A Conversation with Srijit Mukherji and Nandana Sen,Rituparno Ghosh and Deepti Naval & Aparna Sen and Rahul Bose on there films @'BEAUTIFUL EVOCATIVE FILMS FROM BENGAL: Japanese Wife, Memories in March, Autograph (with English Subtitles) by The Indo-American Arts Council
AUTOGRAPH> A struggling young director & his Matinee Idol
Directed by SRIJIT /INDIA, 2010, 128 min. US Premiere. Bengali (with English subtitles)
@Thursday, November 11 @ 6.00 PM @ SVA Silas Theatre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuM-pf-qRyc
Synopsis:
Autograph is the story of a struggling young director who musters up the courage to approach the reigning matinee idol of Tollywood with an idea for a film. This matinee idol is an arrogant man at the peak of his career. To prove a point to his detractors that he is perpetually one-up on destiny, when the daily horoscope predicts a particular day is inauspicious for business ventures, he blindly accepts any proposal submitted on that day. As luck would have it, the middle-of-the-road script is offered by the director on this very day. And much to the dismay of his cronies and secretary, the matinee idol accepts it. Here onwards, the film gets split into two parallel stories. One is of the story of the film within the film and the unconventional relationship brewing between the star and the leading actress. The other is an even more unconventional triangle between the director, the actress and the matinee idol. The two narratives are entwined as reel and real life converge and diverge through situations. The climax is where they converge. How this climax changes three lives forever forms the finale to this reel meets real story.
Director Srijit Mukherji:
An economist, statistician, actor, writer, and director, Srijit Mukherji has become a master of many trades. His foray into filmmaking started when he assisted Anjan Dutt on Madly Bangalee, apart from writing songs and acting in the movie as well. His next assignment was even more prestigious– assistant director, lyricist, and actor in Aparna Sen’s Iti Mrinalini. Autograph is his debut feature film as a director, where he has also written the story, screenplay and dialogues.
CAST: Prosenjit, Nandana Sen, Indranil Sengupta.
This Directorial debut ‘Autograph’ was a surprise addition to the line up at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival October 14. The highly anticipated Bengali film will be screened in the Showcase section, the festival’s selection of outstanding feature films from around the world. Offering the local audience an accomplished work by a talented first-time director, whose choice of cast and material is remarkable.
Prosenjit, the numero uno of Bengali cinema for more than a quarter century, is steadily and surely extending the parameters of the famous and colourful and kitsch Poshenjit image to explore alternate avenues in screen performance. He has proved that he is one of the most versatile actors in the industry with a range that has acquired maturity and mellowness over the years. For the first time in his long career Prosenjit is playing himself on screen – not as Prosenjit but as a superstar who can twist the Bengali film industry around the little finger of his left hand. The name of the film is Autograph produced by Shri Venkatesh Films in association with Cinergy Pictures and directed by ace theatre person and Ph.D. dropout Srijit Mukherjee. Prosenjit plays Arun Chatterjee, a superstar. We nailed him down for a first-person interview about his views on this strikingly unusual role in a career spanning nearly three decades.
MEMORIES IN MARCH> Tries to dissect issuess of acceptance
Directed by SANJOY NAG, INDIA, 2010, 104 min. US Premiere. English, Hindi, Bengali (with English subtitles)
Friday, November 12 @ 6:30 PM @ SVA Silas Theatre
Synopsis:
Arati Mishra, a middle-aged art curator based in Delhi, has her world crashing down on her when her beloved son, Siddhartha, a successful copywriter in his twenties living in Kolkata, is killed in a fatal car accident. As Arati comes to terms with the loss of her child, she is strong and conducts herself with dignity and poise. When she arrives in Kolkata to collect Siddhartha's things from his flat and office, she is brought deeper into his world when she meets his colleagues and is surrounded by his belongings. As the memories of her dearly departed son flood Arati's thoughts, she discovers a surprising part of Siddhartha's life that she refuses to accept. Arati must reevaluate the close relationship they used to have and rediscover a part of her son she never knew or thought could be.
Director Sanjoy Nag:
Sanjoy Nag, born and raised in Kolkata, started out with documentaries before branching out to television films and shows. Not much of a conformist, he learns faster when he goes against the rules. When he is not shooting he loves traveling or checking out food joints. He is also an obsessive daydreamer. Memories in March is his debut feature.
Cast: Rituparno Ghosh, Raima Sen, Deepti Naval, Pradeep Rai
Deepti Naval: The unexplored talent of veteran actress Deepti Naval who did a brilliant role in Firaaq & many more movies to her credit played the lead role in Sanjay Nag’s under-production Hindi film Memories in March. The film in Hindi has now been given the new title of. “Written by Rituparno". She is Arati Mishra, an art curator who lives in Delhi. Through his friends and colleagues, she discovers that they knew him in ways different from the way she knew him as his mother.” She also finished directing her first film, Do Paise Ki Dhoop Char Aane Ki Baarish which she wrote herself. It is about a prostitute with a disabled child and a struggling songwriter who is gay. Memories in March is being produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. Debajyoti Mishra and it is cinematographed by Soumik Haldar.
"Memories In March", has made it to the Pusan IFF 2010. The film had its New York premiere at the MIAAC film Festival, 2010/World Premiere at 15th PUSAN International Film Festival 2010 (Memories In March has been selected in the New Currents section at PIFF 2010 - the only international competition section featuring the first or the second feature films by the future leading directors of Asian cinema. This year’s New Currents Award given to two best feature films selected from works of new Asian directors in New Currents - a competitive section of PIFF. The jury consistes of world-famous film experts will choose winners with the hope to encourage continuous endeavor of discovering hidden jewels of Asian cinema, and US$ 30,000 will be awarded to each film.) Another jewel in the crown has come in the form of "MIM" being selected for the 12th MAMI International Film Festival held in Mumbai.
Great time ahead for Bengali cinema! - Ghosh
Though Kolkata-born director Sanjoy Nag's name is on the print as first-time director, Memories of March bears many of the imprints of Bengali filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh (Choker Bali, Raincoat), who both wrote and executive produced the movie, takes a co-lead role, and is also a prominent gay rights activist. Several of Ghosh's own movies could almost have worked as plays, and Memories, with its two-character conversations in rooms and cars, is no exception, though the film never feels cramped thanks to Nag's smooth, good-looking direction.
The script's "twist", which finally comes around the halfway point, is hardly a surprise, and it's only then, as Arati's conservative mother and Ghosh's clearly gay ad agency executive are thrown together to work out their shared grief, that the film finally gets down to business. Using occasional soundtrack songs to expand on the underlying tone of sadness, the movie is at its best when the three lead characters share memories of the young man they all loved in various ways: his bright, optimistic voice is heard on the soundtrack in letters that strikingly contrast with the melancholy of the present.
Where the script falls down is when it tries to dissect issues of gay "acceptance": the dialogue here seems arch and old-fashioned, and hardly natural in such intimate conversations. Arati, however, is generally very good, and develops a chemistry with Ghosh (who began his career in the ad business) that even makes his overplayed role as the son's older, mincing lover seem valid in some scenes. As the young female colleague who confesses she once had a crush on the son, Raima Sen is notable, moving easily between caring and media-type no-nonsense.
THE JAPANESE WIFE >The Japanese Wife is about a long-distance marriage between two introverts
Directed by APARNA SEN / India, 2009, 105 min, NY Premiere. English, Bengali, and Japanese (with English subtitles) @Saturday, November 13 @ 6:00 PM @ SVA Beatrice Theatre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl139sXacbU
Synopsis
A delicate – and improbable love story about three gentle and shy souls. Snehamoy, a school teacher in the beautiful Sunderbans, writes letters to Miyage, a sweet shy Japanese girl in Yokohama. Over these letters, they fall in love and get married despite having never met. Sandhya, a widow, takes refuge in Snehamoy’s home and is soon always by his side, bringing a piquant twist to this home in the Sunderbans, and the love between Snehamoy and Miyage. Will Sandhya find her solace with Snehamoy? Or will life finally unite Snehamoy and Miyage?
Director Aparna Sen:
Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Indian filmmaker, writer, and actress. She has won three National Film Awards and eight international Festival Awards. Sen made her debut as a film director with 36 Chowringhee Lane – a film about an aged Anglo-Indian teacher living in Calcutta. She has made films such as Paroma (1981), Sati (1989)mYugant (1995) which examined the feminine condition in modern-day India. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002) was a love story set against the harsh backdrop of Hindu-Muslim communal violence in India, and won National Awards for Both Sen and her daughter KonkonaSen Sharma. AparnaSen is a resident of Kolkata, India.
Cast : Rahul Bose, Raima Sen, Chigasu Takaku, Mousumi Chatterjee, Rudranil Ghosh
>Aparna Sen’s Japanese Wife, based on the novel of the same name by Kunal Basu, is the most offbeat love triangle one can hope to come across.
The film is being shot in English though there will also be a smattering of Bangla and Japanese because of the international canvas of the film. Rahul however, does not agree with the love theory. "Where do you find love in Snehamoy’s life, tell me? You need a woman to fall in love with. Snehamoy has her mashi hovering around him. He has his pen friend Miyagi, a girl he has never met, in far away Japan. He has this continuous correspondence with Miyagi. And there is this marriage conducted only via letters. Where is the love you are looking for in all this? I love to work under the directorial baton of Aparna. I get totally involved in whatever I am doing at any given moment, be it rugby or my welfare work with the poor children of Andamans. Snehamoy, on the other hand, is an escapist. He is not even prepared to fight life’s battles. He is aware of the rat race across the river on the other side. He feels safer on this side, the Sundarbans." He concedes that Snehamoy is the most complex character he has played in his career. "My choice of Rahul for three of my films in a row is because I can deconstruct him completely and mould him differently in any which way I can. Few actors have this kind of malleability. According to me, this is purely a love story from beginning to end because there is no ideological agenda or political baggage I am carrying, like there was in Parama, Sati and Mr & Mrs Iyer. The character Raima is portraying, that of a young village widow, is the quiet type, silent and sad most of the time. Raima has done an excellent job," says Aparna.
With MR. AND MRS. IYER, when Aparna Sen made it, she unraveled a pair of sensitive actors in the form of Rahul Bose and Konkona Sen Sharma and with THE JAPANESE WIFE she has once again confirmed that Rahul Bose is indeed one of the fine actors whose talent needs to be exploited in a much better manner.
In the melee of commercial films that are being released THE JAPANESE WIFE comes as a breathe of fresh air, as it harks back to the old world romance and commitments of the lifetime, based on trigger of an emotion that evolved on account of the series of letters that were exchanged between an Indian male and a Japanese lady.
THE JAPANESE WIFE is a film that would appeal to the international audience as well, as it has got a deluxe feeling to it. It is worth pointing out on this occasion that letter writing as a genre has been one of the favorite subjects of the Hindi film industry, and scores of films and songs have been composed eulogizing the virtues of the written word.
Now that THE JAPANESE WIFE has rekindled the romance and passion associated with the written word on a piece of paper, it is only hoped that more such freshness to approach would be adopted by the Indian film makers to weave a miasma of charm around the written word. After all, an SMS stored in a handset is not able to evoke any nostalgia that a forgotten letter in the book, found again does.
Sen crafts her tale well. The lush visuals and overpowering landscape become characters in their own right. Then there are some standout whimsical moments. Some underlined with a genteel humour, like Miyage sending a Polaroid camera to Snehamoy with the rider that she couldn’t find a Bengali manual for it in Japan. Or the rousing sequence when Japanese kites are flown high in the Bengal skies by Snehamoy, as if to show how far his love can fly. However, these quixotic touches are not knit together well; the narrative lacks fluidity and moves in fits and spurts. The stilted dialogues and rehearsed accents are a let-down.
Some of the characters on the side are more real and interesting, be it the caustic aunt (Moushumi’s flashy reappearance) or the quaint ayurvedic medicine man. Things do suddenly light up when Sandhya (the Bengali girl Snehamoy refused to marry) comes back as a widow to stay in his house. It’s their relationship, fuelled initially on some stolen glances, that feels far more beguiling than the cross-country marriage. You can see how it’s growing to take a meaning and significance of its own. Especially endearing is the scene where Sandhya shifts some of the dishes from her lunch plate to that of Snehamoy’s. She does it with an easy sense of ownership and possessiveness of a woman in love. It’s this real relationship, constantly kept in denial, that has far more possibilities than the mundane and dull one unfolding through the letters. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get the cinematic exploration it deserves. Nor does Raima, who is simple, self-assured but luminous as Sandhya.
A premise like this doesn't quite promise much entertainment in the offing. However, for a regular moviegoer, the least which is expected is a dramatic enhancement to the narrative to keep his attention on screen for those 2 hours. However, the film doesn't keep the same momentum from start to finish and also turns overtly depressing towards the latter part that keeps you longing for that sunshine. Nothing wrong with the subject or the treatment here; after all this is how Aparna Sen wanted to bring fore the tale of her protagonists.
Thankfully, if one leaves the entertainment quotient of the film aside, what one carries home is Rahul Bose. He is excellent as a character which doesn't have any qualms admitting his struggle with the English language. Chigusa is decent though she doesn't get much scope to perform since the film is primarily told from Rahul's point of view. Raima is okay as a silent suffering widow whose heart pines for Rahul. Comparitively Moushmi Chatterjee, as Bose's aunt, brings light on screen every time she appears. As a forward thinking woman who encourages child education, widow remarriage and long distance marital relationship, she makes one wonder why is she is not seen on the big screen more often.
Regarding those who wish to watch a film from the artistic standpoint, then well, the sad truth is that number of such people is abysmally low. So another question is - 'Why to make a film which has extremely limited audience? Is it only to satisfy the artistic urge in you as a film maker? In that case, why not have a direct to DVD release because theatrically (especially with the kind of marketing effort that has gone into the film) THE JAPANESE WIFE doesn't come with any scope whatsoever.
Aparna Sen’s adaptation of the Kunal Basu story is engaging and emotive only in parts and not profound enough to linger on in your mind.
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