Gautam ghose did an amazing job in directing, doing the cinematography and moreover by writing the wonderful script of MONER MANUSH. It is an incredible story telling through celluloid. I will recommend everybody to see this movie. The songs of Lalon Fakir & their philosophy are immortal always and a true justice to them has been done in this film. The eternal quest for self is so inevitable for everyone and we do not realize that. Moner Manush seems to inculcate this through the vision of Lalon with accurate delineation. Capturing the time of this legend is another forte of Mr. Ghose. The social turbulence and narrow cast system of then was portrayed properly. How a man without any education is teaching the society the futile notion of cast system through his songs & philosophy is amazing.
10 Reviews
semi-fictional reality!!
mute_man2 July 2011
Gautam Ghosh usually makes films that you can enjoy with the heart. Moner Manush is also one of them. The movie tells us about the story of a Sufi-Singer Lalon aka Lalon Fakir. His poems are usually called "Lalon-Giti". Both the starting and the finishing are awesome, regarding, as the whole movie is in between! Prosenjit as Lalon acted superb. There is a mix of Bangladeshi and Indian actors and actresses in the movie that eventually tells us the whole point, as songs are not only with any land or any region rather it is for the universe, the planet and the whole wide globe. The movie might seem a bit slow. The songs are well sung according to me. But the truth is you'll never know when it's going to end. So, just watch the movie and see it for yourself.
"Moner Manush" or "The Quest", A man in search of man!
vikram-ry12311 June 2011
I was surprised last year when I heard Goutam Ghose directed a film on Lalan Fakir and Prosenjit Chatterjee is starring as Lalan. I thought what a terrible curse is going to fall on Bengali film's.
I watched over tons of Prosenjit Chatterjee's movie when I was a child. I hate all his commercial films as a rationalistic quality-film lover. But it is my greatness to see some exceptional acting by Prosenjit Chatterjee in "Moner Manush".
Director Goutam Ghose lefts no criticism to the viewers. His brilliant efforts makes the film above and beyond in sanctity. The location is perfectly going with the central theme. We studied Lalan Fakir in our history of Bengali Literature and the director has visualized every scene like eye witness.
I should not tell the story just to increase lines. The film is completely discoverable. The best biographical film ever made in Indian Film History. I am giving 9.5/10 in this review.
As the film ends my facebook status was: "A must watch biographical film. The world should watch or the world would miss. The choice is your's." No more words "excellent".
I watched over tons of Prosenjit Chatterjee's movie when I was a child. I hate all his commercial films as a rationalistic quality-film lover. But it is my greatness to see some exceptional acting by Prosenjit Chatterjee in "Moner Manush".
Director Goutam Ghose lefts no criticism to the viewers. His brilliant efforts makes the film above and beyond in sanctity. The location is perfectly going with the central theme. We studied Lalan Fakir in our history of Bengali Literature and the director has visualized every scene like eye witness.
I should not tell the story just to increase lines. The film is completely discoverable. The best biographical film ever made in Indian Film History. I am giving 9.5/10 in this review.
As the film ends my facebook status was: "A must watch biographical film. The world should watch or the world would miss. The choice is your's." No more words "excellent".
Even with its flaw, it is a very good movie. Worth watching again.
jyry7320 July 2011
It is a very difficult task to capture life and philosophy of a character like Lalon fakir in couple of hours of celluloid time. Gautom Ghose took that challenge and did a commendable job in capturing not only Lalon fakir's character but also essence of Baul culture in "Moner Manush". Cinematography is lyrical, bringing the best of rural Bengal. Presence of only minimum necessary numbers of characters in scenes gives a sense of serenity which helps to focus more on main characters of story. Presenting the Baul songs in Gayaki style blended well with overall ambiance of the movie. Except the title "Hey o re hey o" which seems out of place and unnecessary. The voice of Laitf Shah is quite in discord with Prasenjit's voice but the protagonist does well to express songs with his acting to divert viewers' attention from the mismatch of voice.
Asad, Prasenjit and Chanchal have excelled in acting. In the first half of the movie, while navigating through Lalon's childhood, screenplay is very weak and jumpy. Other than Asad and on some occasions young Lalon, most actors from first half of the movie are very ordinary. It is disheartening to see veterans like Hasan Imam, Laila Hasan can not get in to their characters. It is as much a weakness of actors as of the director. In the second half of the movie screenplay gets more compact and acting gets better which make up more than enough for the weakness in the first half. Quality of makeup was also found wanting.
Overall it is a very good movie. Even after weeks of watching it keeps echoing inside.
Asad, Prasenjit and Chanchal have excelled in acting. In the first half of the movie, while navigating through Lalon's childhood, screenplay is very weak and jumpy. Other than Asad and on some occasions young Lalon, most actors from first half of the movie are very ordinary. It is disheartening to see veterans like Hasan Imam, Laila Hasan can not get in to their characters. It is as much a weakness of actors as of the director. In the second half of the movie screenplay gets more compact and acting gets better which make up more than enough for the weakness in the first half. Quality of makeup was also found wanting.
Overall it is a very good movie. Even after weeks of watching it keeps echoing inside.
one of the best films from GG...
mysonamartya30 May 2014
Gautam Ghose should be commended for making a film like 'Moner Manush.' The film is based on a story by Sunil Gangopadhyay. It revolves around the life of a singing Baul minstrel. Bauls are folksy singers from Bengal and the experience of listening to 'em is usually a sublime one.
The protagonist Lalan Fakir belonged to a Hindu family and once was abandoned after mistakenly presumed to have died after a boat capsize. He was rescued and nursed back to life by a Muslim family. The film also explores the deep animosity that exists in the rural villages between Hindus and Muslims. In one touching scene, when the protagonist returns to his village and family after having regained his power of recalling the past, which he had lost when he was abandoned, the villagers don't trust his claim of being one of them, and even his mother and wife who were convinced of his identity refused to go with him, because they considered him to have lost his 'purity' after living with the Muslim family.
The film also depicts the way of living of the simple singing clan and the deep philosophical thought that pervades their existence in spite of being illiterate from the perspective of a modern man. In this respect, Lalan is much similar with Sree Ramakrishna, the divine saint of Hinduism. The narrative style of simultaneous progression of flashback of the protagonist at his old age and his story from his youth is handled deftly. Prasenjit gives an outstanding performance in the central role. Others in the cast includes Indraneil Sengupta, Paoli Dam and others. The cinematography is spectacular and captures the rural backdrop with much finesse.
The protagonist Lalan Fakir belonged to a Hindu family and once was abandoned after mistakenly presumed to have died after a boat capsize. He was rescued and nursed back to life by a Muslim family. The film also explores the deep animosity that exists in the rural villages between Hindus and Muslims. In one touching scene, when the protagonist returns to his village and family after having regained his power of recalling the past, which he had lost when he was abandoned, the villagers don't trust his claim of being one of them, and even his mother and wife who were convinced of his identity refused to go with him, because they considered him to have lost his 'purity' after living with the Muslim family.
The film also depicts the way of living of the simple singing clan and the deep philosophical thought that pervades their existence in spite of being illiterate from the perspective of a modern man. In this respect, Lalan is much similar with Sree Ramakrishna, the divine saint of Hinduism. The narrative style of simultaneous progression of flashback of the protagonist at his old age and his story from his youth is handled deftly. Prasenjit gives an outstanding performance in the central role. Others in the cast includes Indraneil Sengupta, Paoli Dam and others. The cinematography is spectacular and captures the rural backdrop with much finesse.
best
asmarafat-6824822 March 2019
Greatest Bengali film I have ever seen
imranh-928754 November 2022
One of the best performance by Prosenjit in his career and such a wonderful experience seeing this movie worth watch it again. Specially the immortal songs of Lalon became more beautiful with great visual storytelling by goutom ghosh..I never seen such a movie with everything so perfectly presented..Be it the narrative or music and specially the acting was just superb and brilliant as well as the originality of the story and philosophy of the legend folk Lalon Fakir..I think that this film should always be remembered as a major benchmark in the history of bengali cinema in visual storytelling.
Prosenjit is brilliant in Moner Manush
avik-kumar-si14 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Moner Manush is Goutam Ghose' screen adaptation of the Sunil Gangopadhyay novel bearing the same title. Moner Manush is a depiction of Lalan Fakir, an Indian saint who lived in the 18th century.
This is the story of a simpleton from an Indian village in the region of Bengal and about how he escaped death from smallpox and in the process, was not just reborn physically but was also born a new man spiritually. Lalan spent the rest of his life preaching in a low-key manner the message of human unity across boundaries of religion. His legend lives on in the form of his songs which are as easy on the ear as bright they are with the pure light of Lalan's awakened mind.
Moner Manush successfully captures this essence of this mysterious man. Goutam Ghose splendidly portrays the legend and spirit of Lalan in a moving manner. Lalan's transformation is brought in a gradual manner, not striking but uplifting. The source material was a class work by Sunil Gangopadhyay and Goutam Ghose infuses it with life as divinely as one can imagine.
The cinematography brings out the beauty of unspoilt rural Bengal magically and one can almost smell the earth and experience the enthralling beauty of a boat sailing across the serene river, transported back a few centuries. The music is composed of multiple Lalangeetis (songs composed by Lalan himself), each more moving than the previous one and with the intense feeling conveyed by the individuals on-screen, the songs ring in the ear and the heart of the audience alike.
Talking of acting, Prosenjit Chatterjee stands out, way out, of both the rest of the cast in this film and also his own body of work, delivering a remarkable performance in terms of perhaps his entire career.
Moner Manush is a beautiful film, which builds the mood and then delivers silently yet powerfully, through its sights and sounds and of course, through Prosenjit.
This is the story of a simpleton from an Indian village in the region of Bengal and about how he escaped death from smallpox and in the process, was not just reborn physically but was also born a new man spiritually. Lalan spent the rest of his life preaching in a low-key manner the message of human unity across boundaries of religion. His legend lives on in the form of his songs which are as easy on the ear as bright they are with the pure light of Lalan's awakened mind.
Moner Manush successfully captures this essence of this mysterious man. Goutam Ghose splendidly portrays the legend and spirit of Lalan in a moving manner. Lalan's transformation is brought in a gradual manner, not striking but uplifting. The source material was a class work by Sunil Gangopadhyay and Goutam Ghose infuses it with life as divinely as one can imagine.
The cinematography brings out the beauty of unspoilt rural Bengal magically and one can almost smell the earth and experience the enthralling beauty of a boat sailing across the serene river, transported back a few centuries. The music is composed of multiple Lalangeetis (songs composed by Lalan himself), each more moving than the previous one and with the intense feeling conveyed by the individuals on-screen, the songs ring in the ear and the heart of the audience alike.
Talking of acting, Prosenjit Chatterjee stands out, way out, of both the rest of the cast in this film and also his own body of work, delivering a remarkable performance in terms of perhaps his entire career.
Moner Manush is a beautiful film, which builds the mood and then delivers silently yet powerfully, through its sights and sounds and of course, through Prosenjit.
World class movie about philosophy of life!
Leo_de_Aetas24 October 2018
I haven't seen such an amazing interpretation about the falsity of society through the view of Lalon Fakir. Someday he'll be the greatest Bangali of all time. This cult is above all the politics & religion. This war for truth will be on and on... & this quest of freedom should be every man's heartiest desire in life.
Moner Manush spoiler
monishsengupta102 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Lalon is a name representing mysticism. A towering personality with a philosophical heart. This film is a disgrace in the name of film making. It is heard to believe that character like Lalon can be portrayed in such a shameful extravaganza. All the Baul girls shown in this film are like Chammak Challo. Till now I was under impression that Gautam Ghosh is one of the best cinematographers in India. He is getting old and is running out of ideas. It is difficult to find a single good frame in the film. This is not true film making and this happens when the director doesn't believe in the script. It is only for the sake of making films.
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