Antaheen ( The endless wait) - 2009

Antaheen is the second directorial venture of Aniruddha Roy Choudhury and goes to reassure that quality bengali cinema is very much alive and thriving.  

Antaheen is a lovely romantic movie with super sensitive moments that can thaw a frozen heart. There is no melodrama, no over exaggeration and yet it leave you with yearning for something....

Avik Chowdhury ( Rahul Bose) is an IPS officer based in Calcutta.  He is a macho, upright and a honest cop. But at the same time he is sensitive and romantic. He lives with his aunt Moni pishi ( Sharmila Tagore).

Avik gets the "break" of his career when he lands up raiding a den of anti socials and confiscates huge cache of arms and ammunition.  

Brinda Roy Menon ( Radhika Apte) is a young hot shot TV journalist ( Barkha Dutt Types) trying desperately to reach out to Avik to get the scoop of the hour. And Avik plays difficult to get.

 

 

In a very surreal coincidence, Avik and Brinda have a parallel and anonymous virtual relationship.They eagerly wait to chat with each other.

Given their real life circumstance, it was inevitable for them to bump in to each other.  Professionally Brinda chases Avik for an interview and socially they bump into each other at Ranjan ( Kalyan Ray's ) surprise birthday party organized by his wife Paro ( Aparna Sen). In spite of their professional antagonism they are drawn to each other. 

 

Antaheen does not follow a single story line but is an well blended collage of life's happenings depicting various forms of love. There is love in the earnestness with which Avik and Brinda wait to chat with each other, there is love in a the drops of Calcutta rains, there is love in ardently waiting for a stranger's call, there is love between Paro and Ranjan who cannot live without each other nor can live with each other.

 

Rahul Bose was very convincing in his role of the simply romantic Avik and Radhika Apte was like a bubbly breath of fresh air. 

 

Excellent cinematography by Avik Mukhopadyay. The panoramic views of the Calcutta nights, the rain splashing in the window, the mellow lights, earthy artistic interiors added to the romantic aura of the movie.

 

The review will be incomplete without mentioning about  Shantanu Moitra's medodious bestowal to Antaheen. I simply loved the songs - Jao Pakhi Jao and Pherari Mon.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDq0Jq-UNiE 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDq0Jq-UNiE

 

 Verdict :- 8 out of 10. The movie definitely deserved the national award that it got.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Japanese Wife ( 2010)

This movie is based on a short story written by Kunal Basu and made into a movie by the famous Bengali Actress / Director Aparna Sen. “Japanese Wife” is a touching love story, almost surreal in its innocence and depicts the immeasurable strength of love. This is the story of Snehamoy Chatterjee ( Rahul Bose) and Miyagi ( Chigusa Takaku). Shehamoy lives with his Aunt in a remote village of Sunderban in West Bengal. He finds a pen friend in Miyagi who lives in Japan. There remote relationship soon transforms into love for each other and they have a virtual marraige with a promise to meet each other soon. Their mutual love and respect for each other grows over time even though they have never met.Its amazing to see how their relationship thrives in spite of Snehamoy being ridiculed by village community and various other constraints they face.Temptation to succumb for Snehamoy comes in the form of Sandhya ( Raima Sen) the young widow who comes to live with them along with her little boy.

This is a slow movie with each and every emotion prodigiously depicted. The simplicity of the movie and yet the profound statement it makes, takes ones breath away.

Verdict :- 9 out of 10 and a must watch if you like unconventional movies.