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Vivek Oberoi to get Dada Saheb Phalke Film Foundation award

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Vivek Oberoi

Mumbai: Vivek Oberoi who has starred in over 30 films and best known for his powerful portrayals in hits like Company, Saathiya, Masti, Omkara, Grand Masti and Krrish 3 among others was chosen for the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award, the highest official recognition for film personalities in India.

The actor who’s also known for his social causes was pleased to learn that the honourable jury members have unanimously decided to confer the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Foundation Phalke Pride award 2015 to him for his excellence, dedication and versatility.

Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor’s name was selected for this year Phalke awards. And industry’s stalwarts like Amitabh Bachchan, Gulzar, Pran, Manna Dey, Dev Anand, Hrishikesh Mukherjee among others in the past. Last year, Jeetendra, Farhan Akhtar, Juhi Chawla, Sunidhi Chauhan and Kapil Sharma won the prestigious award.

Vivek excitedly says, “It’s a huge honour and I’m quite honoured and humbled to receive the award at such an early stage of my career. Thank you for this encouragement so I can keep bettering myself with every piece of work that I do.”

(Agencies)

"Bollywood has seen my varied avatars, now I am all set to be a producer": Dhananjay Galani

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Dhananjay Galani

Dhananjay L. Galani has donned varied avatars since his arrival in Bollywood with starry dreams in his eyes. It was indeed a long journey when he had 1st ended up as an officer in the Anti Piracy Squad. His next stopover, to gain the perfect knowledge of films, was in the distribution & exhibition arena. And finally he did get a chance to be a full-fledged actor when he donned the grease paint and faced the arc lights for the 1st time ever for his good friend namely stand up comedian Sunil Pal’s film ‘Money Back Guaranrtee’. And now he is on Cloud 9 as he is all set to don the mantle of a producer with his as yet untitled venture namely ‘Production No 1’ based on the interesting & the controversial topic of MMS scandal and starring a Ukrainian actress named NATALIYA KOZHENOVA. Present herewith is a recent trelephonic encounter with Dhananjay Galani where he gives the latest update about his illustrious & chequered Bollywoodian career.

Of late you seem to be on Cloud 9! So what’s Up?

“Baat hi kuch aisi hai Shaheen Sir!” Since the last time we had a telephonic chat there has been a latest development in my career. Yes! After donning the varied multifaceted hats I have recently turned a producer. Bollywood has seen my varied avatar’s namely that of an actor, distributor, exhibitor, film promoter, And now I am all set to be a producer”

Go on! You can share your joy with us!

You see till this date I had distributed & exhibited many films under my home production banner Lavlin Films and under the same banner I am now all set to produce my 1st ever film.

And what is your 1st ever film as a producer all about?

My 1st ever film falls into a thriller & suspense genre topped with oodles of glamour & sensousnes. It is all about the pre-planned MMS scandal of innocent girls. A foreigner comes to India and she is lured to make her MMS tape. But the anticlimax is that the foreigner is actually a cop in disguise who has actually & specially come to India to do an expose on the so called MMS scandal. My film is going on the floors early next month. And at present the working title is ‘Production No. 1’.

And which actress have you chosen to perform this challenging role?

I have chosen none other than my favorite actress NATALIYA KOZHENOVA to perform this challenging role. She is a Ukranian actress of Russian origin. She has already done 2 films namely ‘Anjuna Beach’ & ‘Super Model’ and my film will be her hat trick film.

Fine! Now would you like to go a little bit in a flashback mode?

Yeah! That’s fine with me. So just to refresh everyone’s memory I always had this great love for cinema and I also had the desire to act. In Mumbai under the pretext of going for a stroll I often used to land up in filmcity where I got a chance to meet and know many film stars. And then I ended up working for an anti piracy squad named Bharat Copyright Protection and conducted raids in many places of Maharashta & Gujarat and filed a case against many people involved in piracy. Then with the blessings of Anil Nagrath I ended up opening a distribution office and then it was Anil Nagrarth who got me my first film namely Jiten Purohit’s  ‘Deewangi Ne Hadh Kardi’ and then the distribution business started flourishing and since my partner, in distribution business, Devendra Singh Tavar’s daughter’s name was Lovlin we also named our company as Lovlin Films. Under my company Lovlin Films I started distributing Bollywood, Hollywood & Marathi films too. Earlier on we had distributed films like ‘Deewangi Ne Hadh Kar Di’, ‘Shahrukh Bola Khubsoorat Hai Tu’, ‘Yeh Dooriyan’, ‘Bhindi Bazaar’, ‘Strange Love Story’, ‘Ek Sangeen Dastaan’, ‘Universal Soldier 4’, ‘Parker’, ‘Pyar Mein Aisa Hota Hai’, ‘Aasa Mee Tasa Mee’ and many many more. Then on I seriously thought of expanding and continuing with the business of distribution & exhibition. Last year I also released an Ahirani language film named ‘O Tuni Maay’. I had also started the business of film promotion and the 1st film in this regard was Diya Bajpayee & Rahat Kazmi’s ‘Identity Card’, Karanveer Bohra & Hemant Madhukar’s ‘Mumbai 125 Km’ et al. And I also got my 1st ever chance of acting wih many established actors through Sunil Pal’s film ‘Money Back Guarantee’. I also did its full promotion in Nagpur & Jaipur city like the print & digital media, radio interview, mall activities and varied colleges. And I also promoted the 1st ever Ahgirani language film ‘O Tuni Maay’ in Khandesh in Dhulia city and Vidarbh in Nagpur city. That’s as far as I can rewind my flashback. And now in a Fast forward moody mode I am waiting with batted breath to kick start my 1st ever film as a producer. Period!

Movie Review: 'Ek Paheli Leela' is like a shabbily packaged old wine in a new bottle

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Ek Paheli Leela

Banner: Paper Doll Entertaiment
Producer: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Ahmed Khan & Shaira Khan
Director: Bobby Khan
Cast: Sunny Leone, Rajneesh Duggal, Jay Bhanushali, Mohit Alawat, Rahul Dev, Jas Arora, Shivani Tanksale, V J Andy, Daniel Weber, Ehsaan Qureshi, Kulvinder Bakshish, Nausheen Ahmed, Girish Thapar, Jitendra Baiswal & Arun Singh
Music: Meet Bros Anjjan, Amaal Mallik, Dr. Zeus, Tony Kakkar & Uzair Jaswal

Débutante director Bobby Khan tries his super best to rekindle & refresh the “reincarnation” movies memories in his debut offering ‘Ek Paheli Leela’ and one  must say that he does succeed to a great extent but…….! The 300 years old vintage voyeuristic carnival ‘EK Paheli Leela’ is aided & abetted by a promotional picturesque postcard, destinated & designated, journey from Milan to Jaisalmer. The oft repeated transitional jump from modern to rural and back to modernism is too frequent to be true. So much so that it leaves a jarringly jaded note of yawn inflicted boredom and the constant sexual innuendos is disguised as an entertainment spree, garnished with item numbers oriented songs galore, for the gullible cine goer.

Meera meets Leela  (Sunny Leone in a double role) 300 years apart. But certainly not in the same vein as ‘Sally Meets Harry’. Yes! Meera a topnotch model from Milan is scared shit of taking a flight so when her manager Andy (V J Andy) bags a modeling assignment for her in Jaisalmer he tries his own tricks to put Meera on flight en route to Jaisalmer. Out here she meets hunks left, right & centre before being enlightened by the 300 years old fabled past of Leela, her so called reincarnated “Humshakal”. There is Karan (Jay Bhanushali) who hallucinates about Leela his lover now Meera whom he could not marry in his past life due to the evil designs of Bhairav (Rahul Dev). There is Prince Ranveer (Mohit Ahlawat) who is so besotted by Meera that he finally ends up tying the knot with her even before Karan could reach Jaisalmer to stake his claim again. And last but not the least, there is Shravan (Rajniesh Duggal) who also hovers around Meera, not knowing exactly what he is upto.

The same is the case with the preview audiences who were not exactly sure of what they were upto in this entire confusion confounded mileu. Bobby Khan makes a welcome Bollywoodian debut with big brother choreographer Ahmed Khan at the productional helm of affairs in tandem with his spouse Shaira Khan, Krishan Kumar and above all T – Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar. Its all in the family (affair) as they say. Need I say more.

Performance wise it is Porn Queen Sunny Leone all the way who spells her own magic in her first ever double role, both in her glam quotient oriented as well as her first ever village belle avatar. Yet no cause for making merry as she still has to traverse millions of miles to reach her histrionics department. And above all the men in brief (roles) like Rahul Dev, Jas Arora, Mohit Ahlawat and above all Rajniesh Duggal are perfection personified as per the demand of their brief roles are concerned. The rest of the actors like Daniel Weber (Sunny Leone’s real life partner), Shivani Tanksale, V J Andy, Ehsaan Qureshi, Kulvinder Bakshish, Nausheen Ahmed, Girish Thapar, Jitendra Baiswal & Arun Singh just about fill in the blanks to make the film a complete or incomplete package. Take it whichever way you want, the choice structly rests with you.

Tail piece: ‘Ek Paheli Leela’ is strictly an adults fare meant only Sunny Leone and the beefy boys Jay Bhanushali, Mohit Alawat, Rahul Dev, Jas Arora & Rajniesh Duggal fans. Kids stay away.

Movie Review: ‘Dharam Sanket Mein' is an expose of the varied myths & facts of the 2 diverse religions namely Hinduism & Islam

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Dharam Sanket Mein

Producer: Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Sajjad Chunawala & Shariq Patel
Director: Fuwad Khan
Cast: Paresh Rawal, Naseeruddin Shah, Annu Kapoor, Gippy Grewal, Auritra Ghosh, Sharat Sonu, Alka Kaushal, Murli Sharma, Mukesh, Rushita Pandey, Sophie Choudry, Hazel Keech, Suresh Venkataraman, Jagdish Rajpurohit, Jahangir Karkaria, Alka Mehta, Gagan Gupta et al
Music: Meet Bros Anjjan, Sachin Gupta, Jatinder Shah & D J Kiran
Pro: Raindrop Media

Fuwad Khan, an ace cinematographer turned débutante director, has tackled the varied myths & facts concerning the 2 most talked about religions namely Hinduism & Islam. But was it necessary for him to get blatantly inspired by a situational Brit comedy named ‘The Infidel’ based on the same subject of 2 diverse religions criss crossing each other albeit in hilariously comic way.

Dharampal Trivedi’s (Paresh Raval) Dharam (Read religious beliefs) gets really shaken the day he opens his departed mother’s bank locker. His entire world turns upside down and he faces an identity crises dilemma. He finds an affidavit in the locker which states his origin as being born to a Muslim father.  He wants to meet his long lost father who is on his death bed in a Muslim sanitarium, but the Maulana (Murli Sharma) of the Sanitarium bars the twain to meet unless Dharampal becomes a devout Muslim. Whereas his own biological son Amit wants him to be a devout Hindu and a disciple of Swami Neela Anand Baba (Naseeruddin Shah) simply to impress his son’s prospective father – in – law. Dharam is now totally confused in a dilamatic state. So he takes the help of his friend, his immediate neighbor, to learn to be a devout Muslim, who happens to be a Muslim lawyer by the name of Nawab Mehmood Nazeem Ali Shah Khan Bahadur (Annu Kapoor). And his son Amit brings in a pandit to help Dharam to be a devout Hindu. So Dharam seeing no escape starts learning the ‘mannerisms’ of both the religions simultaneously.

Débutante director Fawud Khan has tried his best to balance the sentiments of the 2 concerned religions but his appropriate directorial skills seriously lacks finesse. So the resultant effect is neither here nor there, rather than being tackled on a serious note or treated in an amusingly comic way it becomes way too preachy. In fact the entire episodic issue of Swami Neela Anand Baba was totally uncalled for.

And the sole brownie point goes to the one liner dialogues of Alpesh Dixit, Sanjay Sharma & Vijay Desai.

Performance wise Paresh Rawal is a winner all the way and as the film rests heavily on his shoulders he has really, really delivered an absolutely honest, sincere & dedicated act. The next in line star performer is no doubt Annu Kapoor who has really left an impact with his brilliant performance. Whereas a veteran actor like Naseeruddin Shah disappoints totally. He is a total misfit in the entire mileu and his obnoxious geteup, coupled with his put off mannerisms, is an eyesore. While the rest of the actors like Gippy Grewal, Auritra Ghosh, Sharat Sonu, Alka Kaushal, Murli Sharma, Mukesh, Rushita Pandey, Sophie Choudry, Hazel Keech, Suresh Venkataraman, Jagdish Rajpurohit, Jahangir Karkaria, Alka Mehta, Gagan Gupta et al have proved to be an adequate support system just to carry the film forward.

Tail piece: If you have watched films like ‘OMG: Oh! My God’ & ‘PK’ based on similar themes, then taking a trip to a movie hall for watching ‘Dharam Sanket Mein’ will be a sheer waste of time.

Movie Review: 'It Follows' is a scariest film in the horror genre of recent times

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It Follows

Producer: Rebeca Green, Laura D Smith, David Robert Mitchell, David Kaplan & Eric Romesmo
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Star cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi & Lilki Sepe
Genre: Horror
Verdict: Very Good

Director David Robert Mitchell in his latest offering It Follows has treaded on a spiritually oriented horror genre and he succeeds in delivering a scariest fare in recent times.

Plot: A scary romantic date

Jay, a college student, goes to see a film with her boyfriend Hugh. In the theatre, Hugh points out a woman standing at the entrance whom Jay cannot see. Fearful, he demands that they leave. On another date, Hugh & Jay have sex in his car, after which Hugh incapacitates her with chloroform. She wakes up tied to a wheelchair, and Hugh explains that their sex has passed on a curse. And that she should pass on the curse by having sex with others in order to get rid of the curse.

Aces: Music & Performances

The strongest point of It Follows is its eerie sound track at the right opportune moment which enhances its mysterious suspense element. All the actors like Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi & Lilki Sepe have delivered their best & natural scary act.

Minuses: A few editing glitches

At times It is difficult to follow the exact goings on but those lapses are covered with David’s overall directorial finesse. if only the editor Julio C Perez IV’s editorial scissors had been more sharper.

Last Word: It Follows is a worth watch scare fare.

Screenwriters becoming obsolete in Hollywood

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Screenwriters

Of late Hollywood had plunged into the season of back – to – back awards and acceptance speeches, when every winner reminded one that filmmaking is a collaborative endeavor and not just one man’s individual efforts. In these recitations of all the collaborators, however, one noticeable point was that screenwriters are rarely if ever mentioned, which is ironic since the speeches usually are in need of a serious rewrite.

Such omissions have become increasingly apparent lately, since more & more films have either been written by the director or perhaps not written at all. One is convinced that no director named Anderson had ever hired a writer. Further on, ‘Birdman‘, with all its frenetic energy, plays like it was created scene – by – scene by its hyper – caffeinated cast for instance the director, Alejandro G. Inarritu, takes screenplay credit along with 3 other scribes, including 2 friends.

Arguably, the visually arresting ‘Interstellar’ would have been a far more better & satisfying film had a talented writer worked on its dialogues & plot, Chris Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, are listed as the writers. ‘Boyhood‘ was appreciably admired but, again, it plays as if the actors, year after year, invented scenes as they slowly aged.

The obsolescence of the screenwriter also is apparent in the trend towards what some critics call the “post – plot” movie. ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ is a prime example of a movie that offered great shtick and a wisecracking raccoon but no true narrative. “The movie encourages you to enjoy yourself even though you’re not sure what’s going on,” observed Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan, he’s a traditionalist, to be sure.

To the contemporary filmmaker – writer, panache and camera movement are more important than the compelling dialogues. Author Stephen Farber (another traditionalist) reminds one of Billy Wilder’s declaration: “I like to believe that narrative movement can be achieved eloquently & elegantly without shooting from a hole in the ground, without hanging the camera from a chandelier and without the camera dolly dancing a polka.”

The argument about writers & writers’ credits dates back at least to Andrew Sarris’ pronouncements in the ’60s about “auteur” filmmaking. Sarris had venerated directors like Alfred Hitchcock, who distrusted both writers & actors. Pauline Kael had then come along to advance the cause of Sidney Lumet, who ranged from ‘Network’ to ‘Serpico’, and who closely worked with prominent screenwriters.

The painful truth is that many of the films of Hollywood’s vintage years, despite their often pedestrian, studio – driven structure, were exceptionally well written in terms of plot & dialogues. One should take a week off and read his way through some old studio scripts crafted by the likes of Nunnally Johnson & Dalton Trumbo, who it seems had laboured in the old studio writers buildings, and one would be enormously impressed by their craftsmanship & richness of the dialogues. One should also take time out, and if one can lay their hands on,  and read unproduced scripts written by the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald & Ben Hecht, then it would become clear why they were never made, but they indeed deserved to be published.

Roddy McDowell, a keen student of studio history, had once advised to read some screenplays he’d collected that had been developed by studio chiefs explicitly as starring vehicles for their favoured mistresses. It was supposed to be a unique collection, superbly written scripts by top screenwriters that were never made, probably because their relationships usually blew up before the films got their green lights.

Of late one at last realizes that good writing doesn’t necessarily create good filmmaking. It’s more important today to capture the “big scene” rather than the elegant moment between characters. No doubt Superheroes don’t have to talk pretty or for that matter Raccoons in an outer galaxy are not expected to be eloquent.

But one can see why there’s discussion in at least one agency to change the title “motion picture lit agent” simply to “lit agent.” That way, they can remove the movie stigma.

Singer Nofel Izz to sue Facebook for $15 Million

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220571-launch-of-canadian-singer-nofel-izz-album.jpg

Facebook has disabled the personal account of well-known musician & entrepreneur Nofel Izz, who founded JobsinDubai.com, and as a result, Nofel Izz no longer has administrative access to manage his official Facebook page where he stays connected with fans & friends of his music, nor to the Jobs in Dubai Facebook page. In fact Nofel Izz is unable to communicate with the nearly 700,000 fans of his music page, or assist with the management of the Jobs in Dubai page, which has over 2.2 million fans.

The worst part is Nofel Izz claims to have no idea why this is happening. In a personal statement, Izz writes “To the very best of my knowledge, I didn’t violate any of Facebook’s terms of service. I did not post anything scandalous or engage in some kind of nefarious activity. One morning, I attempted to log into my account as usual, and I was greeted with an error message saying ‘We’ve determined that you are ineligible to use Facebook’. That’s it. No further explanation has been provided to me. I’ve filed a claim and taken all the steps I can to re – enable my account, but I am, sadly, doubtful of getting any response to my many inquiries.”

NofelIzz is not the first person this has happened to, Facebook account disabled with no warning & no explanation. There are multiple accounts of this happening to other people. From the many reports to be found online, when something like this happens, Facebook offers no response or resolution for its seemingly arbitrary actions. This doesn’t seem like a good business practice, especially in cases where the Facebook user runs a business page, as well, alienating one’s advertisers is unwise for a company that relies heavily on advertising income, reportedly earning over $1 billion per year in advertising revenue. NofelIzz claims to have paid “a fortune in advertising” on Facebook.

This also isn’t the only way that Facebook is interfering with and upsetting its users. Facebook has been on the watch with EU for privacy violations. In 2014, the company faced a US class action lawsuit for mining & sharing data from its users’ private messages. In the EU, there are current allegations that Facebook is tracking web users’ activity, even if they don’t have a Facebook account. Use of tracking cookies in this manner is a violation of European privacy laws.

Facebook is a service which billions of people rely on to stay connected, in both their personal & their business lives. When a person is locked out of his account, he is unable to recover the thousands of memories & experiences shared with friends & family. When a business owner & page administrator gets locked out of his personal Facebook account, he also no longer has administrative access to his Facebook business pages. According to Nofel Izz, the effect can be devastating and can cost millions, as he plans to sue: “This has an immediate & potentially irreparable impact on my career and the career potential of hundreds of thousands of Jobs in Dubai Facebook page fans. I am disappointed, confused, hurt & dumbfounded by Facebook’s actions, which are, in my mind, unprovoked & cruel.”

"My upcoming film 'Main Hoon Ek Raaz' is a women centric author backed film belonging to the horror genre": Ravi Kumar Nivoria

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Ravi Kumar & Sanjrani Nivoria

Débutante writer & director Ravi Kumar Nivoria’s upcoming film ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ falls in the genre of the age old trend of HORROR films. So Ravi Kumar Nivoria can also be added to the list of horror filmmakers a la Ramsay Brothers, Vikram Bhatt and others of their ilk. Incidentally speaking ‘Main Hoon EK Raaz’ happens to be a family affair as it is being produced by Ravi Kumar Nivoria’s spouse Sanjurani Nivoria. The duo hopes to continue making good films, with top cast & crew, but not necessary falling in the horror genre.

To kickstart the session tell us what is your upcoming film ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ all about?

My upcoming film ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ is a women centric author backed film belonging to the horror genre. When I started writing the story I just fell in love with it. I just liked it so much that I decided to direct it myself.

Please continue…….!

So ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ narrates the saga of a restless female ghost who is still seeking salvation, mukti for her soul and in the process she goes on a rampage scaring the wits out of everyone around her.

And what according to you are the highlights of ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’?

First & foremost my film ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ is more scarier than other films of the HORROR genre of course not to forget its special effects which I am sure will make the viewers even more scarier.

And what else?

Not only the horror element but I have alo packaged ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ with full dose of entertainment & suspense. Music & lyrics are by Surendra Saathi who has earlier written the lyrics of most of the films of Mahesh Bhatt. Believe me he has composed some of the most beautiful & melodious songs for ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’. One special number is an item song ‘Angooribai’ picturised on Laxmi Verma & Mehtab Guzar.

Lastly give us an insight into the cast & credits of ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’.

The main cast of ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ comprises of Ragini Verma enacting the central character of the restless ghost along with Nadeem Mansoori, Raza Murad, Ramesh Goyal, Mahendra Sharma et al. The story-screenplay-dialogues-direction is by me and it has been produced by my wife Sanjurani Nivoria under the banner of our home production namely Shiv Devi Kala Kendra Films.

VHP calls for ban on Kamal Haasan's 'Uttama Villain'

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Uttama Villain

Chennai: Members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) have called for a ban on actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan-starrer Tamil drama “Uttama Villain”, claiming it will affect the religious sentiments of Hindi people.

In their statement to the commissioner of police on Monday, the group alleged that the song “Iraniyan Nadagam”, about the disparaged conversation between Prahalad and Hiranyakashipu, will hurt the sentiments of Hindus.

“The lyrics of the song will upset followers of Lord Vishnu. It belittles the conversation between Prahalad and Hiranyakashipu. Hence, we demand a ban on the film,” K.L Sathiyamoorthy, member of VHP, told IANS.

Directed by Ramesh Aravind, the movie is about an 8th century theatre artist and a modern-day superstar.

(IANS)

Movie Review: 'Detective Byomkesh Bakshi' is superb, mesmerizing, riveting, intriguing sans entertainment quotient

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Detective-Byomkesh-Bakshy

Banner: Yash Raj Films & Dibakar Banerjee Productions
Producer: Aditya Chopra & Dibakar Banerjee
Director: Dibakar Banerjee
Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Anand Tiwari, Swastika Mukherjee, Divya Menon, Neeraj Kabi, Meiyang Chang, Aryann Bhowmik, Moumita Chakraborty, Mark Bennington, Arindol Bagchi, Manoshi Nath, Anindya Banerjee, Tirtha Mallick, Prasun Gayen, Peter Wong, Prashant Kumar, Dr. Kaushik Ghosh, Takanori Kikuchi, Piyali Ray, Pradipto Kumar Chakraborty, Sandip Bhattacharya, Shivam, Nishant Kumar, Shaktipada Dey & Lauren Gottlieb
Music: Various Artists
Cinematographer: Nikos Andritsakis
Editor: Manas Mittal & Namrata Rao
Pro: Spice

Director Dibakar Bannerjee in his latest offering namely ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshi’ has knowingly treaded on a dark & mysterious genre. But was it necessary to take the plot, shrouded in deepening mystery, to the extreme level of confusion confounded. Seriously speaking it ultimately bores you to death to the point of no return. Incidentally speaking the film is based on the fictional character of a detective named Byomkesh Bakshi which has been created by the famed Bengali writer Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay.

The scenario of ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshi’ opens in Calcutta, present day Kolkatta, in a British-ruled India, where a student Byomkesh Bakshi (Sushant Singh Rajput) is approached by Ajit Bandyopadhyay (Anand Tiwari) whose father Bhuvan Banerjee has been missing for more than 2 months. Byomkesh firmly & strongly believes that he has been killed and his dead body has been kept hidden somewhere. And he was so right as they discover Bhuvan’s corpse in a broiler of an abandoned chemical factory. During the investigations, he finds that Bhuvan Banerjee’s murder is part of a bigger mystery involving the local Political leaders, the Chinese drug smugglers & the Japanese army, fighting the war against the British in South-East Asia.

Director Dibakar Bannerjee has aptly presented the war torn Calcutta of 1943 with a backdrop of a mystery & a Detective. In fact ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy’ is entirely based on the early exploits of India’s 1st ever true-blue detective, created by Bengali bestseller writer Saradindu Bandyopadhyay. Dibakar Banerjee, has set the film in the 2nd World War torn Calcutta during the 1940s and follows the 1st adventure of Byomkesh Bakshy, fresh out of college, as he pits himself against an evil genius who is out to destroy the world. Using his wits against the most villainous arch criminal the world has ever seen, in a world of murder, international political intrigue & seduction. The director deserves full marks topped with brownie points as far as the minutest periodic detailing, of the war torn Calcutta of the 1940’s, is concerned but only to be bogged down by his own script in lieu with Urmi Juvekar. Hats off to Aditya Chopra and his Yash Raj Films banner for backing such an offbeat subject strewn together in a most clichéd manner, not to forget the sleep walking editors Manas Mittal &
Namrata Rao. And lastly a special well deserving mention goes to cinematographer Nikos Andritsakis for his brilliant presentation of such a dark & mysterious war torn Calcutta of the 1940s era.

Performance wise all the actors can be analyzed in just one word for instance Sushant Singh Rajput as & in an author backed title role of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy: a young Bengali private detective is “Perfect”, Anand Tiwari as Ajit Bandyopadhyay: the sidekick of Byomkesh Bakshy, also an author is “Charming”, débutante Swastika Mukherjee as Anguri Devi: a dancer & a spy looks “Confusing”, Divya Menon as Satyawati: the silent love interest of Byomkesh Bakshy is “Disappointing”, Neeraj Kabi as Dr. Anukul Guha is “Excellent”, Meiyang Chang as Kanai Dao alias Chang Lee is “Interesting” and then Aryann Bhowmik as Clinic Boy, Moumita Chakraborty as Leela, Mark Bennington as Deputy Commissioner Wilkie, Arindol Bagchi as Ashwini Babu, Manoshi Nath as Ruby, Anindya Banerjee as Prafulla Ray, Tirtha Mallick as Atanu Chandra Sen, Prasun Gayen as a scribe, Peter Wong as the Underboss, Prashant Kumar as Factory Watchmen, Dr. Kaushik Ghosh as Gajanan Sikdar, Takanori Kikuchi as Dr. Watanabe, Piyali Ray as Watanabe’s Receptionist, Pradipto Kumar Chakraborty as Puntiram, Sandip Bhattacharya as Officer in Charge, Shivam as Sukumar, Nishant Kumar as Factory Watchmen, Shaktipada Dey as Nibaran Da & Lauren Gottlieb in a special appearance in the song titled “Calcutta Kiss” are all “Adequate” and they all try their level best to carry the “Snail’s Space” almost dragging storyline forward.

Tail Piece: ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshi’ may be a hardcore critics & multiplexes elite cine goer’s delight but on the contrary it will be hardly appealing for a film goer who frequents a single theatre.

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