Guess by now, people have even forgotten that we’re in lockdown. But back then in march it was a different exercise. What started as a guilty pleasure became an obsession of late and I made it a point that I share at least one review per day. And sometime back I decided to list them up as I’m a big fan of lists. It’s funny to think of it that I’ve did this joblessly which amounted to a total of 278 movies this year. But that’s how I’ve been all through my life.
So here you go… with all the movies listed in one of the three categories below with a link to my review…
Good
This is the best of best. Sema, vera level, chance e illa and all these adjectives join the group. Only the elite get into it and luckily for me there were a lot of films I could add it up in the category.
Actually, this is the average category and just about anything gets into it. Some great films which didn’t work for me, some bad films which worked for me, time pass ones etc.
These were the ones which was to my utter dismay. Something which I couldn’t stand and thought was a total waste of time. There could be good movies too in the list but if it had totally not worked for me, I’d have added them in there.
I wanted ‘Bela Seshe’ to be nice feel good film but it ended up being one of the deep films I have watched in Bengal Cinema, in lieu of my all-time favorite Bengali film, “Aranyer Din Ratri”. When the film started with all the people and so much fun around that, I thought the film will make me forget the present and would make me happy for two and a half hours. Even though it did not happen, it took it one-step further and make me appreciate the life I already have, both the joy and sorry, problems and ecstasy. It is one of the rare breeds, which strikes the chord perfectly.
When I thought why in spite of all the time spent with each other, old couples still fight, wont it be better to divorce after the so-called “responsibilities” are over, if at all the relationship does not work. The films premise is exactly the same and made me think how selfish I was. Whenever I see my parents unhappy, I think the above as solution. Even if I get unhappy at their age, I feel that would be the wise thing to do. However, sometimes we are wrong. Just talking it out solves most of the problem, like it happens in the movie.
I remember a dialogue from Pasanga where a middle aged man advised another one on how he started keeping quite whenever he gets into an argument with wife, and how first the children sided him knowing that he’s correct and latter his wife too corrected the mistake. Similarly ‘Bela Seshe’ explains us what really works in an Indian family. The good thing about the film is it is so rooted yet does not fall into false pretentions of showing the value of culture. I guess this would be my go to movie to display to my parents on any occasion, like how ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is a family film during Christmas.
The beauty of the movie is, even though it is a movie about an elderly couple, Bishwanath Majumdar (Soumitra Chaterjee) and Aarati Majumdar (Swatilekha Sengupta), there are hell lot of characters in the form of their sons, daughters, grandfathers and granddaughters. And, each have their own life and their own problem. They do not fall into any template; they do not fit any equation. In fact, until the point where Bishwanath gives the divorce notice to his wife, we feel that the film would be about the crisis of various sons and daughters and how the elderly couple would solve it. That was quite a shocker to see that scene come up all of a sudden.
Even though all the children look busy for themselves and selfish with their perspective, the film was not about the money, which was beautiful to watch. Just the way, their daughters fight for their necklace shows it out so effortlessly. They want the necklace for its beauty and not for its value or some silly remembrance. That is a neat way to represent how the family is together in spite of not being always available. Guess only ‘Kapoor & Sons’ had a great family setup in the recent past. Otherwise, it would be either a disoriented family or a lovey dovey one like the ones in Karan Johar.
What I thought was dragging until that point where he announces the divorce became a great feel good film post that. Even when the judge says only they two have to go on a trip, Aarati takes the whole family with her. These nuances played out really well.
The way the film started, ‘Parama’ held my attention and curiosity, both. Seeing the Bengal household reminded me of another amazing film ‘Utsab’ that I had watched sometime back. The opening was as lively as it could get with a festive background, an effervescent daughter in law who’s like an all in all in the household but her life goes to tatters party due to her mistake as well as society. The film explores what a woman goes through in this phase.
Even though the opening was beautiful, the way a female character was developed as someone godly because of the duties she does was irritating. There were ‘n’ number of movies in Tamil which has done that and still doing that. It’s not only the men who define the definition of perfect but also women. In fact, that’s dangerous. With all these I didn’t want a feel-good film of a woman who’s a wife, daughter, daughter in law etc. and do a theem thanana. So, when the film took a different angle it was a relief.
But that relief was short lived. Even though Parama (Raakhee) has an affair, the mundane nature of it was irritating. Rahul (Mukul Sharma) with whom she has an affair doesn’t really help it because of his idea of life. Having been largely outside of India, the way he sees it is totally different from her. And once he goes back the US, her life goes upside down because of one of the pictures that he had taken for a magazine.
Neither is her affair enticing nor her self-discovery entertaining. To see her undergo everything is a mere torture. If a film like this had been made by KB, it would have been so entertaining. But the mundanity of this film spoilt the feel. Other than this I don’t have anything more to even write about the film. Sometimes if films are too practical it ends up as boring as life.
Some movies just happen. As if the whole universe conspires towards it. On a fine midweek which has become a new Sunday due to the full lockdown restrictions on Sundays, where one goes off to buy non veg. One such morning of ours was reserved in selecting what fish to buy. Apart from regular anchovies, we bought black mullet too, something which we haven’t tried before. But as someone who’s always interested in trying out something new, I was excited. On the same day evening, I had this movie named ‘Maacher Jhol’ in my list to watch. Having no clue what it means and the title cards too not having English translation for it, I was totally unaware of what I was going to watch. So, in the end when I got to know what it meant, I thought how destiny has conspired me into something fishy.
The movie opens with food, that too in a foreign locale. Being a foodie who has just come out of a nap after lunch, it was so appealing. I guess in this lockdown, next to movies I’ve watched more food videos than anything else. With others, food videos might have been topping the list. So, the immediate feeling was a pleasant one. For some non-Bengali who watches Bengal film as an outsider, the general notion of watching a Bengali film is to expect a slow movie with peeled off walls and poor people. Thanks to all the Ray concoction. So, to see France, see an exotic dish and wide landscapes, it felt as if like a breath of fresh air. I could literally breathe the fresh air when the protagonist walks around Paris. Having been house arrested, the feel was so liberating because it came out from quite an unexpected film. Watching an Imitiaz Ali film and having that feel is quite natural, its like you’ve signed up for a travel package, even if you don’t read the itinerary, you know that you’re going to see new things and be amazed by it but here its like taking an office bus and going to Ladakh. Maybe I’m being a hopeless romantic here but that’s how it was.
‘Mayurakshi’ started with a kind of sad note right from scene one. There was something depressing about it right from the word go. But its not one of the movies where old age is exhibited with romanticized suffering or with something too depressing like Haneke movies. It was somewhere in between romanticism and practicality. It kind of balanced both of it but couldn’t really get me wooed as much as it ought to have. The premise was excellent, it should have ideally been something like ‘About Schimdt’ for me. I expected it to be but the loneliness wasn’t as effective as that of ‘About Schimdt’.
Aryanil (Prosenjit Chatterjee) returns from Chicago to meet his ailing father Sushovan (Soumitra Chatterjee) who is having age related problems. Even though Sushovan doesn’t remember immediate things, he remembers things of past like Aryanil’s cricket match and some mystic woman names Mayurakshi. The name occurs every now and then but personally didn’t invoke as much curiosity as much it should have because it’s after all the title of the movie.
I was rather intrigued with what Aryanil goes through. How he has no one to help and how his problems are tougher to explain than that of Sushovan’s. There were no tear jerker moments at all, which was a welcome relief and the best part of the movie is that it doesn’t make Aryanil feel guilty. As much as he couldn’t take care of father. He’s an adult and he has problems. And with a couple of failed marriage he’s still not judged and doesn’t feel miserable about it too. The fact that the character is dealt with such sanity needs appreciation.
There were few moments which are outright practical and the disappointment as close to reality. For example, the scene where Mallika (Sudipta Chakraborty) asks for a couple of days off could have been greatly dramatized but was dealt with so much finesse. In fact, that’s the best scene of movie. Her disappointment is visible but only for a split second and Aryanil doesn’t feel any remorse for telling her not to take leave. The point is its not exaggerated. And the reply for the scene where he asks Mallika to take a couple of days off, too, was a fitting casual scene. Because that one too isn’t exaggerated. The scene where he gives off the binocular for his son could have easily been exaggerated but there is no strain in that scene at all.
Soumitra Chatterjee is terrific as Sushovan. Once a great actor, always a great actor. The way he asks to check about Mayurakshi one last time could melt any heart. In fact, that’s the only dramatized scene in the whole movie. His literary reference and the mention of Midnights Children and A R Rahman were icing on the cake because I was able to guess with the clues before Aryanil answers. So, it gave satisfaction to me in its own way.
Another aspect of the film which was nice was the friendship between Aryanil and Sahana (Indrani Halder). The way they mingled really looked like someone who were close during their teenage. The sense of comfort between them was terrific and the fact that none were there to judge them too was beautiful. In fact, the scene where she asks Aryanil, how long he was to stay there defined their relationship. Because with all others it’d have been to make him feel guilty and ask him to stay back. That’s what true friendship does to you.
Even though the film didn’t try to dramatize any scenes I guess it became a disadvantage too in not having given the necessary impact. Because with emotional films one tends to connect more than what we do in ‘Mayurakshi’. So, this film could be loved more for the film making than the story.
Only last week I watched ‘Gandu’ a post punk art movie and was amazed to know that such piece of art exists in Indian cinema and this week with ‘Jonaki’, it went a notch above. At least with ‘Gandu’ there was anger, frustration and all those human emotions, in a way it was so much fun and, in a way, it was still trying to prove a point. As much as I liked the attempt, I couldn’t say that I liked the film. I was just happy that such a film could be made in Indian cinema. But with ‘Jonaki’ it was truly on different sphere. I’ve never seen an Indian director make a truly Tarkovskian movie like this. What’s more heartening is that the director is making the movie in Bengali and not in Hindi or English.
If not for anything else, ‘Jonaki’ would definitely pass for an imagery exhibition. Each and every image of the film could be framed. And all of it doesn’t look just like an exhibition of art or to show off but feels like a truly constructed film. The images are brimming with confidence. The slowness of the film works so beautifully and that’s why it feels meditative. Otherwise it’d end up only as a boring film without any focus.
‘Jonaki’ takes its own sweet time to establish. Only when the talks of marriage happen for Jonaki, we get to know what’s really happening. The true start of the film is absolutely Lolita Chatterjee who was brilliant as Jonaki. Especially the scene where she eats the oranges fed by her lover. It’s a standout scene of the film. In fact, there were many such scenes which formed a great experience. Like the orange rolling scene, the scene where the lover gets up from tub etc. Cinematography is close to ‘Barry Lyndon’.
As soon as the movie started, for some reason I got reminded of Amour. I guess old age has certain feel and that feel was rightly captured right from scene one. So, when we get to know that an old woman has a heart of a teenager, its shock at first but it slowly grows on us. In fact, I had such an idea, but I don’t think I could have executed it this well. The difference between Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s first film and this is that. The first film at least had some emotion, a storyline and an invisible romance. And the film as a whole was wholly romantic but here the director had stripped off the emotions and given a pure cinema which is not as easy a task. That too coming from a relatively young director who’s in mid thirties is truly commendable. He has got a new fan in me. I’ve made an oath that if his third movie releases in theatre here, I’ll definitely watch it. He has become a new PTA for me.
I only wish I had watched it in better frame of mind, with absolute silence so that I could have written more and better too.
One of those typical art movies where you’d know how its going to be and that’s how it ended out to be. It had the marks of Satyajit Ray and felt as such in few scenes but the complete film couldn’t be as good as a Ray film. Nevertheless, it’s a decent watch, at least for the beautiful frames.
The film follows a story of an eccentric aristocrat, a tightrope walking nomad and not so sane postman. At some point they all mingle together. The aristocrat’s story has a group who are interested in shooting a documentary of him shooting a tiger. One amongst them has an affair with the aristocrat’s wife. The wife is a lonely frustrated woman because of the aristocrat’s antics. We don’t really know why she’s frustrated till the climax, where we could assume it somewhat. Anyways she was brilliant in her role. True femme fatale. Plump, sexy and horny, all together.
The second story involving the tightrope walking girl and her parents were the saddest of all and was most human. That alone could have been a great emotional story. The fantasy of the little kid about her future fortunes plus the hopelessness of their parents were so tragic especially when we come to know that they have no respite. On one side we think about parents not letting their children study and here we see parents who are willing to take an orphan child so that they could make her work and live out of it. But the point to be noted here is they’re only trying to exist not live life. And that’s how hard it is when you see from their angle.
The third is the most philosophical one which involves the postman who’s fed up with life and lives on trees. The shots of monkeys reminded me of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ but its something which could have been as great as the monk story of ‘Ship of Theseus’ but fails really to kick off. May be the director wanted it to be as primitive as the primitive beings.
There are various junctures at which all three stories collaborate but we can’t really define why do they do so, maybe there are much deeper prospects but on the outline wasn’t very interesting. Finally, the aristocrat uses the little girl as per the title but that looked all of a sudden.
I couldn’t really savor ‘Tope’ with whole heart but bits and pieces of it were nice, especially the frames.
Never imagined an Indian movie to go to this level. ‘Gandu’ was a true revelation right from the title. I still couldn’t comprehend what I just watched. The question of liking or not is secondary when it comes to path breaking films. Even if it was intentionally made in such a way so that it looks different, it’s still applaudable because, more than anything, a film like this gives courage to young filmmakers and makes us feel as if world is in our hands. Language is not necessarily a medium to showcase art and, in the eventuality, nothing really can stop us.
‘Gandu’ couldn’t really go the Jodorowsky way but feels very much Jodorowskian because of the climax sex scene which for ones who haven’t watched Jodorowsky would be shocked even more. But the point is, it’s made. This, coming from a country which used flowers when people kiss is true revelation. The whole film is about a sexually frustrated protagonist, so its easy to break all the boundaries and there is always sex to back it up.
The movie follows Gandu (Anubrata Basu) a frustrated guy who always thinks and raps about sex. Uses his moms sex time with her lover Dasbabu (Silajit Majumder) to sneak in and pick the pocket of her lover. He carefully takes only little amount so that the lover doesn’t get any doubt. Eventhough he could sneak in, his problem is trying to not look at what they do. That curiosity spoils his takeaway eventually.
Gandu gets to befriend Ricksha (Joyraj Bhattacharjee) whom he bumps into, literally. Ricksha was pure fun with his Lee Mantra and laughs. Gandu was someone who was striving hard to prove. So together they form thick friends. I thought they’d end up making out together. May be that could have been done post their Dhatura seeds trip, which would have made the film more intense but post the trip the film kind of eases out and becomes fun.
Gandu is a funny guy. In fact, looks really innocent and his antics in the film too are funny to core. The way he rebels and tries to do something was really funny. The name truly feels his own. He owns up to his name. And that’s funny too. Its really tough to explain but he’s a mystically funny character whose seriousness feels like a joke to us. I guess Ricksha would get what I’m saying because he farts and laughs at him like that which irritates Gandu even more and that ends up being funnier.
Music stands out throughout the film and lyrics, needless to say, was fun. The problem with these kinds of films is, there would be so many thoughts coming out when trying to make an abstract film but to refine it and bring what’s necessary becomes a herculean task. For example, when Ricksha and Gandu meet at some point and where they show the pigs and shit, its something which you can’t write but want to make but when not written its easily to forgot. Guess, the director has got lucky with that scene as there seemed to have been no script for the film and was shot with only eight people around. Also, credit has to be given to everyone who were part of the film, especially the actors for accepting the madness and acting through it.
The browsing center scene and the conversation between the girl and the guy in webcam too was explicitly funny and loved the way it all comes together in the end. The look served it all.
Seeing the title and posters, I wasn’t expecting much from the movie but it ended up being one of the most soul stirring and passionate self-discovery of a man. With just the right amount of melancholy, its just about my film, the style which I prefer. Given that it’s a Bengali film and doesn’t happen in the main city, it was even more soothing to watch. ‘Jyeshthoputro’ is a surprise from nowhere…
The opening of the film takes its own sweet time to happen. Throughout the film I could see many similarities of this film with ‘Uttama Villain’. In the very first scene, an elderly person appears for one of the shots for a film in film, where many watch him in awe. We get to know that he’s a big star. The attitude of the star is just right, he’s annoyed but not really in a way to repel people. He slowly removes the make up and gets ready to set off from there. There is no denying him when he says ‘pack up’. Once we get to know that it’s a death for which he’s going, the dialogues are even more nice, when his assistant asks what dress he’d have to pack. That’s how much practicality the film has. You call this as detailing, not replicating 80s through sets.
The actor is Indrajit (Prosenjit Chatterjee) and the person who has died is his father. He appears in helicopter to the place. By that time, I thought it’s a movie Rajni could play but towards the end I found it impossible for him to play in the movie. His brother Partho (Ritwick Chakraborty) takes him through his house and in the journey explains how their dad had died through accident and not natural death. There is a huge commotion as he’s coming to the village as a star. Between them there is a sister Ila who’s not entirely stable in her mind. On top of it there is Partho’s pregnant wife, Indrajit’s ex-lover and his fling. So that pretty much feels like India, people from all walks of life.
Indrajit has disappointed many and anyone who gets a chance try to insult him to the fullest but its not a tear jerker in that way and he doesn’t get overtly dramatic by saying a cheesy dialogue or giving up his self-respect. He takes it easy and maintains the consciousness of a star. He doesn’t so easily break. In fact, even the insults hurled at him are not direct, it’s through carefully layered sarcasm, especially through his younger brother. Some could even be attributed as friendly banter. I loved the scene where he asks his brother whether he’d shave the head. Lovely one that.
There were few explosive scenes in the movie. To list a few, like the ‘Uttama Villain’ scene where Kamal’s fans disturb him in a private moment when he’s with his son. Here people appear out of the blue when he’s with her sister and another situation where he takes the mike to sing. Those were brilliant scenes. A number of scenes similar to that happens even post that but those stood out for the surprise. The drinking scene between the brothers was an acting war, where both try to over smart others with their acting. For me Ritwick Chakraborty was a winner throughout but its not easy to hold the temper all the time too. Indrajit tries to break even with Ritwick in the pre climax sequence.
The only problem I had with the characters was Indrajit’s ex-lover and ex-fling costume designing. Why project the ex-lover as a sane being through her glasses and sweater and why make his fling a passionate one with sleeveless blouse and voyeuristic role. The get up could have been different and still the people could have been same. That would have given credibility to their roles rather than being typecast.
But they do a fabulous job in the scene where her ex-lover first comes to give her book and its lovely when she’s not allowed and she gets to show off anger. But the same person doesn’t come in when she’s invited. On the other hand, her ex-fling enters the house just like how she did the previous days. Generally, a scene like this would end up with the lead character pushing off the lady and the lady start crying but here they kiss and she almost tries to make out but not before calling her husband as the best in these matters. Those were brilliant scenes.
In the penultimate scene between the brothers, the director tried hard to makes the Indrajit guilty but that doesn’t really work. I still could feel for him but it’s a good way to finish the film rather than they all uniting, crying for their dad and not selling the house. If ‘Thithi’ was a type of funeral, this is another type. Death rules.
Not only is it India’s answer to ‘Forrest Gump’ but its India’s answer to Alejandro Jodorowsky too. I don’t know when was the last time I saw a truly Avant grade film like this from Indian cinema. Maybe I can say ‘Ship of Theseus’ but ‘Ship of Theseus’ too had certain plot, some interconnection and philosophical layer covering all of it. But here in ‘Herbert’ it blows you away by its filmmaking. I watched it quite coincidentally without knowing anything about the movie but it blew my brains away.
The film opens like a typical Jodorowsky film. Got me reminded of one of his opening scenes where a lone man would be sitting in a closed room in an extended shot. The opening scene of ‘Hebert’ was like that. There were so many events happening but everything was eccentric and so unconventional. It’s so easy for a film like this to lose plot but ‘Herbert’ holds fort so effortlessly.
What I thought would be a film which wouldn’t have any meaning at all gets slowly unraveled through the flashbacks. But it doesn’t mean that it loses its style and mystery. It is still stylish but with substance. That’s why I told that it doesn’t lose plot. The film happens majorly in three parts with three Herberts.
The flashbacks happen through a set of police investigations, somewhat like the style of ‘Midnight’s Children’ but more grounded. One by one the mystery gets out. First, we get to know about his parents, his father who gets killed by an accident when he goes with one of his affairs, his mother while drying clothes. Together they form a lovely combo. The movie is so much fun till his childhood. Just like a kid, the film too is carefree.
Then comes the adolescent stage which had every chance to falter but works amazing too. Actually, every part of the film could have been made as a separate film because that’s how much content they had. The easy thing about adolescent stage is romance and sex. So, with that in the offing and the communist thought fed in him, the movie effortlessly traverses through it. Herberts (Joyraj Bhattacharjee) crush Buki (Anindita Mallick) plays the perfect femme fatale of a non noir film. Imagine the same had happened in a film made out of R K Narayan, how lovely the melancholy would have been but as its by Suman Mukhopadhyay the film transcends to different realm.
The third part is the most serious of the lot. Something I thought I wouldn’t like because there is a compulsion to better the previous two versions. But the director has enough stuff to make even the third part a good one. In fact, it’s a pretty strong ending which connects everything but not compulsively. Herbert (Subhasish Mukherjee) now grown in stature gets involved with his cousin Binu (Neel Mukherjee) for left extremism. It is one of the emotional scenes, may be the only cinematic emotional scene in the movie, when he hugs him for extra few seconds. But the motive of both of them is truly different. We get to know that in climax.
After his cousin episode, he truly gets delusional and forms a “Dialogues with the Dead” with the help of his other not so sane but unjudgmental friends. That’s when things turn messy for him without his knowledge. Those were the sequences which could have easily gone bad by overacting but it works in a quirky yet serious film like this. By the climax we get to know exactly what all had happened except for Herberts thought process. Wish the ending had been more open but it couldn’t be open with something as big a bomb defusal. The way the last scene and the hugging scene gets compared was lovely but wish it would had happened at some other juncture. Because it is too great a film to be literal.
constantscribbles 