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atanu2804
Reviews
Ek Je Aachhe Kanya (2000)
sincere effort
The Bengali's reply to Fatal Attraction or The Crush? I remember Urmila Matondkar did something faintly similar in Pyar Toone Kya Kiya (as Simi did in Chalte Chalte) to Konkona's fine act in Ek Je Aachhey Kanya. Konkona's is a first-rate performance. She makes you uncomfortable with her "unpredictable" Ria. This is where the director scores. And to support her, we have the ever-dependable Sabyasachi Chakraborty. Amazing how he manages to deliver strong performances in film after film.
But one question: didn't people in Kolkata use cell phones in 2000? Especially, people in advertising? I tried to find one scene in which the characters spoke on cell phones, but I probably missed it.
And a revelation was the songs. Whoever thought of using Sukumar Ray's "huko mukho hyangla" and making a parody of "mone pore ruby ray" from it. The meter fits to the T. The title song, sung by Proteek Mukherjee, was excellent.
The Bong Connection (2006)
one of the worst in recent times
Anjan Dutta delivers a dud. (Bow Barracks Forever was better any day.)Totally clichéd and lacking subtlety, Bong Connection left me cold. Does Mr Dutt actually know what the usual Bong does when he/she goes to "phoren" lands these days? Parambrata, who fails miserably as an actor here, seems to get into all sorts of trouble the moment he lands there. The situations are unreal and ridiculous, and the De Niro-ish (hope the great actor doesn't ever get to watch this) over-the-top performance by the Bangladeshi taxi driver is laughable.
Halfway through, I felt Shayan Munshi would salvage the film. I could see he was trying his best, and I give the two stars to the film for his role (and also for the gorgeous Raima Sen, who sadly doesn't have much to do), and a song that he sings in a club.
You don't need much imagination to do a remix of Tagore's "paagla hawa" (and it is the "in" thing these days); yet, the director fails even in this. The song doesn't touch you, the visuals don't move you. It seemed forced, as if they were conscious they were doing something new, something great. Ha! In the end, I wished Mir had more footage: he could have tried to at least make me laugh; but laugh I did, at the immaturity of the production and the lack of intelligence of everyone involved in the making of Bong Connection.