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The Bollywood Pocketbooks: Now in Stores!

on January 26, 2022

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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

Rabindra Sangeet in Cinema

I had been toying with the idea of this post for some time and the demise of Suchitra Mitra was the sad - but appropriate - trigger that forced me write it down. Having spent a lot of time out of Calcutta, I found that Rabindra Sangeet is by and large considered as the mandatory art form to be perfected by Bengali women (and displayed when prospective grooms come calling) that is also to be accompanied by Bengali men on the tabla. It is also considered slightly soporific, slightly maudlin and therefore, slightly boring. To correct - or more accurately, try to correct - this notion, I thought I will put down a list of my favourite Tagore songs as depicted on film. This is not pristine Rabindra Sangeet but interpretations by filmmakers from different genres and brought to life on screen by extremely charismatic actors. Kharo bayu boi bege - Kabuliwala The first on the list is also my earliest memory of a Rabindrasangeet on screen. Chhabi Biswas - in the title role - sees his dau

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