Calcutta Chromosome

Search This Blog

The Bollywood Pocketbooks: Now in Stores!

on January 26, 2022

Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Details here.

Available here.

Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Comments

চিত্রনাট্য ও সংলাপ

In my earlier post on Hindi movie dialogues, a perceptive commenter asked about my favourite dialogue from Bengali films and put me in a quandary. The Bengali films I have watched all my life are not the coin-throwing, whistle-blowing, jumping-in-the-aisles variety. I have steadfastly avoided Posenjit and seen the star only as Prasenjit Chattopadhyay. In fact, I wrote a post on masala Bengali dialogues – mildly poking fun at them. But when I thought about it, there were so many lines that have come to me and score highly on the parameters of Performance, Immediate Impact and Repeat Value that I had to excise mercilessly to keep the list down to a small number (11). So, here is a list – in no particular order (except the last one) – of my favourite dialogues from Bengali films. I have given a bit of context and avoided translation. Why? Say the words “But I have mother” and you’ll realize why. Unt ki knata bechhey khai? – Shonar Kella Every line which Lalmohan Gang

Baikuntha Mallick: Poetry in Obscurity

Non-Bengali readers should please excuse this nostalgic outpourings of a bunch of non-resident Bengalis about their favourite fictional thriller writer and his favourite poet! Normal programming will resume soon. Enthused by the tremendous response to my yesterday's post, I dug out my Feluda novels and quickly transliterated the Complete Recorded Works (or as much as I can remember!) of Baikuntha Mallick of Athenium Institution. His biggest fan, Lalmohan Ganguly, recites his works at every conceivable occasion and location and even argues any attempts to find faults with Mr Mallick's works. Given the wide range of situations he has poems for, Mr Mallick's prolificity cannot be debated though the same cannot be said for his poetic talent. Lalmohanbabu, despite his low-brow literary output, is not only a 'connoisseur' of poetry but the subject of poetry himself! Feluda himself has composed a couple of poems - one a riddle couplet and the other a limerick in Ja

Random Movies I Like: Dance Dance

I have done film posts in two different formats: one is a detailed analysis (!) of films of a certain period/genre/theme, usually running into several thousand words. And the second is a quick take on a film, remembering bits and pieces of it. This post started under the second format and somehow in the course of writing it, it sneaked into the first format. Pointless - check. Rambling - check. Avoidable - check. Story 1 : A boy's parents are killed by an evil rajah. The boy grows up and takes revenge. Story 2 : An elder sister helps her little brother become successful. When she dies, the brother is shattered. However, he comes back to regain his success. Story 3 : An extremely talented musical group rises from rags to riches. In-fighting causes them to split. They eventually unite for one final hurrah. These three stories have been repeated infinite times in the history of Bollywood. And really, there is no novelty in them anymore. The film in discussion - Dance Dance - stand

Powered by Blogger