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Reviews
Shantilal O Projapoti Rohoshyo (2019)
A masterpiece of storytelling!
This movie is a MASTERPIECE. Pratim D Gupta is a masterful storyteller with IMMENSE ability in crafting a story, and it shows. I won't say too much about it except that you NEED to see this movie.
There *are* flaws in the storyline, such as - it's not clear exactly WHY he ducks into the toilet in the beginning where he sees Paoli's tattoo, and the woman in Singapore gives him a pat-down but doesn't seem to be too curious about who he is or why he's there; and the irony of a guy WHO ACTUALLY WATCHES PORN HIMSELF doing an expose on the porn industry cannot be overstated. The fundamental *premise* also seems to be a bit flawed, as *I*, for one, would definitely still buy a Paoli cinema ticket even if I knew she was a porn star - such as Sunny Leone HAS ALREADY DONE! (Incidentally Sylvester Stallone also got the start to his career doing porn - doesn't appear to have done HIM too much harm!) This hypocrisy surrounding porn needs to be REMOVED. But I realise I may be in the minority with this, especially here in Kolkata.
But these are minor quibbles.
At the hear of it, this is the story of ONE MAN'S PRINCIPLES and ONE WOMAN'S QUEST FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS. And in this area, it shines supreme.
A footnote - as a confirmed web guy, I have to ask - Pratim, how is web journalism different from print journalism? It still works exactly the same, the same investigations are required, just that the headline APPEARS a little differently - with much more *reach*, too. So why the blurb at the end about this?
Anyway, with movies like these, Tollywood is etching it's place in movie history. Hollywood ran out of stories a loooooong time ago. Now, a second contender has arrived to take it's place. No big-budgets/exotic locales/explosive CGI (though hopefully these things are coming, too - like THIS one goes to Singapore :) ),....but The STORIES Of The Century! I've never loved the story of "the underdog coming of age and becoming the hero" like this :) Pratim D Gupta, take a bow. It's people like you who are going to do it (all the more amazing because a movie so specifically about *women* is written by a man! Amazing!).
Saheb Bibi Golaam (2016)
Good points and bad - read the whole review
OK, I just saw this movie, and I think I have yet to absorb it fully. The storytelling is extremely deft and well done, with each separate story weaving into each other seamlessly - this is brilliantly done. But let me go more in depth. I think I'll start with the negative, cause I'd like to end with the positive.
There are plot holes aplenty. The minister's son is capable of r---g a woman, but whimpers like that, like a little girl, in front of his father? The taxi driver gives Parno a couple of rides, and 2 days later falls so deeply in love that he's besotted like that? This story needed to be developed a bit more in the movie, it's not impossible that such a thing may happen, we needed to be shown How - it would have added a lot more depth. If she has a car, what's she doing catching a cab home in any case, why doesn't she just drive home in her own car, or if she's too drunk, get one of her friends to drive? And most of all, we're supposed to believe that someone is *married* to Swastika Mukherjee AND DOESN'T GIVE HER SEX, LOL!! :) Is this *possible*? Is this guy MAD, or impotent or something??!! :) (actually something close to that IS suggested, isn't it? :)) But why did she have to become a *prostitute*?? If she wants to have sex, well, all she has to do is to go out into the street and snap her fingers at the nearest boy/s, and 10 of them will be ready to jump on her...? :) Why do it for *money*??
But leaving these things aside, the Positive - FINALLY SOMEONE HAS ADDRESSED THE ISSUE OF A BENGALI HOUSEWIFE'S SEXUAL DESIRE!! FINALLY!! In 2016, Bengali culture just *couldn't remain* what it is any. more. (I'm a guy, so I have a vested interest in as many Bengali housewives being sexually liberated as possible! ;) ) It's done BRILLIANTLY - the scenes with her and the various men were MIND BLOWING!! I think Bengali TV is still meant for the old woman who has opinions on somebody going to a FU*KING GYM!!! Thank GOD that won't exist anymore!!
I thought, when I first heard about the movie, that it would have a more philosophical bent - I thought Swastika would find solace from that husband of hers in a *lover* - someone whom she finds *emotional sustenance* in - this was not attempted in the movie. It's just a thriller. It's not that it doesn't make a statement, it does, but not with the Swastika part of the story line. What's more disturbing is the *point of view* behind it - even now, the minister's son is shown to be the decadent, Westernised, elite drunkard and womanizer, and the taxi driver is the dutiful, loving, good guy - so good he carries his father to the toilet, for God's sake! How many people reading this have heard about *taxi drivers* raping people? What, every fourth or fifth day in the paper? And believe it or not, I'll bet that there are some *minister's sons* in India, maybe even in Kolkata, who are clean, make their money honestly, and have never even come close to harming a woman - not many LOL! :) , but some. *This point of view has been removed from the movie*!! Even now, poor means good and rich means bad. In 20 bloody 16, Kolkata STILL hasn't got rid of communism. Why'd you do this, Pratim? There are some people who go to nightclubs, and drink, and so on, who are NOT stupid - what are we supposed to do, apologize because we use Ipads and Twitter?? I guess the sad reality is that there ARE people like the minister's son in Kolkata - I don't know many myself, but there is at least one person I can think of who is almost the ditto copy of that character - and also that recent Sambia case springs to mind. By the way, that acting was AWFUL - he says "bitch" more times that anyone I've heard - he *says* it wrong. I didn't feel he was evil - when he was attempting to smash the windscreen of Parno's car, I didn't feel scared at all (which is a good thing - it shows that Bengali men can never be rapists in real life). He SHOULD have smashed it in - would have lent more weight to the character.
Anyway, at the end of it - 1) I'm glad that someone finally brought up the topic of Bengali women's desires, as I said. and 2) I'm glad about the ending - when Anjan Dutt cut off that son of a b**ch's d*ck, *I* WAS CLAPPING AND CHEERING LIKE MAD!! (actually when he sat on top of him, for a second I thought he was going to r**e him, but that didn't happen!) EXCELLENT!
The director somewhere said, the issue of whether to go and see a Bengali movie has a question mark at the end of it - his job is to turn that into a exclamation point. He has been successful. I will definitely go and see more Bengali movies if stuff like this comes out. And I will keep an eye out specifically for more movies from *him*.