srijit-Gargi fare, being pretty interesting pairs. Shall come back with a first-hand account.

I Laugh You 2 kickstatrts

'I Laugh You 2' kickstarted last evening on Star Jalsha. The entry of Ranjit Mullick was funny. He danced into the stage to the tune of his hit song Jodi Jagai Madhai na thakto/ Tobe Netai ke ki chinto loke from Mouchak. Moon Moon had taken her entry first. She mentioned " Good concept, good producer, good people to work with..." as her reason to judge the show and come back to television after ages.

Neel Mukherjee, Rudraneel, Shantilal Mukhopadhyay, Partha Sarathi Deb, Partha Sarathi Chakraborty and Kousani Roy were among the participants in pairs. The show started with the act by Neel Mukherjee's pair where it performed a well-known skit. Kousani played a characted called 'Tunir Ma' in a TV show that 'officially' airs trash. There was no gem of an act though. Ranjit had a bit of reservation for an act that was on (or on the other side of) the borderline of decency by the older generation's standards. Moon Moon though was game and she let the audience know it, only after she pulled Ranjit's legs for his 'strictness' .

The marks scored by the pairs mostly stayed between 10 and 12 out of 20. So, though the judges are appreciative, they are not lenient in giving marks.

Koel's take on ILY 2

In continuation with my earlier post (The glam queen...) on 'I Laugh You season 2', now Koel's tweet informs that she was almost falling off the sofa as her Baba (Dad Ranjit Mullick) shared the shooting experience of 'I Laugh You 2' with the gorgeous Moon Moon Mashi (As she calls Moon Moon Sen). She must catch up the show that starts today at Star Jalsha. The curiosity level is rising.

The glam queen is back

It was another talk show on Star Ananda on 17 December to promote the second season of ‘I Laugh You’ – the laughter show on Star Jalsha that has done a coup this season by getting Moon Moon Sen and Ranjit Mullick on the panel of judges. The two have happened to be co-actors in the lead in a couple of Bangla movies. A visibly slimmer and gorgeous-again Moon Moon admitted on the show that she craved to be back before camera while she was off work for years, and it was Raima who had insisted she did this show. Well, that's good to know and interesting too as she has maintained all this while that she doesn't work as her daughters don't want her to work anymore.

But the best part of the show was Moon Moon’s wicked sense of humour hitherto unknown. She kept on pulling Ranjit Mullick’s legs and teasing the veteran actor with a straight face with comments like “Besides lovely skin and hair that Bengali women are blessed with, legs are an important part of a woman’s beauty….I don’t know though what you find worth observing in a woman” and “Women look beautiful when they are a little voluptuous, don’t they?”. That she is having a blast during the shooting of the laughter show was quite visible. Looking forward to watch the show that’s coming up on 20 December.

‘Just Another Love Story’

The keenly awaited Kaushik Ganguly film Arekti Premer Golpo (English title: Just Another Love Story) marking the acting debut of Rituparno Ghosh is releasing this 24 December. The film explores the relationship between a gay filmmaker (Rituparno) and his bisexual cinematographer (Played by the new pin-up boy of Bangla alternative cinema – Indraneil Sengupta), detaching itself from the homoerotic aspect of such a relationship. The film also has a film within it and Rituparno plays another role in it, that of the famous jatra actress Chapal Bhaduri, who was known to play female roles. Watched a talk show on Star Ananda on the film today, where Kaushik and Rituparno, both reasonably excited, were present to provide an insider’s take.

An anecdote shared by Rituparno was that he was mistaken as a 'newcomer actress' as long as he was in the get-up of his character in the film-within-the-film during the outdoor shooting in Bolpur. It was obvious that both he and Kaushik (and surely other members in the unit too) found it an uproariously funny experience.

As for the obvious question of the similarities between Roop (The character of the filmmaker that Ritu plays in the film) and Rituparno himself, Kaushik pointed out that the two persons share a keen sense of aesthetics and a single-mindedness in work. The former is an important trait in this context surely, as Rituparno’s sense of aesthetics is well-known, and quite obvious in his body of work. He is known not to like his actors to use make-up (unless and to the point it is necessary) and nonetheless his women on screen look strikingly beautiful.

Rituparno was a hard taskmaster to himself for a change and gave the role his very best, right from physical preparation (He lost a lot of weight through regular workouts) to the finest detail in look and acting. By his own admission in the show, he started missing Roop deeply once the shoot was over. Ritu is also the Creative Director of the film.

Arekti Premer Golpo is actually a screen adaptation of Kaushik’s famous telefilm Ushno Tar Jonyo starring Roopa Ganguly, Churni Ganguly and Chapal Bhaduri, made for ETV Bangla years back. The difference is that a lesbian relationship was at the core in the telefilm, whereas in the film it is a gay relationship.

The first look of the film (Similar to the picture above), showing Rituparno in a deeply emotional hug with Indraneil, has surely evoked curiosity. The film has already made a lot of news and repeatedly drawn housefull audience in a lot of places the festival circuit as the two revealed in the show. Keenly looking forward to the release of the film.

She's on Zoom

I was surfing the channels post dinner. A familiar face of an anchor stopped me. She is from Kolkata, and it was a national entertainment channel. Hence I checked the channel name again, more so as a similar sounding Bangla music channel has just been launched. Yes, it was Zoom. And the lady in question was Pamela Singh Bhutoria. A well-known model from Kolkata who has turned actress of late.

Pamela is tall, slim and dusky, with an appealing mix of charm and sensuousness. Being comfortable in Bangla, I always thought she had what it takes to make it big in Bangla movies. However, going by the realities of the Bangla film industry in Kolkata, it is not surprising that she is yet to be considered by a big banner despite being all over media and successfully anchoring TV shows on Zee Bangla and Sangeet Bangla.

In this age where every young aspirant in showbiz and music, who hasn’t got the right amount of work in Kolkata is testing the Arabian Sea waters, it seemed but natural that she wouldn’t stick to Kolkata too. Having a good command in Hindi and English has landed her at the right place. Zoom, no doubt, is a great platform to earn her valuable brownie points for a television career and who can say, may land her a role in a Hindi movie too. Pamela was anchoring ‘Hot List’ on Zoom, a show that listsed ‘Hottest desi numbers’ from Hindi cinema, from Madhuri Dixit to Rakhi Sawant to Aishwarya Rai to Bipasha Basu, somehing that naturally goes with her sensuality.

And by the way, Pamela has recently landed a role in a Bengali movie too (Under production), directed by young and talented Mainak Bhowmik, called Ami vs Tumi.

Ananya: the most searched

The blog stats showed an interesting insight: Ananya Chatterjee, the national award-winning actress from the city is not only the most-searched celebrity on this blog since May, 2010, her name is the 'Most searched keyword' leading to my blog during this period too! And no other keyword is even close to being comparable. The second keyword counts far less than even half of the count of Ananya.

Naturally the only dedicated post Ananya- the glam avatar has fetched the highest view among text-based posts during the said period.

When I first saw Ananya in a television series called Chena Mukher Sari years back, I found her acting skill impressive and thought she had potential. Mentioned her as one of the faces from television that deserves a big screen break in another post named Search for new faces in 2007 when she had hardly made a mark, having appeared in films like Tok Jhal Mishti, Raat Barota Paanch and Aamra.

Thus the insight is thoroughly pleasing indeed.

Moner Manush: A rocking weekend

Returned disappointed from Jaya Cineplex, Lake Town last Sunday. Had gone there to catch the evening show of Moner Manush which had gone housefull before I reached the ticket window. Blackmarketeers had a filed day nearby selling the Rs 50 tickets at Rs 100. It's unimaginable for this genre of films!

Reached the nearest theatre screening the movie - Darpana, at Hatibagan - in a hurry. But things were no different there too.

It was indeed a pleasant surprise as alternative Bangla cinema, that too with this kind of a subject (The life and times of the legendary Lalan Fakir from the 18th century, based on Sunil Gangopadhyay's novel of the same name published in the Desh Puja number in 2008) is not deemed 'hot' at the box office. Reportedly Moner Manush has a better second weekend. The word-of-mouth publicity seems to have helped. The audience predominantly had couples in their 40s and 50s - a class that's surely not regular at theatres anymore. Kudos to Gautam Ghosh & team to bring them back.

The bonding over food

Post the workshop last weekend, and its emotional hangover the following Monday, a welcome change in the office was meeting over lunch for the senior and middle-level executives thrice a week including Saturday. For the foodies in the office, yours truly and the Branch Head included, nothing can be more cheer-worthy than sharing everybody's lunch (Home-made or ordered in). The range covering yummy, high-fat fast food to health food includes experimental home-cooked preparations.

As highlights of the first week, I loved the bites of grilled chicken sandwich and sips of the chicken sweet corn soup from Upper Crust (A fast food-cum-restaurant chain) ordered by a junior colleague in Marketing & Business Development. He picked up the idea of the combination after watching the lunch by the Chairperson and Managing Director who visited on Wednesday. Since that day he has been ordering the same everyday, conscious that his lunch budget doesn't permit it for one full month. The soup is lighter than the one served elsewhere. Also loved the innovative preparation of pieces of bread fried with capsicum, cooked by another colleague.

The workshop was about team-building among other topics, and such a practice indeed is a good application of the learnings from it. Bonding over food, I believe, is one of the best ways of bonding - both personally and professionally.

A wee bit of 'happy' concern as well: A foodie colleague, conscious of her bit of excess weight, commented that as this practice goes on, everybody stands to gain at least one kilo at the end of each month. Can't agree more as I share the concern.

An evening out at Flurys

The visit of the Chairperson and the Managing Director to the Kolkata branch office after long lead to a refreshing evening with a senior and middle level team at Flurys yesterday. This was my first dining experience at the legendary confectionery shop-cum-restaurant from the British era at Park Street (Past visits were for takeaway). Chicken puff, chicken sandwich and egg mustard sandwich were ordered, apart from Darjeeling tea to wind up. The food was really heavy as evening refreshment. The Branch Head really missed its famous pastries not being a part of the order. The pastries enjoy a robust following even today in the city and among the 'informed' visitors. The old-world experience that is poles apart from today's plush cafes has a distinctive charm. Flurys definitely counts in a must-have Kolkata experience.

The chicken sandwich was good, and it tasted better with mustard sauce. But the puff was a put off for me. Nothing wrong with it as such, only that I don't like the way they make chicken puffs and patties. It's basically a mash and one can't get even small chunks of chicken inside. The Darjeeling tea was perfect, with its fascinating aroma. The Branch Head's suggestion was to have it without milk and sugar, so that the real taste and flavour can be cherished.

When it comes to savoury snacks in a cake shop, my recommendation is Cakes. It's chicken patty and chicken quiche can hook you if you have a tooth for savouries. Hope to come back with more on Cakes.

Images: Weekend retreat

Some images of Purna Laxmi Hotel mentioned in the last post (A memorable weekend retreat) and The Ganga as viewed from the hotel.

A memorable weekend retreat

Attended the office workshop over the weekend (Friday-Sunday, December 3-5) at Diamond Harbour. It took place in the newly built Purna Laxmi Hotel at the bank of The Ganga. A launch jetty is just a stone's throw. The view of the river from the hotel lawn is fabulous. One can watch the launches and cargo ships passing by throughout the day, with a rare glimpse of dolphins. It made for a wonderful setting for the evening drinks sessions indeed. The view was so tempting that we sneaked in a couple of minutes to the riverside at every break during the presentations. Catching the sunset over the river was at the top of wishlist of many. My room balcony also gave a straight river view.

The hotel is reasonably priced and looks good too, spread over a few acres with a pristine white main building and an annexe building with lots of open, green space. The landscaping is nicely done. The food is good in Bengali cuisine (Don't go for Chinese or Mughlai unless you feel for a change in taste). A special mention will go for the home-style alur tarkari they serve in the breakfast, the mutton curry that is not rich and the tandoori pomfret. A definite recommendation for a refreshing weekend outing.

Scoop: The Tolly big daddy on 'Dadagiri'

Here's a tiny scoop: Mahendra Soni, or Moni of Moni-Shrikant of the formidable Venkatesh Films, the undisputed king among Bangla movie production houses, will be seen on Dadagiri soon in one of the special episodes. A great coup this by Zee Bangla, considering his extremely restricted visibility on media for occasions not related to his home productions.

Bihar polls

Development is addictive at a place that has been hungry for it historically. And the Bihar poll results vouch for that.

A nip in the air

There's a nip in the air, noticed day before yesterday afternoon onwards. People are contemplating pulling out the winter clothes. Train passengers are avoiding the slightly chilly wind blowing from the opposite direction. Is winter knocking at the door? This year it is predicted to be stronger than past. Am already thinking up the winter foods starting with 'Gurer mishti' (Jaggery-based sweets) and vegetable chop....ummm.

'Natobor Not Out' review

My Natobor Not out review is live on Washington Bangla Radio. Check the link for the review.

Natobor Not Out is a new Bangla release directed by debutant Amit Sen, with an ensemble cast of Raima Sen, debutant Mustafa Prakash, Ramaprasad Banik, Mausumi Saha, Kharaj Mukherjee, Chandan Sen, Kaushik Ganguly, Biswajit Chakraborty, Sudipa Basu, Saswata Chatterjee and debutante Ananya Dutta. The music is by Debajyoti Mishra.

My 'Tara' review

My Tara review is live on Washington Bangla Radio.

Tara is a new Bangla release directed by Bratya Basu, starring Prosenjit, Paoli Dam and Tota Roy Chowdhury, with music by Tapan Sinha.

The sensuous Sens

The morning was pleasant with the t2 cover story covering the Sens - the mother and elder daughter.

Moon Moon has slimmed down a bit and was looking gorgeous in a powder blue shirt and not-so-long white skirt. A refreshing change from her Natobor Not Out item number which would be best edited out. She looked old and minus her trademark oomph. In t2 she looks the way she would a couple of years back. What is amazing is she can carry herself effortlessly in such clothes at this age. Raima was gracefully beautiful as usual. She has a refreshingly natural look despite being a today's actress who is careful about her regular workouts.

For the full story click here.

The new 'Talk of Facebook'

Natobar Not Out- the new Bangla release is gaining recommendations on Facebook from Kolkatans whose opinions matter to many. The comedy is directed by debutant Amit Sen, with an ensemble cast comprising of Raima Sen, Mostafa Prakash, Kharaj Mukherjee, Saswata Chatterjee, Ramaprasad Banik, Biswajit Chakraborty, Chandan Sen, Kaushik Ganguly and Mir, and music by Debajyoti 'Autograph' Mishra.

Can't wait to chcek it out.

JJMT teaser

Loved the teaser poster of Jor Jar Mulluk Tar - a Haranath Chakraborty film starring Prosenjit. With ragging and dirty student politics as the backdrop, the poster is a collage of newspaper clips about the subject, with the initials 'JJMT' written in red at the bottom. Pretty imaginative work by Bangla mainstream standards. The film has a bunch of newcomers along with Rudraneel Ghosh (Who has conducted a workshop for the rookies) in the cast.