Showing posts with label Chaya Debi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chaya Debi. Show all posts

Review of Tapan Sinha's Golpo Holeo Satti.




Review of Tapan Sinha’s Golpo Holeo Sotti.

Tapan Sinha used to be considered a legendary story-teller after Satyajit Ray in the 50s and 60s. His films were related to classic literature of giant novelists. His casting was flawless. He chose actors and actresses who suited the respective role and he was an inspiration for all the directors of India.

Golpo Holeo Sotti was released in 1966, with the message given by human conscience that work was God. Idle life led to disaster. Robi Ghosh played the role of that human conscience. He worked in as servant in a joint family, where Prashad Mukherjee was the elder brother with Chaya Debi, his wife. The second brother and his wife were dead and they left a daughter who stayed in that house. Bankim Ghosh was the third brother with his wife Bharati Debi. Bhanu Banerjee the youngest brother did not marry. Besides Ajoy Ganguly and his wife was the third generation. Prashad Mukherjee’s old father was alive.

Before Robi Ghosh arrived in their house, none of the other servants stuck in their house. Chaya Debi and Bharati Debi failed to do the domestic work, while the brothers Prashad Mukherjee, Bankim Ghosh, Bhanu Banerjee, etc., did none of the household work after they returned from office. Robi Ghosh joined as a cook and taught the women of the house different varieties of dishes. He even negotiated between Partho Mukherjee, a next door neighbor who loved the daughter of the second son. He took the grandfather for morning walk.

More importantly Robi Ghosh united the brothers who were envious about one another. He taught the small son of Bankim Ghosh the song “sukh bole” which meant once this life ends no one can get back their life, so human beings should make the best use of their lives. Robi Ghosh helped the thrives gang of Chinmoy Roy to steal the trunk in the house full of money. Then he asked Partho Mukherjee to return that trunk back to the old man and the family members so that they could get impressed and ask him to marry the second son’s daughter.

The theme music used by Tapan Sinha in the film was extraordinary. All the actors and actresses of the film performed to their limit. Tapan Sinha’s script and camera work were brilliant. Hrishikesh Mukherjee made the hindi version of the film with the title Bawarchi. Although the film where Rajesh Khanna converted it into a romantic film got box-office success, the film reached nowhere near Golpo Holeo Satti in story-telling, acting performance and intellectual treatment.

Tapan Sinha’s Golpo Holeo Satti should be restored for filmic accomplishments.

Review of Uttam- Suchitra's Bipasha.


Review of Uttam – Suchitra’s Bipasha.

Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen are considered to be the greatest romantic pair that ever graced Indian silver screen. They acted in 30 films together and most of their films ended up being cine-classics. Bipasha was released in 1962 and did fantastic business.

It was a film directed by Agradoot where Robin Chatterji composed the music. Suchitra Sen was named Beas (Bipasha in Bengali) as she was born near river Beas. She lost her parents during riots occurring at the time of partition in 1947. She was saved by Kamal Mitra, a divine soul near Sialkot and reached to relief camp in New Delhi. She studied there and got a job in tribal welfare in Panchet in Bihar.

Uttam Kumar was an engineer who worked in Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) projects. Both Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar met each other and entered into an affair. Suchitra Sen gave able lips in Sandhya Mukherjee’s song “aami sapne tomay dekhechi”. When Uttam Kumar wanted to marry Suchitra Sen, he got a letter from his maternal uncle played by Nitish Mukherjee saying that he was illegitimate son of his mother Chaya Debi.

Uttam Kumar went to Allahabad to find his mother and in her absence attempted to commit suicide. Chabi Biswas, a sanyasi there saved him. He wrote a letter saying that Uttam Kumar (Dibyendu Chatterji) was the son of Saradindu Chatterji (Chabi Biswas). Chaya Debi (his wife) gave birth to him before her marriage. Chabi Biswas went abroad and married another foreign girl. The foreigner filed a suit against Chabi Biswas after she knew that he was already married to Chaya Debi. Their Chaya Debi gave false testimony saying that she was not married to Chabi Biswas, to save her husband. Uttam Kumar came to be known as illegitimate son from that time. After that Chabi Biswas gave the contact details of Chaya Debi. Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen found her and film ended there.

The powerful story was given adequate expression by compassionate performance of legendary actor Chabi Biswas. Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen’s romantic performance just improved from film to film and viewers started thinking that both of them were husband and wife.

It is a pity that Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen did not show their powerful performance in bollywood films, otherwise they would have given very tough competition to Raj Kapoor and Nargis and Dilip Kumar and Vaijayantimala who ruled bollywood industry in the 50s. The film Bipasha should be restored for its aesthetic value.