Badshahi Angti a movie reveiw..

The very thought of watching a Bengali movie, away from Bengal has certain nostalgia attached to it.

So my husband Avishek and I generally end up watching all Bengali movies that manage to get released in Mumbai. And I must say, that today's not so main stream to parallel to intellectual Bengali cinema, does manage to stand apart in this business of arts. Amongst my recent favorites is Srijit Mukherjee's "Chostushkone”. But the last two ventures were not too successful, one being Kaushik Ganguly's Khaad and the other, the recent most release, Sandip Ray's "Badshahi Angti".

Badshahi Anti Poster

 

Badshahi Angti meaning the Emperor's ring is based on celebrated Satyajit Ray's Feluda Adventure story of the same name. And it is needless to say that the book is a masterpiece like all other works of the literary maestro. Feluda (Felu is the pet name and da meaning big brother) aka Prodosh Mitter is a one of the most glorified and loved detective characters to all Bengalis and beyond. Satyajit Ray himself had transformed few of his Feluda series stories on celluloid. Veteran Actor, Padma Bhushan, Shri Soumitra Chattopadhyay had played Feluda then. Later legendary Bengali film actor Sabyasachi Chakrabarty had taken the baton, and played the character in many films, made by Satyajit Ray's son Sandip Ray.

Badshahi Angti was new in ways more than one, this was the first time Abir Chatterjee played Feluda, another key character Topse was played by a newcomer. This story is based on a young Feluda, just beginning his detective career, hence a very fascinating character Jotayu is not in this one. He comes in the later stories. It is worth mentioning, this was the first time, a film was made on a Feluda adventure without Jotayu.

I don't think that too much diversion was made from the original story, yet the impact of the book could not be replicated on screen. Abir Chatterjee and the rest of the cast did justice to their roles, but the overall effect lagged somewhere. Though as an ardent fan of Feluda, I missed Sabyasachi Chakrabarty's impactful voice. The teenager, Sourav Das, who played Topse was lacking a good onscreen presence.

Overall I think, the transformation of any great story onscreen, takes a lot of courage. But Sandip Ray had done justice to most of his legendary father's creations. But this one can be termed as one of his not so good attempts and the unfolding of the mystery could not be laminar as he did in his previous ones. At last I would say watch Badshahi Angti at the theatres not with of hope of viewing the majestic recreation of the story onscreen but with the hope of getting chance to see our favorite character come to life once again but with a new face.

My heartfelt congratulations to Abir.

Aritra Chakrabarty Sengupta

 

Give ur reviews on the movie.