Picture copyrights: Eros International
Picture source: Youtube.com

Venue: PVR – MGF Metropolitan Mall, Gurgaon
Date: 2 June 2016

About the film

It’s been a while since a Bengali film had a worldwide release.  The much publicised Bengali cinema Praktan (meaning “former”, or as we now say “ex”) by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee has shows in Delhi / Gurgaon / Noida. Tollywood, the common parlance for the Bengali film industry, had churned out various potboilers with the stars Prosenjit Chatterjee and Rituparna Senngupta. They were last seen together on screen in the year 2001. After a hiatus of 15 years, they have come together in this film. The trailers and the songs were doing the rounds for a while and evoked a lot of excitement  in the circles.

When we reached PVR last evening to watch Praktan, it was as if a Vijayadashami get-together and the buzz was predominantly in Bangla. The auditorium was more than 80% occupied, which, in our experience is uncommon for a week evening. The film ran for a duration of 2 ½ hours counting the interval of 10 minutes.

What we liked:

a. The train journey from Mumbai to Kolkata was metaphorically moving. The audience travelled with the train.
b. The music – the songs were awesome. We are humming some of them even now. The Antakshari sequence refreshed our memories about many gems in Bangla and Hindi music.
c. The depiction of the Calcutta heritage would make anyone with a Kolkata hangover nostalgic.
d. The first half managed to set the bar and there was no dull moment.
e. English subtitles allowed a wider audience to enjoy the film.
f. Drawing from the last point, the film does have a global appeal. There is very little digging into Bengali nuances and traditions. An audience from anywhere in the world can connect to the film.
g. The film ended with some snivelling audience, gender notwithstanding. It created a connect.

What could have been better:

a. The story. There was hardly a plot that merited 2 ½ hours of screen time. The second half of the movie needed editing. Plus the long songs, while pleasant listening, took their toll on the film.
b. The directors did not seem convinced about the plot. Hence they introduced many extra characters who were hardly connected with the story or were developed in the course of the film.
c. It was a pleasure listening to the renditions of the singers Anupam, Anindya, Surojit and Upal. But there is no explanation as to why such busy musicians in cameo roles would embark on a two night long train journey and not fly from Mumbai to Kolkata. If it is for the love of train journey, which is plausible, that did not come out.
d. Wasting the talent of Soumitra Chatterjee in any odd film is a bad habit with recent films.
e. Rituparna’s stylist may have an axe to grind. We can’t think of any other reason for such atrocious hairdos with outdated locks and bangs on her in the flashback parts.

One other issue that worked against the directors is their earlier success Belasheshe. Belasheshe was an excellent film and they had set the bar up there. This time round, the comparison is inevitable and Praktan sadly doesn’t match up.

This film is still playing in the theatres and we have refrained from revealing spoilers. Praktan – the latest Tollywood kid on the block is an enjoyable package and worth a watch.