Category: Bengali film

মুক্তি

গতকাল “মুক্তি” ছায়াছবি দেখে কিছুটা সময় ভুলে গিয়েছিলাম সে চলচ্চিত্রটা মুক্তি পেয়েছিল ১৯৩৭ সালে। এই ছায়াছবির জন্যে কানন দেবী যখন পঙ্কজ মল্লিকের পরিচালনায় “তার বিদায়বেলার মালাখানি” গেয়েছিলেন তখন স্বয়ং রবীন্দ্রনাথ বেঁচে ছিলেন। আবার এই “ছায়াছবি” কথাটা অর্থপূর্ণ কেননা এই চলন্ত ছবির প্রত্যেক প্রধান চরিত্র বহু বছর মৃত। পর্দার সামনে এবং পেছনে, যাঁরা এই ছবির সঙ্গে যুক্ত ছিলেন তাঁদেরও হয়ত আজ কেউ নেই। যাঁরা সিনেমা হলে দেখতে গিয়েছিলেন বা সচিত্র পোস্টার দেখেছিলেন পরাধীন ভারতের অবিভক্ত বাংলায় কোনো শহরে তাঁদেরই বা ক’জন রয়েছেন আজ?

চলচ্চিত্রের এক আশ্চর্য ক্ষমতা। সাহিত্যে, শিল্পকলায়, এমন কী সঙ্গীতেও এমন জলজ্যান্ত ছায়ামূর্তি দেখতে পাওয়া যায়না- মানুষ হাসছে, কাঁদছে, ভালবাসছে বারবার একটি নির্ধারিত নিয়মে।

কখনো কী ছায়ামূর্তিগুলোর মনে হয়না আজ সেলুলয়েড থেকে বেরিয়ে আসি? আজ দর্শকদের অভিনব এক দৃশ্য দেখাই?

Milk + Horlicks = rich folks in Bengali films … দুধ + হরলিক্স = বড়লোকেরা খাবার!

These are two melodramatic scenes from two hit Bengali/Bangla films. The first one is from Chhoto Bou and the second is from Mangaldeep. Apart from the common actors, you’ll notice a common formula.

(ছেলেটা সত্যি খালি খাই-খাই করে…)

দুধ + হরলিক্স = বড়লোকেরা খাবার!

Finally Bengali films available for purchase online

While searching for Bengali films of Panchamda (R.D. Burman, রাহুলদেব বর্মন) I came across an excellent site that contains all the films released by Angel Video. Their price-structure is a bit weird: I mean in this day and age, who charges from 35 Rupees all the way to over 300 Rupees for VCDs of films? A VCD is essentially an outdated product, regardless of how you package it and to have a one order-of-magnitude price difference based for the same product seems counter-intuitive.

However, they do have an amazing website with at least a few hundred Bengali films. The nice thing about the website is that they have a search-engine that actually works. I’ve loaded up my shopping cart and will post my review of how promptly they process my order in a few days. So far, however, the process seems extremely efficient for people living in India. If you live outside of India, the best option is to have the VCDs and DVDs sent to someone in the country and pick them up when you visit. Right now, Angel is shipping anywhere in India for free as long as you purchase at least 500 Rupees worth of items.

The Angel Video website means now there are options. Before, we didn’t have that many and essentially had to purchase from retail websites that had very-highly marked up prices like Simindia. Simindia has virtually a non-existent interface and absolutely no search-engine. The only good thing about them though is that they deliver worldwide and they do so rather efficiently and promptly (I can vouch for this).

Anyways, I did a couple of searches on the Angel Video website and was excited with the results.

I was looking to increase my collection of Bhanu Bandyopadhyay films, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had many movies featuring Bhanu. It is quite a collection, indeed!

But most of all, I was happy to see that they carry a good stock of films in which Panchamda composed the music. Many of these bear the stamp of his assistant Sapan Chakraborty (স্বপন চক্রবর্তী ) too.

The R.D. Burman tribute site www.panchamonline.com mentions that he composed the music for 32 Bengali films and another 134 non-film Bengali songs usually released around the time of the Pujas. I checked for the ones that Angel carries and was elated to find that they are selling 15 including some as rare as Anando Niketan with Sanjay, Sabitri, and Suparna (if you know anything about who Sanjay and Suparna are, do give me a buzz!)

© 2010-2013 Bhalomanush.com. All rights reserved.

Khokon amar jadumoni… খোকন আমার জাদুমণি

Utpal Datta stole the show in the Bengali film, Bikele bhorer phul. Here are a couple of memorable teasers for purposes of review. Both clips are under one minute and courtesy of Angel Video. If you like these clips, I encourage you to buy the original VCD from them.

In the first, Utpal Datta gets emotional while reciting the poem he wrote, Khokon amar jadumoni.

In the second, as a special guest, he gives a completely unexpected speech (তোমরা মেয়েরা, তোমরা কি?)

Contai vs. Paris (কাঁথি বনাম প্যারিস)

Robi Ghosh had a short, but memorable cameo appearance in the 1968 Parthapratim Choudhury directed film, Hansamithun. In this short scene, Robi explains the difference between mime and being an actual mute to a rustic friend from Contai.

Contai, Contai, Contai. Tui na ekhon ekta gaainya roye geli! Kothay Contai aar kothay Paris?

Speechless!