No Sunglass in Ray land
This post is sponsored byFour years back just after passing out of college, I started writing a film script. It was initially meant to be in Hindi but in the 1200-odd days (of writing, thinking, deleting, more writing, more deleting) that followed I figured out that I was better off making my first film in my regional language, Bengali.
Why? Well, because I have been a firm believer and I have written about this here on PFC that it’s very difficult to make a small Hindi film and get seen. You can scratch your heads and the two names you will come up with are Iqbal and Khosla Ka Ghosla. Exceptions like that prove the rule.
As a prospective first-time director I was not thinking of getting a big star cast or a big budget, both of which are inseparable concepts. So I thought I was better off making a small Bengali film with limited budget and limited expectations.
But now I am planning to send the word file on my desktop to the trash bin. It’s no use! Puro bekaar… Because there’s just no hope. And I will tell you why. For all those PFC readers who have always asked me to write something about the contemporary Bengali film scenario, I will tell you what exactly is happening here.
Rituparno Ghosh, the numero uno film auteur, the Satyajit Ray of the third millennium, the only hope for the Bengali film industry, the one man who can have Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Manisha Koirala, Arjun Rampal, Ajay Devgan running down to Calcutta, cannot get a release. Rituda has three films ready for the last three years and none of them have any buyer.
Khela, starring Manisha Koirala, Raima Sen and Prosenjit, was produced by Pritish Nandy Communications but was bought over by Saregama Pictures. Sunglass, made simultaneously in Bengali and English, stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Jaya Bachchan, R Madhavan and Naseeruddin Shah, is rotting in the cans too. Finally, Amitabh Bachchan-starrer The Last Lear too has no distributors willing to buy the film.
Now, coming to Buddhadeb Dasgupta, who is recognised as one of the top 10 film-makers across the world in foreign film-makers and who probably has more National Awards that Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi combined hasn’t had a release since 2002, although he has made three more films after that. Swapner Din won Dasgupta the Best Director National Award. Kaalpurush won the Best Film National Award. And yet neither of the two films got a theatrical release.
Optimists will tell you that things are looking up with Anjan Dutt’s The Bong Connection and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s Anuranan both running for three weeks at the city multiplexes which hardly screen Bengali films at all. But the truth remains that even after the plex run, the films struggle to break even. No wonder Dutt’s new film BBD (in Hindi, starring Kay Kay, Jimmy Sheirgill and Naseeruddin) cannot get into post-production due to lack of funds.
The only Bengali film which has done well at urban centres is Sandip Ray’s Kailase Kelenkari, based on the Feluda story by Satyajit Ray. Yes, sadly, it all goes back to Ray, the one Indian film-maker the world knows and the one film-maker the Bengalis will never get over. His theme music, his characters, his story, his famous frames… we have not been able to look beyond it. Every time Rituparno has done an original work, we have tried to compare him with Ray. We have accused Aparna Sen’s masterpiece 36 Chowringhee Lane to be ghost-directed by Ray.
Yes, Bipasha is in town now shooting for Ritu-da’s Shob Choritro Kalponik and Vidya Balan will come soon to shoot with Goutam Halder’s new film. But I don’t think they are looking for a release. Don’t think Sameera Reddy wanted the world to see her acting skills in a Bengali film. They just want an off-beat film by a National Award-winning director in their resume. So that when they dance around in an Anees Bazmee nobrainer, they can say they did a Ghosh or a Dasgupta film.
It’s a sad, sad, sad world out here folks. I don’t remember when I last saw a new Bengali film. And I don’t think I should make one. After all it will just move from one corner of the room to another, from the computer desktop to the bedside stack of cans.
Movies, People , Bengali
28 Responses to “No Sunglass in Ray land”
Leave a Reply
(Refer smilies)
Our Comments Policy : The following kinds of comments are troll capped, blocked and/or commenter's identity reported publicly: Verbal abuse, personal attacks, hate statements, spam, trolls, advertising. Please assist us in keeping the comments clean. Use the contact form to let us know if you find unwarranted comments on PFC. Thank you.
-
Your Ad on PFC for 99cents a day!
Subscribe to PFC eZine & Newsletter
how do I blog on PFC?
I understand your situation,…hey ! but Satyajit Ray has nothing to do with it !!!
its starange every bengali filmaker or atleast the ones you named above make excellent beautiful cinema if only a certain mister chopra had the hindsight to produce and make such films it would change the face of indian cinema for the better
we would churn out better cinema,better scripts which actaully demand something of actors,thus causing all those plastic non-actors to perish and our films to have a certain quality
in short our producers dont give chances to the correct people,for some reason they choose to make bad films,to stab themselves and smile about it and advertise it and have big promos everywhere..
and heylo comedy is not wrong,i love comedy but please make some good comedy say a a khosla ka ghosla or a bheja fry
PS-And im not even drunk :d
@ pratim –
have u seen anniruddha’s Anuranan? It is the most pretentious and stagy piece of steaming doggie doodoo this side of —- (insert director u love to hate here). And I’m not saying this because it has Rahul Bose. That only adds to it.
What is worse, Sameera Reddy acting in a bengali film to earn acting cred in her resume or some poor sod bangla director needing Sameera (C grade celebrity that she is) to get a film made?
Ms. Reddy wins that round.
I am yet to see why Rituparno is considered a great filmmaker. Can someone please elaborate, and may be write a post?
thanks
Saw two Bengali films last year, Ekti Nadir Galpo and Budhdhadeb’s The Voyeurs. Liked them a lot. And now you tell me these films didn’t even get a release. Super depressing. And here I was hoping to explore bengali cinema. Do these films get released on DVDs?
Btw Pritam, don’t you think deleting a script is unnecessarily destructive? Why not put it on the net with a CC license?
Actually Pratim da
The situation is far worse than you think.The only movies of Satyajit Ray that people of my generation have seen are the Feluda series, Apu Trilogy and Goopy Bagha series. I couldn’t find a single person in the early twenties with whom I could discuss Prattidondi or Mohanagar.
Coming to Rituparna, I’d really like someone to explain what’s the big deal with his movies. I admit I haven’t seen a lot of his movies but that is only because I find them full of “aantlemi”, in fact I’d prefer to watch Fatakesto, at least that movie invites us to laugh at it, Rituparno’s movies seem to be so full of their own importance.
I watched many of Ritu’s films….and I dont see why he is considered a great filmmaker. His Last Lear was worst of them all. I watched Voyeurs too, but the casting is horrible. They should have some youngsters in the film instead of making the cast look young….the story is amazing, even the script is very good, the cast spoiled the show.
Seriously I dont agree with anyone who thinks Rituparna is a good filmmaker.
Interesting (sadly) to know. I have seen a few movies of Rituparno and I have always liked his work. He has a lot of talent. Sad that his movies are not getting released. Could be sent to some film festival? I have no idea how that process works.
Hi Pratim Da,
I truly agree with you Pratim Da, we the bongs will never be over with Ray’s work. Anyone trying to do any thing in cinemas’ will be compared to Ray and will be crucified all possible ways. I am great fan of Mr. Ray and have never seen any better Sarcasm than Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, but I try not to scale every new bong director in the Ray-O-Meter! I definitely like some of Rituporno’s work and most of Aparna’s work. It
@ Dabba ! Lol !
…”Rahul Bose only adds to it !”=))
@Stranger
I agree on what you said about Rituparno Gosh.
Yes, you are right. We Bangalees still haven’t gotten over the hangover of Ray and it’s sad that there is even an iota of correlation between his greatness and the lack of good Bengali cinema in recent times(Titli, Shubho Muhorot, Utsab, Bariwali are a few). Rituparno is good, but let’s not call him the Satyajit Ray of the new millennium. I didn’t like Anuronon because of its disjointed script. The director could have just made a Powerpoint show of beautiful scenery.
Maybe you should go ahead and try to make that film in Hindi. Might give you a better shot at getting it made. Granted there are only very few low budget films like Bheja Fry, Iqbal, Dor, Dil Dosti Etc., Manorama and KKC but I still feel they are more in number than their Bangla counterparts.
Pratim..Ritu has really not done great work in the near past and that is why he is failing to get a release today. Remember that porn flick, antarmahal..how would you consider that good cinema??
Of course, it was better than the juvenile stuff that comes out of Tollygunge but yet after Utsab and Unishe..we expected far better things!
I was there in the first day audience of antarmahal at city centre and saw the audience reaction. Ki bolbo??
Problem is “amra shobai bhabchi..ekta kahini..kichu sex..kanpaano close ups dilei naaki bhalo cinema hoye jaai!!”
You saw “Arunanon”..you tell me having seen world cinema..was it good at all!
Remember the serials Raja Sen Sr. used to make for DD way back..was so good..what happened to all that..where did the writers go??
Anandobazar Puja special..I bought it this year and tried to read a few of the stories..Yuck!..is all I can say!!
Dosar..we all know the story..Ritu, well he thinks he is tackling new directions..but they are all intimate films that tend to be boring after a lil while..where is the attempt in a fresh direction??
Ray is revered..why because he attempted a Jalshagar, then a Kanchenjunga, then a Joi baba felunath, then Tagore..and therefore has created a body of work worth talking about…
Buddhoda has never looked at a theatrical release very seriously..why I don’t know!!
You know, Jalan releases stuff in Kolkata..the poor guy has no clue what shall work..because there is no good stuff to work with in the first place!!!!
Bengali cinema has never been so denuded of work as it is now!
Why..because a Dhanuka thinks he shall make 4 bucks after putting in 2 bucks..a bloody business first and everything later..so we have bloody jatras being made for consumption in Murshidabad and Dinajpur!!!!
hey,
I agree with most of what you say..though i have some serious problems about your thoughts on not getting money to direct etc…Atleast i have seen rituparno work and anjan dutt and both suck terribly on my list..the worst was when they compared the bong connection with the new wave cinema(anything done with handheld camera is considered to be new wave in India )..so maybe we need to look within ourselves..and maybe look for better stories…we need more tension in our films atleast rituparno films need that badly…and your problem with being first time director finding no producer ..i guess there is no answer for that except.. just think if manish tiwary can get funds for film like dil dosti etc..and samir karnik for a zillion **** films ..then i guess …uou need not worry keep rolling…
ciao
@dabba — if you have to still see why Rituparno is considered a great director then either you haven’t seen any of his films or something is wrong with you….have you seen Unishe April/Dahan/Asukh/Utsab/Shubho Maharot/Dosar/Antarmahal? I am not counting Chokher Bali/Raincoat/Titli because these are his lesser works. If you want to see Aishwarya act properly you should see Raincoat….one of the very few directors who has made even Aishwarya emote….Can’t write about his cinema in a comment….have to write a separate post for that…..
@PRATIM DA,
its sad that people of kolkata, we, are loosing our interest in good films,
about a year back i read an article on “THE GRAPHITI” in “THE TELEGRAPH” saying rituparno ghosh and prosenjit are charting a masterplan for reviving bengali cinema,WHAT HAPPEND TO THAT?
p.s its not only the bengali films that cannot find a release, none of the oscar probables made it to the screen this year either. so its basicall y the cinegoers fault, not the fault of distributors. they will offcourse showcase the films if there is an audience for it.
i hate rituparnos films except for Shubho Maharot and titli… as for the rest of his movies, maybe i am not intellectual enuf to appreciate them…
Satyajit Roy is an all time great… and people closely emulating his style of film making can never aspire to reach his heights… remember that nothing grows under a banyan tree…. so in order to succeed you have to use your own perspective…
and Fatakeshto rocks
Pratim, Rituparno doesn’t seem to mind, at all. imo, he could do well concentrating on Antar Mahals, & give-up on the Dosars that he seems to be fond of..
@ arijit –
please do. only seen antar mahal, raincoat, and chokher bali.
only reason rituparno is as “celebrated” as he is, is because he takes his films to festivals as opposed to trying to get them released.. unfortunately that tactic hasn’t been working for distribution.. and i’ve seen the same films of his as dabba.. didn’t find them extraordinary by any means, so i guess i have to try and watch his better films.. do write that post arijit
its amazing to find out how many people dont actually appriciate rituporno ghosh’s films.
@Arijit
I have seen Antar mahal, Raincoat, Titli and Chokher bali.
I still don’t see why he should be considered extra-ordinary (may be because three of these are what you call his lesser works)
I liked Raincoat but for Aishwarya rai. It is perhaps better than her other works but then that’s not saying much.
Didn’t like Chokher bali. Antarmahal and Titli were okay.
Somehow he fails to strike a chord.
Is Unishe April inspired from Autumn Sonata(Ingmar Bergman)? If yes then I would love to watch how he adapted it in Indian context.
Can someone tell me where can I find that (Tagore’s?) poem from ‘Titli’. The one that Aparna Sen is reciting at the end.
@ arijit
his bollywoody films don’t work for me either but he gets good mileage so good for him. Asookh for eg was excellent…….
@neeraja
True about Ash, poor lady so beautiful but so hmmm.
@pratim — i had read in an arindam chaudhury interview that planman is about to release The Last Lear in February and they are delaying it because they are waiting for the right time to release the film. You must be having more uptodate new of this. It is suprising to see that Rituparno is facing this issue in Kolkata because he is also a commercially successful director in Kolkata. Anuranan also supposedly was slated for an All India release sometime in Jan-Feb.
The current state of Bengali cinema is really sad. Even Sandip Ray’s Feluda renditions are also watered down versions of what Ray’s would have been. They are not comparable to the original stories. The rest are not even worth commenting on.
The amount of apreciation Ritoporno Ghosh gets in bengal only proves the tragic state of bengali filmmaking. its perfectly alright if you cannot make a masterpiece like Ray cuz filmmakers like him comes once in a century but why we wont even have a filmmaker like Nagesh Kukunoor,anurag Kashyap,Sudhir Mishra or even Farhan Akhtar? worst thing is that since we dont a have a good filmmaker, we are trying to blow up an average director like Rituporno in an embarrasingly unproportionate scale. Dosar, the “masterpiece” according to some newspapers here in kolkata, was publicized as an “inspiration” of Kieslowsky’s blue when he simply copied the first sequence. Unishe April and Autumn Sonata? Gimme a break.
The only bengali film i liked somewhat in past few years is Herbert by Suman mukhopadhyay.It had a very low key release and i dont know how many people watched it really…
@rudro — i have seen both blue and dosar. both of the directors that you have mentioned rank among my favorites. and i can rightfully say both the films stand in their own right. and as far as i remember the opening sequence it is chandreyee singing the rabindra sangeet with her back facing the camera. i don’t remember a similar scene being the opening sequence of blue. i might be wrong. but please don’t compare the director of Don ( a mindless remake ) and the director of Unishe April/Doshar….
@Arijit
I was not talking about the first sequence of dosar. The accident sequence at the start of blue was copied.Unishe April had mediocrity written all over it.I would prefer to watch Don rather than a mediocre “sensible” film. I have no problem with a some one as mediocre as Rituporno. There are countless directors like him churning out average films every year.But I dont like the way kolkata media tries to portrait him as a great filmmaker.
my first reaction on reading the post is that you’re just whining. in a most characteristically bengali way.
you know- the same is said of theatre in calcutta. especially of the english language. that people have lost interest, and there are no more audiences for them and thus no one is willing to produce/fund them. blah blah.
and for whatever little that is put up- its the same audience which watches them, that is the friends and acquaintances of the people involved in the play. sad reality.
i don’t intend to debate the capabilities of directors who’ve not got releases. i get your point, and i empathise with the situation. but tell me honestly, when was the last time something truly entertaining and original was made here. and please don’t expect people to go for a film just because its won national awards. no intellectual pretentions please. its has to be its time’s worth.
its not as if there isn’t an audience for bengali films. just have belief and come up with something freshly creative. give people something worth watching, you’ll automatically get the audience and so the producer. there’s no way it won’t work.
Can you please let me know when The Last Lear movie will be released, I am desperately waiting for this movie. Please let me know, it’s almost long time we are all waiting for this movie. Could be one of the best movie.