Pratim D gupta didn't do a great work here... I gave this rating only for a new idea... because new ideas are becoming rare in bengali film industry....
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Paoli dam is in full grace... she acted soulfully ... but Ritwick was not in his full form... South indian touch was good... movie could go lot far but it stopped...
9 Reviews
You must watch it if you are a Ritwick fan
samuisuman9 June 2020
Shantilal - A reporter of a Bengali daily - weather reporter. His daily routine is to get up in the morning and go to the office, call the meteorological office and then fill half a column of the newspaper allotted to him. The news does not have its own name but sometimes the story is according to the needs of the editor. At first, Shantilal's conscience was in question but now he is quite used to it . Now He understands that the newspapers don't have any real news. Every news article is nothing but a biased story. So weather report is not also excluded from that. His charmless mundane life becomes a big problem of his life. Suddenly he found something very interesting which may uncover some hidden truth of past. Just like every other journalist, he was about to get into the trap of making a story which will be eventually biased because he doesn't know the other side of the story. He rectifies himself and refrain himself from doing that mistake.
Of a conflict between conscience and career aspirations
msunando6 June 2020
Shantilal (Ritwick Chakraborty) has been working for a newspaper's weather beat for 9 long years. Frustrated and cynical, he envies the younger crop's fanciful careers covering Page 3, their glamorous and modern lifestyle, whilst he routinely returns home late and entertains himself with watching pornographic DVDs. During one such session, he is intrigued by a woman porn actor whose face looks like that of an obese middle aged woman, and her comparatively younger torso bears the tattoo of a butterfly. Then as if coincidentally, one evening at a movie premiere at a cinema theatre he gets to see a similar tattoo. But mysteriously, it adorns the body of Nandita (Paoli Dam), a successful, A-list Bengali film actress now aspiring to foray into politics with the ambition of fighting back patriarchal attitudes and misogyny. Shanti decides to pursue the mysterious case with the sole objective of breaking his humdrum existence, possibly with a scoop that will shake up the industry and win him reward and recognition. His investigation takes him to Chennai first and then to Singapore, and what he learns is both mind blowing and explosive - his dreams are about to come true, so what if it is at the cost of Nandita's future.
The film is about the choice Shantilal has to make after weighing Nandita's past, her future and his own conscience. It upholds empathy and humanity above selfish career aspirations, keeping the dignity intact. Ritwick is top notch, as usual. His common man, casual approach is a grounded rendition of real life. Well nuanced and natural, he is a pleasure to watch. Paoli Dam has a smaller role, but she does justice as a glamorous yet conscientious individual with a transformational agenda. The run time of 101 minutes keeps the film crisp, fast paced and focused, albeit the climax is somewhat abrupt.
The film is about the choice Shantilal has to make after weighing Nandita's past, her future and his own conscience. It upholds empathy and humanity above selfish career aspirations, keeping the dignity intact. Ritwick is top notch, as usual. His common man, casual approach is a grounded rendition of real life. Well nuanced and natural, he is a pleasure to watch. Paoli Dam has a smaller role, but she does justice as a glamorous yet conscientious individual with a transformational agenda. The run time of 101 minutes keeps the film crisp, fast paced and focused, albeit the climax is somewhat abrupt.
Terrific Bengali film
callmejavedroy16 August 2019
As promised, the movie is a thriller, where we see an ordinary person eventually turning into a detective decoding one clue after another. The movie has an engaging plot and a refreshing approach to the story. The brilliant performances by Ritwick Chakraborty and Paoli Dam are cherry on the top. The movie doesn't have several plots or characters. Ritwick alone carries the story on his shoulder while Paoli's character Nandita, a top actress ready to venture into politics adds mystery and thrill to it. Ambarish Bhattacharya and Goutam Ghose did justice to their roles. Pratim D. Gupta deserves praising for his smart direction. He took a simple plot and served it with immense care. The director fixed all the holes that the story had and kept it as much compact as it can be. The dramatic unfolding of the movie can keep the audience hooked to the screen. All the credits go to the filmmaker only. Cinematographer Subhankar Bhar and editor Subhajit Singha deserve the special mention.
Worst movie
souvikool29 August 2019
Not Bad
pijuspanda5 June 2020
Copied plot
kaushik-mohanta2 August 2020
Apart from Rittwik, nobody shined in the acting. As far as the storyline is concerned, it seemed to me that the initial half of the story is copied from a Bangladeshi film called Piprabidya(Ant Story), by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, released in 2013.
Mature storytelling
iamshrutimohan30 August 2019
Regional cinema is so much better these days than the kinf of big Bollywood films we have every Friday. Loved this film about a common man doing an exceptional discovery. It's got this very mature ending about human relationships that needs to be seen to believed. Much evolved than the kind of rubbish we have around us. The two actors in the lead were excellent and the background music so good. Hope to watch ti again.
A masterpiece of storytelling!
ziggaziggaah19 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is a MASTERPIECE. Pratim D Gupta is a masterful storyteller with IMMENSE ability in crafting a story, and it shows. I won't say too much about it except that you NEED to see this movie.
There *are* flaws in the storyline, such as - it's not clear exactly WHY he ducks into the toilet in the beginning where he sees Paoli's tattoo, and the woman in Singapore gives him a pat-down but doesn't seem to be too curious about who he is or why he's there; and the irony of a guy WHO ACTUALLY WATCHES PORN HIMSELF doing an expose on the porn industry cannot be overstated. The fundamental *premise* also seems to be a bit flawed, as *I*, for one, would definitely still buy a Paoli cinema ticket even if I knew she was a porn star - such as Sunny Leone HAS ALREADY DONE! (Incidentally Sylvester Stallone also got the start to his career doing porn - doesn't appear to have done HIM too much harm!) This hypocrisy surrounding porn needs to be REMOVED. But I realise I may be in the minority with this, especially here in Kolkata.
But these are minor quibbles.
At the hear of it, this is the story of ONE MAN'S PRINCIPLES and ONE WOMAN'S QUEST FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS. And in this area, it shines supreme. A footnote - as a confirmed web guy, I have to ask - Pratim, how is web journalism different from print journalism? It still works exactly the same, the same investigations are required, just that the headline APPEARS a little differently - with much more *reach*, too. So why the blurb at the end about this?
Anyway, with movies like these, Tollywood is etching it's place in movie history. Hollywood ran out of stories a loooooong time ago. Now, a second contender has arrived to take it's place. No big-budgets/exotic locales/explosive CGI (though hopefully these things are coming, too - like THIS one goes to Singapore :) ),....but The STORIES Of The Century! I've never loved the story of "the underdog coming of age and becoming the hero" like this :) Pratim D Gupta, take a bow. It's people like you who are going to do it (all the more amazing because a movie so specifically about *women* is written by a man! Amazing!).
But these are minor quibbles.
At the hear of it, this is the story of ONE MAN'S PRINCIPLES and ONE WOMAN'S QUEST FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS. And in this area, it shines supreme. A footnote - as a confirmed web guy, I have to ask - Pratim, how is web journalism different from print journalism? It still works exactly the same, the same investigations are required, just that the headline APPEARS a little differently - with much more *reach*, too. So why the blurb at the end about this?
Anyway, with movies like these, Tollywood is etching it's place in movie history. Hollywood ran out of stories a loooooong time ago. Now, a second contender has arrived to take it's place. No big-budgets/exotic locales/explosive CGI (though hopefully these things are coming, too - like THIS one goes to Singapore :) ),....but The STORIES Of The Century! I've never loved the story of "the underdog coming of age and becoming the hero" like this :) Pratim D Gupta, take a bow. It's people like you who are going to do it (all the more amazing because a movie so specifically about *women* is written by a man! Amazing!).
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