Movie Review: Angshumaner Chobi (2009)

This Tollywood movie which is also a debut film of Atanu Ghosh, features the story of four people, Angshuman, a director from Italy who comes to Kolkatta to make a movie; Madhura Sen, a onetime national award winning actress who now works in Jatra; Pradyut Mukhopadhyay, a depressed 72 year old man who was once a superstar but now has nightmares of his makeup man nagging him and Neel, a gigolo who is having an affair with Madhura Sen.

 Angshuman (Indraneil Sengupta) comes to India from Italy to direct his first project which is a biographical movie based on the life of a 72 year old celebrity painter who suffers from Dementia and his 31 year old nurse. People whom he wants to enact the lead roles at any cost are Pradyut Mukhopadhyay (Soumitra Chatterjee) and Madhura Sen (Indrani Halder). Pradyut Mukhopadhyay was a superstar of his time and now has chosen a life of exile, he does not wish to act in movies anymore. He frequently dreams of his makeup man nagging him and shouting that his part has finished thus he should wipe off his makeup.

Madhura Sen had won a national award in her debut film and because of her arrogance and tantrums; her career declined and now leads a life of frustration and acts for jatras. She has a secret affair with a gigolo named Neel (Tata Roy Choudhary), who is passionate about dancing and astronomy.

Madhura and her husband Sudip, who was once her big fan, have no contact with each other, yet they are not divorced. Madhura receives news of Sudip committing suicide; CID crime branch officer Sourya (Ananya Chatterjee) suspects it to be a case of homicide. Angshuman in the meantime seeing all this is still determined about making his film.

Every fresh filmmaker has to struggle to make his first feature film, what kind of struggle they go through may vary. In this movie, it is shown what kind of struggle Angshuman, a young director who studied filmmaking in Italy has to go through to make his first feature film in Kolkatta. Firstly he had to convince yesteryear’s superstar Pradyut to come out of his lonely life and start acting, then he had to convince Madhura, who signed for the script easily but her brief conflict with Pradyut, and then her husband’s murder case, her affair with a gigolo and her tantrums were obstacles on his way towards the completion of his film shoot. It was not just Angshuman’s story, whatever obstacles occurred from Pradyut, Madhura and Neel’s sides were a part of their own sufferings.

The direction and writing style is a mix of genres capturing emotion, little bit humor, thriller and tragedy. It is one of those movies which someone would watch only once but then that onetime watch for him will be necessary. With a powerful story, the movie also has powerful star cast with actors like the legendary Soumitra Chatterjee, Tata Roy Choudhary, Indraneil  Sen Gupta and Ananya Chatterjee along with special appearances from Bengali film industry’s renowned artists like Sabyasachi Chakravorty, Rudranil Ghosh and Kaushik Sen.

To rate my review, visit this link .