Reading the annual Puja issues of a few Bengali magazines and came across this absolute gem of an article (in Anandalok) on the dialogues from Bengali potboilers (a large number of them starring Mithun), which have become popular in the last couple of years. It seems Mithun is doing to Bengali cinema today what he was doing to Hindi cinema in the mid-90s… adding commercial value with the touch of what is called B-grade masala!
I will not bother with a translation because nobody on earth can replicate the punch of a Mithun Chakraborty uttering… Hence, non-Bongs will have to excuse!
* In the bhog of Ma.
* Shaaper chhobol aar Cheetar khabol, jekhaney porbey arai kg manghso tuley nebey.
* Agnishwar Ray jekhaney paa rakhey, prothomey shey jaigata gorom hoi. Tarpor agun joley. Shesh hoi chhai diye.
* Marbo ekhaney, lash porbey shmoshaney.
* Fatakeshto khobor dekhena, khobor porena, khobor toiri korey. – both from MLA Fatakeshto (which is a Munnabhai look-alike, about a good-hearted goon becoming a MLA).
* Abhimanyu nag, jal-dhora noi. Jaat gokhro. Ek chhobolei chhobi.
* Public-er maar, Keoratala par.
* Nursery-tey shuru, half pantey guru, full pantey maha guru. (To try and give a context, this is from a film called Mahaguru!)
* Na ticket, na passport, shoja oporey.
* Shuru batam diye, interval-ey hospital, climax-ey chulli – Om shanti. (I never realised that a word like batam would find its way in a mainstream film!)
* Tor chhitkini-tey jong dhorey gechhey. Langcha shukiye bnodey hoye gechhey! (I am not sure of the context but is it REALLY about what I think it is?)
Thrilling!
What I found extremely irritating in the article was the supercilious tone of the author, who was trying to predict the downfall of the Bengali film industry due to the audience’s predilection for these ‘down market’ lines (while accepting that the films were huge successes purely on the basis of the dialogues).
Happily, in the same issue, he also did an in-depth profile on Rakhi Sawant complete with details of her implants and ‘glamourous’ photographs. I hope he realized the wonderful irony!
Comments
Don't bother about the author. These guys do not know what they are missing. The writer must have been treated a nice cup of tea and couple of Marie biscuits by Prasenjeet.
Bengali movie has 3 camps now -
1. Mithun
2. Prasenjeet
3. Rest of the guys (mainly, Jeet etc)
I sooooo want to write a satire on Tollywood.
Btw, wasn't Fatakeshto actually a real MLA? I seem to recall a Kali pujo in North cal which was organized by him.
The last one is particularly uniquely bengali! No other race could use sweets as such devastating metaphors...
lolzzz.......
I guess there should be a John Stewart show entirely on Mithun:P
The last one is a masterpiece of allegorical literature in Bangla Cinema.