g_aparna

Byomkesh Gowtro - Bengali Film Review

First of all - kudos to Mr. Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay for writing Rakter Daag - which means 'tarnished blood'. The film is based on the story of Rakter Daag. He has shown the importance of purity and chastity among both men and women...or else you lead a life full of miseries! The couple were rich and very well off...yet they hardly got any moment of happiness in their lives....such is the life in absence of moral values!! So there is this rich businessman who has a huge bungalow in a hill station - Mussoorie. He has a daughter who is very flirtatious and adventurous (basically immoral) and likes to sleep around with random men - whoever catches her fancy kinds! Because the film story dates back to 1960's, the usage of condoms or the availability of condoms were rare and so was unwanted pregnancy termination tablets - not very easily available! Thus the daughter becomes pregnant and she cannot tell who the father was...she was after all having an affair with many.....so in absence of sophisticated DNA tests etc...the male who made her pregnant went scot free! The father now had to look for a suitable groom immediately for his daughter or else people around would start blabbering about a child being born out of wedlock (awww...kuch to log kahenge - we are born to blabber you see)- as if people were not already talking about her flirtatious and shamelessly sleeping around nature!! As it happened - still happens in fact, the father finds a bright but poor employee in his organisation and asks him to marry her. The poor employee was very happy at the proposal and the fact that he became rich overnight! But all his excitement doused down on the 1st night itself! He found the wife was pregnant from beforehand.....and she could not even tell the name of the father...like had it been a case of jilted love story - poor innocent lady deeply in love - let the lover explore her more deeply - got pregnant and then was kicked on the butt by the lover - still understandable.....but here she could not tell the name of the male who had impregnated her....as she was dating random males at the same time - this her husband could not tolerate and thus the marriage never consummates! Son is born after 4 months of marriage. Son grows in a loveless environment. Well, whether the mother invited random males to her house - since she was not having any relationship with her husband - has not been shown in the film! Apparently, she decides to become a sati-savitri (epitome of chastity) after child birth - so the ex-sex-starved and incorrigibly flirtatious female gets busy learning classical music and did riyaas (practice) all day long.....quite a pandemonium she created in the otherwise quiet house! Son grows up and becomes 20 years old...when someone tells him that his father - who loiters around in his house and who he has been addressing as father since his birth...is not actually his father! He asks his mother about it and realizes that his mom had been an incorrigible flirt in her youth and he was born out of some random male she slept with one fine night...or maybe 2-3 fine nights - who knows! The son then decides to carry on with what his mother left after marriage.....become an incorrigible flirt himself and make the lives of men around (fathers, brothers, lovers, husbands) - absolutely miserable...by flirting and convincing the females of different families to sleep with him!! Wow! Like mother, like son......and like many other sex-starved flirtatious girls in the locality. Refugee status: One more thing has been shown here - the fact that poor refugees are made to do all dirty works by people with money and power. Because couple of refugees were given shelter in the house, they were exploited by the babus of the house....they had no option also I guess....for the empty stomach without a shelter on top - they have to compromise with sheer idiocy! And these missionaries who convert people to Christianity! The female who is given shelter by the missionary people is a night club cabaret dancer!!?? How did she gain by being associated with the missionaries or Chcristianity when eventually she had to perform in front of sleazy sex starved alcoholic loser pigs at night?! By the way, the flirtatious fellow gets murdered...who killed him is solved by detective Byomkesh.

Andhadhun Film tells us a lot about the society and things that go on around us! They are as follows: What is the usual ulterior motive of a young female to marry someone double her age? Aged males should try to age more gracefully and not drool at girls as young as their grand daughters! They are mocked by majority and will surely be betrayed by the opportunist young female who lures such dullards by behaving sassily with them. Beware of celebrity husbands! They can bore you to death by their constant need of appreciation and accolade! You can be a doting wife...but if your husband finds a sexier, sassier female with zero scruples to screw around with - he will jump for it. Possessive doting wives can be very dangerous if they find out their husband's infidelity.... Don't expect any compassion from poor people who have been brought up in dire poverty - give a fraction of a chance, they will readily kill you for some money. Even if you decide to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to your surroundings....you will still be dragged into all the nonsense that is going on around you! What is the usual ulterior motive of a young female to marry someone double her age? Money of course. You will never hear a young female falling for a retired clerk drawing a measly pension ! It is always some rich, esp. celebrity kind of creepy male who wants to show around that his libido is still intact and females as young as his grand daughters are attracted towards him! Clever females from greedy and shameless family backgrounds trap such dull males and feed their ego..and pretend to be very happy with them. Obviously no young girl in her senses will like some ramshackle toothless bloke jumping on bed with her - after consuming Viagra - so what they do is, they keep some young virile gigolos to take care of her sexual needs! So money comes from the old hag and fun comes from the gigolo! Wow womania....this is celebrated among greedy pig families ! Well folks, honestly I do not want to elaborate on the other points I have written - since the movie got released just day before yesterday...I can't reveal the end - nor the plot....better go and watch the film...it is a hilarious thriller! Enjoy.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Once in friendzone, always in friendzone - film defies this statement.

Three childhood friends grow up together in the same locality, in the same school, in the same class. Two boys one girl.

(PS: Usually in India, when children grow up together - esp. in the same neighbourhood and parents also happen to be friends, such children land up becoming brothers and sisters because we Indians celebrate festivals like Bhai Dooj and Rakhi that keeps alive the purity of the brother sister relationship. Anyways, no such things take place in this film)

So they turn into adults. They are often seen hanging around and hugging around too.

(It is alright to be friends with boys - okay till a hand shake and a very light hug too perhaps. Happens in India and around the world. There are many who take the light hug very casually too - but many Indians do object to girls hugging boys and calling it a friendly hug. Though it can actually be a purely friendly hug - but it is quite an eye sore for many Indians. Even I feel that bodily distance should be maintained - one may talk about lot many topics but physical touch should be avoided.)

Both the boys, now men, secretly loved their girl friend - the friend who happened to be a girl i.e.- and desired to marry her as well!

(Do you now see why I gave such an elaborate description of maintaining safe distance from men in the previous paragraph? While the girl was giving them both a friendly hug, both men kept the intention to marry her!- Meaning? Meaning the supposedly friendly hug was not really a 'purely friendly' hug but had an element of 'desire, sensuality, love, lust' in it - at least from the side of her boy friends!)

So they ask her to date them for one week each in order for her to decide who would be a better life partner.

Sushil is a laywer who dupes people and earns money by settling 'out of court' disputes created by him.

Sundar has a printing press office of his own that he is trying hard to establish.

Sushil woos Nauti with expensive gifts, fun filled life, going out and eating is restaurants. (a song here....that says in the era of anti-hero.....: When you getting Gabbar, why go for Samba, When you getting gold, why go for tamba (copper)!!

Sundar woos her by making tea for her, taking her to his office and sharing the tiffin.

Eventually Nauti decides to choose Sundar crusing Sushil's ego into several pieces! Deep sigh - at least some good message this film has for the youth!

By the way, film tells the story of inflated electricity bills in rural India and how simpletons are taken for a ride.