April 27, 2014

Watching Filmfare (Eastern India) Calcutta Awards -- Great to see (a) "Rupkotha Noy" winning the Critics Award for Best Film.. I had loved that film (It shared the award with Shabdo, which I havent watched yet).. (b) Soumitra Chattopadhyay winning the Critics Award for Bect Actor Male for "Rupkotha Noy"-- loved the speech that he delivered..indeed he has been working for more than 50 years, and (c) Rituporna Sengupta getting Critics Award for Best Actor Female- loved her reaction.. indeed it must have been so thrilling for the Tollywood veterans to get their hands on the craved Black Beauty... Great to see (d) Sohini Sarkar winning Best Debut Actress for both Phoring and Rupkotha Noy ..(e) Indranil Roychowdhury winning Best Debut Director for Phoring.. what a lovely movie that one is.. it indeed deserves loads of appreciation and awards (loved Indranil's speech too)... a heartwarming moment was created when Jaya Bachhan (who was 13 yrs old when Mahanagar was made) awarded Madhabi Mukhopadhyay with the "Lifetime Achievement" Award..

Siddhartha Wins Dadagiri Episode with a Century

Dadagiri was Baba's favorite Bangla program and he would watch every minute of every episode diligently. He would have loved yesterday's episode, Siddhartha Ray, as we all did!
It was an evening of excitement at our house, yesterday. My mother, who is quite lethargic these days in taking her evening shower and offering her evening prayers, completed everything as fast as she could and was ready for the episode to start.
As the show began, it was quite evident that you were going to be the star of the show. That is the "Siddhartha" effect. I vividly remember how the unruly traffic of a busy small town almost stopped when you crossed the road, while Ranabir and I lagged behind.
Each and every viewer of Dadagiri last evening got to know about the depth, profoundness, and thoroughness of your knowledge and the impeccability of your memory. The Addabaaj Baangali mejaj and your jovial nature must have won numerous hearts. You can very well imagine the pride, happiness, and affection that I was feeling throughout the show. There was non-stop clapping from Ma and me.
I just loved the way Anindita Chakravarti was blushing and how she uttered, "He is the perfect husband". Neel seemed to be understanding quite a few of Sourav's jokes.. growing up fast, is he not?
Baba would have been so proud of you, Siddhartha! We all are! I had no idea that you would be competing with Shubham who happens to be one of my favorites from a season of Saregamapa and he also did quite well in the last round. But, what you did over the last two rounds was Outstanding! And the deluge of details about the Boxing Day Test Match that you blurted out was awesome stuff! And I have never seen a participant select "Mythology" first up and follow it up with a correct answer. It showed your confidence and base of knowledge.
We all read, we all watch, but seldom do we remember or apply like you do!!
Really proud that I know you and have you as a brother!!

God Bless Anindita Chakravarti, Neel, your togetherness, and your family!! Lots of Love !<3 p="">

Wonder why Arshinagar was a flop?!

I started watching the movie around 10 pm, almost an hour after it had started.. As the movie progressed, I kept wondering why the movie had gone down as a flop! The dialogues are only in rhymes.. there is not a single dialogue in the movie that is not in rhyme with its previous or next line! I do not know whether the dialogues have all been written by the director Aparna Sen or by someone called Sayan Biswas.. but, whoever has written them has done a brilliant job!
The actors comprising Waheeda Rahman, Rupa Ganguly, Kaushik Sen, Jisshu Sengupta, Anindya, are all brilliant. Ritika does a good job, while Dev impresses as he had impressed in Buno Hnaash.

It is the same old story of Romeo Juliet on which films like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Ram Leela have been made. But, the movie never feels boring, mundane, or familiar. The songs and the dialogues make the movie so refreshing! A Big Thumbs Up to Debojyoti Mishra for the music.

Would like to watch the entire movie from start to finish, sometime soon 

aprill 13 th -- 2016 -- last day of the Bengali Year

The morning began with the happy news that the plants in our terrace garden, particularly the pink Ixora plant, that we thought had died in our absence (due to lack of water), are all showing signs of life... The Ixora which was in a pathetic state is giving birth to new leaves! We had taken it under a shade and been watering it profusely since the day we had returned.. seems the nursing is getting rewarded! The wonder called nature! Both Ma and I were elated!

Then I got the worrying news that my grand-nephew Rio is suffering from severe stomach upset over the last 9 days or so and is losing weight.. feeling really worried about the little kid, he is too small.. May he get well soon.

And then there was an earthquake around 7-35 pm in the evening.. measuring 7 in the Richter Scale.. the epicenter being at Mayanmar.. April, the scary month of earthquakes..