Joy Baba TollyNath!!!

The Bengali film industry finally seems to smile. And yes, the cash box is ringing. Quite after a long period of time, Tollywood has come of age. Certainly , it is a good news for Bengal or rather the ‘Bangalis’.

With all Brad Pitts, Leonardo Di Caprios; or those Amirs and Shah Rukhs stealing the show , Tollywood was eventually out of the race..the survival seemed so feeble. We, the Bengalis, had to stick to those Uttam-Suchitra , Soumitra- Aparna eras if we ever wanted to check out a Bengali flick. It’s not only me but people from my generation would never give a second thought to check what were the latest stock from Tolly section ; because we felt them simply sub standard. Ridiculing the Bengali film artists and their works was what we were left with even if a topic on it cropped up; otherwise it is simply a waste of time.
The Prasenjits and Tapas Pals may have contributed a lot in this Bengali film industry ; but unfortunately they had to remain satisfied with the response from rural sections of Bengal. It was not their mistake. They suffered from the rigid mindset , they suffered from the lack of visionary of the Bengali film unit technicians. The vacuum in the production houses made these “Baba keno Chakor “ or “Mayer Sopoth” the most underrated films of any era. The lack of investment and sudden decaying of creative thoughts had almost paved the way for those B grade movies all over the years. Bengali film industry was almost creeping into its Death Bed.

The Mega Serials were the platform to reach to the urban crowd , and yes it did as the title track of the serials started babbling out from neighboring house during the evening hours. It was considered a rather sophisticated ,creative and a standard medium for us to accept ; the popularity says so. Its been quite a long time that these soaps have captivated the Shohure bangali and is still on with flying colours. Kudos , Star jalsa.

But these soapy tales are not my point of concern , but their production houses are. They are some of the Corporate houses who have finally blessed and managed to provide the glitz and glamour to this decaying industry.
As individuals like Rituparna Ghosh , Aparna Sen , Anjan Dutta, Goutam Ghosh positioned themselves behind the camera taking on Parambrata ,Saswata Chatterjees , Sabyasachi Chakrobortys a series of though provoking , some commercial or arty type flicks churned out thus dragging the Rural Bengali population to return to the Cinema halls after a long time. Yes, we now find people from the metropolis catching up the Bengali flicks on the V-Day. Gradually, with ample investments in bengali projects, it’s a merry time in Tollyland.
Proper pre production to post production works ;providing copious publicity to these Bengali films have made the Box office laugh out with pride. Even Raj Chakrobortys and Ravi Kinagis teaming up with Devs and Rahuls are tapping out blockbusters with their not-so-sensible stuffs. Sorry , it is rude to say so but still these commercial flicks need to deliver the quality. Malaysia to Australia are the hotspots for shooting these flicks or the music videos which seemed far from reality even few years ago. The Bengali music scores from the commercial Bengali flicks are the new entries into the mobile play lists ; reality shows have contestants gearing up with the foot tapping numbers…strange, yet so very true.

Truly the bunch of producers from Venkatesh films to Moxie Entertainment deserve kudos for bringing Bengali films back to the limelight. Their sincere effort and proper visualization has finally put back Bengali flicks in their proper channel for their growth and popularization ; which was certainly facing the biggest draught of all times few years back. But still there are spaces to be taken care of ~ the industry people need to be aware of the fact that the audience wants quality films , not the tawdriness . It may work for sometime but not in the long run.
Though the default commercial Bengali flicks are still not matured enough for grasping the metropolitan crowd , but hopefully the golden days are ahead. Because the journey has begun.
Well being “Madly Bangalee” , I want the Bengali film industry to flourish more and more with handful of promising projects that would provide recognition from all over the globe. Seriously, could not ask for more.
And as the appreciations are going to dance in, so will the cash boxes take the dance floor with “Bhojo Gourago Loho Gourang-er Naam re “..Hit It!!!!