Rajkahini

The first half was not quite up to the mark but it picked up steam in the second and the climax pretty well made up for it. Rituparna's acting did not look quite natural to begin with (she seemed to try too hard to get into that role), but came into her own as the movie progressed. The discourse between the two protagonists from the two principal political parties of both sides, namely Saswata and Koushik, looked over-dramatized at the beginning but their chemistry as well as the whole story started to get a foothold on to the audience mind as things progressed. Another minor glitch was the scene involving Radcliffe, which though a short but a major one in terms of backdrop of the movie. The acting looked amateurish there, a foreign proper actor could have been used in that role. Jishu stood out for me with his never seen before image but the grandma's portrayal seemed flawed again as she looked more like a normal household grandma than one in a brothel. The lesser known facts on partition were touched upon in adequate measure and the image of the society and its attitude towards these women who seemed like having no role or place in it other than being a few bodily commodities were portrayed uninhibitedly. The use of the unused part of the Tagore song in our national anthem was excellent to end with though. Apart from these few issues, the movie was truly hard hitting and a thought provoking one. It gets a 6/10 for the first half and 8/10 for the second from me, overall a 7/10!