Via Darjeeling:a thriller minus the thrills

Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Sonali Kulkarni, Vinay Pathak, Parvin Dabbas, Rajat Kapoor, Simone Singh, Prashant Narayanan, Sandhya Mridul

Direction: Arindam Nandy

Producer: Joy Ganguly

Written by: Arindam Nandy , Atul Sabharwal

The film tells the story of a married couple Ankur and Rimli Sharma (played by KK Menon and Sonali Kurkarni respectively), who had gone to Darjeeling on their honeymoon. But on the day of their return, Ankur vanishes from the scene. Many years later, the then inspector in charge of the case (played by Vinay Pathak) who failed to solve it, recounts the events to a group of his friends. The friends come up with their own versions of what might have caused Ankur’s disappearance. However, these multiple narrations couldn’t translate into a riveting story. The open-ended stories by the friends failed to connect in a single thread, which if happened, would have made the plot a lot more meaningful.

Acting wise, Rajat and Simone are good. The others are just average. Sonali, in fact, irritates a lot with her mannerisms and over the top histrionics. The lack of a good script had little to offer to these polished actors. So, the sheen is off their performance but the director, rather than the actors, is to be blamed. Even the end of the film is abrupt and leaves the audience wanting. The bottom-line: an unsuccessful attempt to present Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” on screen.

Postscript: Came across a nice site Onyomo where you can get every detail of your city (movies, shopping, restaurant, bookstore and more). For getting more info on this film (which cinema halls are screening it and what are the show timings), click here.

Image courtesy: NFDC

Netaji Museum

Netaji Museum, 1 Woodburn Park (opposite Forum on Elgin Road)

(open everyday except Monday)

Time to visit: 11 a.m to 4.30 p.m

Cost of ticket: Adults: 5/-, Children under 12: 2/-

Ticket counter closes at: 4.15 p.m

Photography: allowed only in the ground floor (outside the museum)

As it wasn’t a planned visit, when I reached the place oblivious of the timings, the museum had already closed. Nevertheless, the ground floor has some interesting things for the visitors. There’s the Wanderer BLA 7169 enclosed in a see-through glass enclosure, which Netaji used in 1941 to flee Calcutta. The marble tablet beside the glass case reads:

"Wanderer BLA 7169

Car in which Sisir Kr. Bose drove Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose from this house in Calcutta on the night of 16^th-17^th January’1941 to Gomoh on the first leg of Netaji’s great escape."

At a few steps from this glass enclosure stands the brick red colored replica of the Singapore Memorial to martyrs of the Indian National Army, the foundation stone of which was laid by Netaji on 8^th July, 1945. The original memorial was blown up by the British Armed Forces after their reoccupation of the island. This replica has three rectangular structures, the highest being the middle one marked “Itmad”. The two lower ones on either side of it are marked “Ittefaq” (the left one) and “Kurbani”.

The walls of the corridor have glass cases showing the publications of the museum, images of important dignitaries to the place, celebration of 23^rd January, and a tablet showing the plan of this house by Sisir Kr. Bose. I was thrilled to see whatever I could and vowed to return soon to visit the museum.

Image Courtesy: Jugantar

Chalo Let’s Go - a film by Anjan Dutt

Sanjoy (the narrator), Hori, Shekhar and Asim (a qualified doctor, who wants to try everything except the medical profession) – it’s the story of these four friends. The first three had a band of their own but their singing talents (they believed it was “talent” though their audiences believed otherwise) couldn’t save them from public humiliation during one of their stage shows. It was then that they quit and encouraged by Asim-the “visionary & planner”, formed “Ghoroya”-a travel agency. How they arranged a trip to Darjeeling with a motley group of passengers, faltered at almost every step due to poor planning and management and how events unfolded – all these make the central theme of “Chalo-let’s go”.

The first positive thing about the film is the brilliant photography (Indranil Mukherjee) of the scenic locales. You will enjoy the trip for sure even without venturing out in reality. However, the screenplay isn’t a taut one and the love triangle between Ria (aka Keya), Hori & Sanjoy drags and irritates. Among the tourists, each has his/her own story. The overacting of Koneenica, though, stands out as a sore thumb. Asim (Saswata) stands out amongst the four friends – for effortlessly portraying various shades of the character - the businessman in him asking for “mallu” (money) being collected from the tourists, scolding Hori for falling yet again for a girl, asking Sanjoy to step aside of the love triangle or donning the doc’s cap to save a dying man at the Father’s Missionary and cursing himself afterwards for being unable to save a life despite knowing well that he was fighting a losing battle.

This film has a few witty dialogs and has lingo used by Gen Y that would make you laugh and enjoy the proceedings somewhat. There’s nothing much to write home about the music though (unlike Bong Connection whose special rendition of “Pagla Hawa” took the city by storm). Overall, I feel the film got much more hype that it really deserved. I went to see the movie after hearing words-of-mouth praise but was disappointed in the end. Anjan Dutt could have developed some of the characters more and gone deeper into them. According to me, a good film is that which gives you something to carry with you outside the theatre after the credits have rolled up on screen. Chalo Let’s Go fails on this count.

Image courtesy: Calcutta Tube

A visit to Forum

After more than a year, I stepped once again into Forum-the mall on Elgin Road (Address:10/3,Elgin Road, Kolkata - 700020. Phone: 033 22836022). Last time, I could not survey the entire mall but this time I ensured that I did. The 5 & ½ storeys have almost all the big brands under its roof. The top two floors (4th & 5th) have food and snacks counters, the 5th floor having the additional facility of seating arrangements. The few steps from the 5th floor will lead you to INOX, the multiplex. Some construction work is going on at present in the mall and the iron pillars beside the escalators ask visitors to cooperate. Overall, it was a good time pass checking out the stuffs at these shops. However, the malls in Kolkata could take a lesson from South City Mall and provide some seats in the corridor to rest the tired legs of the visitors (though that seems a distant reality as most of the former shopping malls, Forum included, have so little space in the corridors that putting seats in them would block space and cause more inconvenience to the shoppers). So, before venturing out to this place, ensure that your legs have had enough energy for long standing hours (unless you take time out to sit, savor the delicacies at the food court and rest your legs).

Mourn for your Money day

Today while searching the web for my work, I came to the site of 123greetings. There I found that Tuesday, the 1oth of June'08, is "Mourn for your Money day". That kept me thinking – why do I need to mourn for money any particular day when this mourning is part of my everyday routine (not very apparent though, but yes, deep down somewhere!!). Perhaps the same feeling applies to many of you. Why is that we always seem to want more and are never satisfied with what we have (Ja chayechi ami ta paina, ja peyechi keno ta chaina – remember this song?)

It was long ago when the great saint Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said :Taka maati, maati taka (referring to the fact that wealth is short lived and we shouldn't pine for it). However, clever souls of the present consumer driven age have added one more line to this philosophical saying :Taka baadey jibon faanka (life is empty if you don't have enough money to buy and splurge on things). Wonder what my readers think of the craving to earn and have more and more.

Kolkata's favorite B word

Yes, my city is again entangled in the dreaded B word-Bandh. Today and tomorrow, two different political parties have decided to bring the city to a standstill. The reason? Rising prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas. The big question-will all this make any difference? Well, of course not. In the past, bandhs have not helped the common man's cause. The situation doesn't change now. It will just give the political biggies a chance to flex muscles and prove their power. For us-the hapless souls, we will have to bear the heat of the rising price index.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Good ol' Indie is back on the silver screen, this time with the support of Steven Spielberg (director) and George Lucas (story).

Though I have never been a fan of the Indiana Jones movies, I could not resist the temptation to check it out. Like the previous three Indie movies, this one also turned out to be a fast action packed film.

In this film, the famous archaeologist Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones (Harrison Ford) comes back to the action scene when some Soviet soldiers led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) force him to uncover the mystery surrounding the Crystal Skull. As the story proceeds, we come to know that whoever returns the skull to the original temple will have immense power to control the world. With a sci-fi edge given to an otherwise action packed flick, this Indiana Jones movie is a roller coaster ride. I enjoyed watching the film but at the same time, after coming out of the cinema hall, nothing remains with you. I mean the film has got no repeat value and there isn’t a scene that stays with you long after the viewing is over. Nevertheless, it is a good time-pass movie.