Author: aninditaroy444

SWITZERLAND: Switzerland is a recent Bengali movie that would warm the cockles of your heart. A small-budget movie that delivers big and is strong in the emotional quotient. Abir Chatterjee plays Shibu, an auto salesman who is always struggling to meet his targets. Rukmini Maitra playing Rumi, is a primary school teacher with a modest income. They have two cute little daughters. With their meager income, they cannot even dream of going to Shimla. To keep up with the Joneses, they suddenly announce that they would be going to Switzerland. What follows are a lot of twists and turns, all measures taken to fulfill their desire to visit their dream destination.The movie is entertaining, the editing is crisp and the music is melodious. Abir aces in action, romance, comedy and even dancing. Rukmini’s histrionics are over-the-top but she endears in her non-glam look. Ambarish is dependable as always. Biswanath, after losing weight, is relegated to non-descript sidey roles. The cute kids are a riot and light up the screen with their presence. Jeet’s cameo is forced-he only wanted to make his presence felt since he is the producer. Parambrata’s cameo is crucial to the proceedings but he fails to make an impact. The movie passes on a simple message that it is better to live within one’s means and not resort to unscrupulous ways to achieve the impossible. The movie also showcases the trials and tribulations of the middle-class families and their grapples with reality. A case of “Sadh achhe kintu Sadhho nai” and coming to terms with it.The movie is light-hearted and is best as an one-time fare. In the movie the protagonists do get to travel to Switzerland but don’t be disappointed if you cannot find the landscaped vistas and the sweeping visuals of the Swiss Alps.

FELUDA PHEROT Season 1: For many Bengalis, Ray’s Feluda is an emotion. Set in 1977 in Hazaribagh, this caper has a all-new star cast of Tota Roy Chowdhury (Feluda), Anirban Chakrabarti (Jatayu) and Kalpan Mitra (Topshe). Dhritiman, Arindam ably support. Rishi Kaushik delivers a brilliant performance. The movie revolves around the mysterious fugitive royal Bengal tiger named Sultan and the subsequent death of eminent lawyer Mahesh Chowdhury. Editng is not crisp and the movie is extremely slow-paced. If you are looking for an edge-of-the-seat thriller you would be mighty disappointed thanks to the languid pace. The background score incorporates Ray’s legendary compositions and the opening song sung by Anupam is also good. Feluda wears garish pan-stick makeup and this makes him look effeminate. Ray conceived Feluda as a tall and handsome swashbuckling brainiac but Tota comes across as a softie. Anirban Chakrabarti is top-notch as Jatayu. Kalpan Mitra has limited screen time as Topshe. The VFX effects for creating the tiger did not impress much. The scene where the tiger crosses the road without pouncing on Jatayu and Topshe looks unreal. Another scene where Rishi Kaushik tames the tiger lacks cinematic finesse. The movie depicts the book “Chinnamastar Abhishap” word by word and that becomes its biggest undoing. Overall, a nice one-time watch.