Tuesday 4 January 2011

Arekti Premer Galpo (Just Another Love Story) [2010]


Kaushik Ganguly’s Arekti Premer Galpo had stirred up a fair amount of controversy prior to its release because of its subject matter. Though a lot of people might have watched it more out of curiosity, I was genuinely surprised as it has turned out to be a brilliant film. And with acclaimed Bengali auteur Rituparno Ghosh making his debut as an actor, it wasn’t surprising to note a fair bit of his touch (the fact that he served as the film’s “creative director” confirmed my suspicions). The film has two parallel storylines. In one, a gay filmmaker Abhiroop Sen, known as much for his films as he is for his outrageous dressing style, and in an emotionally charged but clandestine relationship with his married DOP, is making a reveal-all documentary on Chapal Bhaduri (who has starred as himself), the first openly gay and cross-dressing theatre (“jatra”) actor of Bengal. The second, a film within a film of sorts, is a fictionalization of Chapal’s past life. In an interesting decision by the director, most of the actors have done dual roles. Rituparno Ghosh as the filmmaker and as Chapal’s younger persona, has given powerhouse performances in each of the roles. Even Indraneil Sengupta, as the gay lover in both the storylines, is excellent. The film also boasts of a string of wonderful turns by Churni Ganguly, Jishu Sengupta and Raima Sen in various roles in both the stories. The film has been enormously aided by exceptional cinematography, lilting background score and a terrific script. Sensitive, restrained, mesmerizing, and emotionally captivating, the film is worth savouring, and by the time it ends, the "love stories" remain anything but “just another”.








Director: Kaushik Ganguly
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Romance/Biopic/Showbiz Drama
Language: Bengali
Country: India

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

just watched it.... yet another milestone in brilliant bengali cinema! must watch!

Shubhajit said...

Yeah, absolutely... By the way, where are you from?

Anonymous said...

Seems to be a great movie after 'Memories of March', but can't find a DVD. When will it be available ?

Shubhajit said...

Yeah, its a great movie alright (in fact I liked it more than Memories of March). However I'm not very sure if it has got a dvd release. I'll find out and post in this thread the status.

Anonymous said...

Oh Sure ! I shall eagerly wait for the DVD. In a Kolkata daily found that it was restricted to be shown at Nandan, God knows why !

Even at Supreme Court the Central Govt. has shown double standart, again, God knows why !

May God help them to accept !

And us to enjoy great movies !

Shall eagerly wait for your status update.

Anonymous said...

That means it is really not available in DVD, itn't it so ?

Shubhajit said...

Yes, I think its dvd has not been released yet for some reason. The next time I go to some dvd store I'll check it out.

Anonymous said...

Oh Sure ! I will eagerly wait !

Anonymous said...

any download link.....

Shubhajit said...

Its DVD hasn't yet been released, so I guess there wouldn't exist any download links of it either. I was fortunate to have watched it in theatre when it had released.

Anonymous said...

Wow ! The subtlety of expressions with a terrific script make you choke . Thanks once again dear Ritu and company for an invaluable contribution to cinema and society.