Parineeta

I really find this a heart-warming romantic film. The coy-and-quiet romance between Shekar (Soumitro Chaterjee) and Lolita (Moushumi Chaterjee) in the film reaches a level rarely reached in the Bengali and Indian cinemas. The Ajay Kar directed film was based on a story by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Sarat Chattopadhyay excelled at exploring nuanced relationships in families bonded by ties or by blood. He has done this in his novels like NISHKRITI (made into a Hindi film APNE PARAYE by Basu Chaterjee) & PARINEETA among others. The author also voices his opposition to orthodox beliefs in Hinduism and often pits his characters in Brahmanical-Brahmo conflict.

The film has good all round performances and stalwarts like Bikash Roy, Chaya Devi & Kamal Mitra delivers as usual. Soumitro and Moushumi are terrific. Samit Bhanja in a supporting role of a Brahmo and a potential suitor of Lolita is likable.

Rating: 4 out of 5