a Bengali Film Society Initiative in Chicago
CHHOBIGHAR | SCREENINGS
OTI UTTAM
For all Uttam Kumar fans, time came to a standstill with the untimely demise of the legend in 1980. Others found solace in his memories or revelled in the nostalgia by watching his films over and over again. He symbolised the golden era of Bengali movies. Now, here’s the great news for everyone — Uttam Kumar in the lead role ‘stars’ in the new film, Oti Uttam. Yes, Uttam Kumar himself has acted in this romantic comedy. It talks about a PhD scholar who is pursuing his research on Uttam Kumar. He likes a girl but gets rejected. He decides to bring Uttam Kumar, the love guru, with the help of his grandson. Uttam Kumar, the Mahanayok of Bengali cinema, has been brought back to life by Srijit Mukherji, the director of the film. How? Let's find that out! Let's Celebrate this Nabobarsho with Bengali's Eternal Matinee Idol, our All-Time Greatest Hero, Mahanayok Uttam Kumar.
DIRECTED BY
Srijit Mukherji
CAST
Uttam Kumar, Anindya Sengupta, Gourab Chatterjee, Roshni Bhattacharyya, Laboni Sarkar, Subhasish Mukherjee and otherss
Date & Time: Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 2 pm
Venue: Yellow Box, Naperville
KABULIWALA
Set in the bustling city of Kolkata in 1965, the film Kabuliwala, an adaptation of short story of Rabindranath Tagore, revolves around the heartwarming emotional bonding between Rahmat, a middle-aged Afghan man and Mini, a a five years old little girl. Why would a filmmaker in the 21st century feel the urge to turn to a story written 130-odd years ago for creative inspiration? If that question is on your mind, director Suman Ghosh answers it emphatically in his adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's 1892 short story, Kabuliwala. The contemporary resonance of the film is unmistakable. A Mithun Chakraborty show but, given a script that retains the spirit of Tagore's unwaveringly inclusivist worldview, there is much more to Suman Ghosh's film than what one actor, one performance and one story bring to it. Kabuliwala benefits immensely from a solid supporting cast that includes Abir Chatterjee as Mini's writer-father Aurobindo Mukherjee and Sohini Sarkar as the girl's mother, Sneha. Certainly not the least impressive of the cast members is, of course, child actress Anumegha Kahali. She is an instantly endearing scene-stealer. A must watch movie for all generations.
DIRECTED BY
Suman Ghosh
CAST
Mithun Chakraborty, Anumegha Kahali, Abir Chatterjee, Sohini Sarkar and others
Date & Time: Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 3 pm
Venue: Cine Lounge, Niles
DOCTOR BAKSHI
Doctor Bakshi is a brilliant innovator, who has taken up his own path of justice by creating a new technology prison where he keeps select criminals to ensure justice. Aditya shoots a car that has Doctor Bakshi inside. Meanwhile, Mrinalini, an eminent novelist, gets a call from Dr Bakshi while she holidays at a beach destination and she gets entangled in a murder mystery - a series of dangers. Doctor Bakshi uses his medical methods to uncover hidden secrets from the past. But will Doctor Bakshi be able to uncover the secret of the murder? This is not a subject you get to see every day in the Bengali film industry.
DIRECTED BY
Saptaswa Basu
CAST
Parambrata Chatterjee, Subhashree Ganguly, Bonny Sengupta, Akshay Kapoor, Maahi Kar and others
Date & Time: Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 2 pm
Venue: Yellow Box, Naperville
KABERI ANTARDHAN
Kaberi Antardhan is a gripping drama-thriller that has managed to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. It all starts when Mrinmoy Ghosh, the powerful head police officer in Hatimara, is found dead at his residence. Arghya Sen who takes Mrinmoy's son Amartya's art classes, visits their house when the mystery unfolds. On his arrival, he learns that not only has Mrinmoy been killed, but Kaberi Bhattacharya, Mrinmoy`s beautiful sister, is also missing! Will the new officer-in-charge Pritam Singh be able to help Arghya and Mrinmoy`s family track down Kaberi or will the drunk and irresponsible detective Gokul Debnath derail the investigations, and bring unforeseen truths to light?
DIRECTED BY
Kaushik Ganguly
CAST
Prosenjit Chatterjee, Kaushik Ganguly, Srabanti Chatterjee, Kaushik Sen, Churni Ganguly, Indraneil Sengupta, Ambarish Bhattacharya and others
Date & Time: Saturday, March 4, 2023 at 2 pm
Venue: Yellow Box, Naperville
Gaur Chakraborty is a retired man who lives with his wedding planner son Joy. Gaur’s life revolves around his son, who is not able to reciprocate as much because of his commitment to work. Projapoti is a heartwarming outright entertainer with many sweet moments celebrating the special bond between the father-son duo in the flame of social issues. It makes you laugh and cry. The father wants his son to get hitched but Joy is hesitant as he fears marriage might take him away from his father. Gaur wishes Joy to be married. Will he be successful?
DIRECTED BY
Avijit Sen
CAST
Mithun Chakraborty, Mamata Shankar, Dev, Kharaj, Ambarish, Sweta, Koneenica, Koushani, Biswanath and others
Date & Time: Saturday, February 4, 2023 at 2 pm
Venue: Cine Lounge, Niles
BOUDI CANTEEN
Boudi Canteen is a Bengali movie based on a light-hearted yet heartwarming story about Poulami, a teacher and homemaker, an aspiring woman entrepreneur who wishes to turn her passion for cooking into an enterprising business. As she takes the plunge, the number of obstacles also increases and faces setbacks as she takes the leap towards self-fulfilment. The movie has a simple story telling with alternating emotions in human character. It shows how a family stands up during awkward times to see a good time going through twists and turns. It is a feel-good movie, but a bit different in taste, smell and color.
DIRECTED BY
Parambrata Chetterjee
CAST
Parambrata Chatterjee, Shubhashree Ganguly, Soham Chakraborty, Anusuya Mazumder, Arun Banerjee and others
Date & Time: Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 3 pm
Venue: Yellow Box, Naperville
Belashuru is the story of an elderly couple Biswanath Sarkar and his wife. It revolves with the changes of relationships and bonds among a Bengali joint family. It focuses on different relationships that exist within a family and the bond that parents, children and other members of the family share together. We all tend to take our loved ones for granted. It is only when they are around no more, we realise what's missing from our lives.
DIRECTED BY
Shiboprosad Mukherjee & Nandita Roy
CAST
Soumitra Chatterjee, Swatilekha Sengupta, Rituparna Sengupta, Aparajita Adhya, Kharaj Mukherjee, Monami Ghosh, Shankar Chakraborty, Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee, Anindya Chatterjee
Venue: Classic Cinemas Elk Grove
Date: Saturday, June 11, 2022
ABAR BOCHHOR KOORI PORE
The film is about a reunion of school friends, who are now lost in their own turmoil and monotony of their adulthood. What happens when they suddenly decide to revisit their golden days after 20 long years of separation from each other? Nostalgia and reliving childhood memories with friends lay the foundation of debutant director Srimanta Senguptta’s film, Abar Bochhor Koori Pore. The introductory scene sets the tempo right by capturing old photographs, piggy banks with 20-paise coins, camera rolls and so on. Watch out for the surprise in the end.
DIRECTED BY
Srimanta Senguptta
CAST
Abir Chatterjee, Arpita Chatterjee, Rudranil Ghosh, Tanushree Chakraborty
Venue: Yellow Box, Naperville
Date: Saturday, April 16, 2022
Golondaaj is a historical drama feature showcasing the journey of Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari, known as the ‘Father of Indian Football’, the first Indian to kick a football in India! The love for football amongst Bengalis’ dates back to the late 1800s, when an Indian and more importantly a Bengali, imagined and dared to imbibe Football amongst people by opening several professional clubs for the sport. The movie illustrates a stunning recreation of late 19th century colonial Bengal and a meticulously shot and well-played football game, the first victory of an Indian side against the British rulers. The story of the film is inspired by true incidents from an extremely illustrious period of the Bengal renaissance. The film also narrates how one man goes on to challenging the existing social structure and leading the way like a true leader on the field…the ripples of his action resonates across the country
DIRECTED BY
Dhrubo Banerjee
CAST
Dev, Anirban Bhattacharya, Ishaa Saha, Alexx O'Nell, Indrasish Roy
Venue: Classic Cinemas Kendall 11, Oswego
Date: Saturday, November 13, 2021
DOODH PITHER GACHH
ONLINE SCREENING
Date & Time: Saturday, December 26, 2020 at 7 pm CST/8 pm EST/5 pm PST
Gour, a 7 years old country boy, can't speak properly due to speech disorder which sometimes makes him laughing stock even among his acquaintances. But his childhood is full of naughtiness and frisky activities. His eyes are filled with imperishable dreams. His tender mind believes that rice cake tree exists likewise other fruit bearing trees. From this belief he sows a rice cake, waters it and waits for the sprouting. One day to his surprise, he finds a seedling on this place, he asks to his grandmother, “Is this a rice cake tree?” She smiles and indulges which invigorates his belief. He fantasizes a new world where various rice cake trees are supposed to exist. Infantile mind wants to wing to that land. Considering his imagination is real, one day, Gour runs away from his village and catches a train as if it will carry him to his dreamland.
DIRECTED BY
Ujjwal Basu
CAST
Daminee Benny Basu, Kaushik Roy, Shibani Maity, Harshil Das
Dwitiyo Purush, a Bengali thriller film directed by Srijit Mukherji, is a spin-off to the 2011 movie, Baishe Srabon where Prosenjit Chatterjee dies at the end. In this film we will see Parambrata Chattopadhyay as a police inspector who follows the path that Prasenjit Chatterjee showed him in Baishe Srabon to fight with criminals in various regions of kolkata. In 1993, three serial heinous killings were committed by adolescent Khoka (Rwitobroto Mukherjee) and he was captured by inspector Pranab Roy Chowdhury (Babul Supriyo). 26 years later, in 2019, Khoka (Anirban Bhattacharya) is released from prison and the serial killings begin in the same manner as in 1993. Abhijit Pakrashi (Parambrata Chatterjee) is tasked with capturing the serial killer, leading to a showdown between him and Khoka.
DIRECTED BY
Srijit Mukherji
CAST
Parambrata Chatterjee, Raima Sen, Anirban Bhattacharya, Abir Chatterjee, Gaurav Chakrabarty, Rwitobroto Mukherjee, Ridhima Ghosh
Venue: MovieMax, Niles
Date & Time: Saturday, February 29, 2020
Gumnaami, directed by Srijit Mukherji, is a film based on the Mukherjee Commission Hearings where the three theories about Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's death were discussed and debated. The plane crash theory, the Russian theory (alleged correspondence between the Indian and Russian governments over Bose's whereabouts in 1945, the year he died), and the third one which says Gumnaami Baba was Subhas Chandra Bose. Srijit relied on the Shah Nawaz Committee report, the Khosla Commission report and Mukherjee Commission report (on which the film is based). He also looked into texts that supported the three theories: His Majesty’s Opponent and Habibul Rahman’s testimony and his account of events (plane crash theory); Conundrum by Chandrachur Ghose and Anuj Dhar, India’s Biggest Cover Up by Dhar, What happened to Netaji, Adheer Som’s Gumnaami Baba (Gumnaami Baba theory).
DIRECTED BY
Srijit Mukherji
CAST
Prosenjit Chatterjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Tanusree Chakraborty
Venue: MovieMax, Niles
Date: Sunday, November 10, 2019
It is a film which revolves around the life of a successful RJ Arjun Mallik whose life suddenly screeches a break when he gets diagnosed by Laryngeal Cancer. The whole world around him comes crashing down in front of him. The first hindrance was his profession. His wife, Pritha, played by Paoli Dam is herself a voice artist. Depression takes over Arjun when he can see his wife performing and his own career crashing down in front of him. In the meantime, Romilla- A speech therapist, played by Jaya Ahsan starts training Arjun to speak with Esophageal voice and soon after that Arjun's life takes a positive turn.
DIRECTED BY
Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy
CAST
Shiboprosad Mukherjee, Paoli Dam, Jaya Ahsan, Koneenica Banerjee, Chitra Sen
Venue: MovieMax, Niles
Date: Sunday, June 30, 2019
Basu Paribar will leave you with a warm sense of nostalgia, and fond memories of family gatherings, where just under the surface of mirth and celebration, there are always tidings of grief and despair, whispers, frowns and sniffles. Legendary figures of Indian cinema Aparna Sen and Soumitra Chatterjee head up the ensemble cast of this bittersweet tale of family ties and disillusionment. Basu Paribar is a triumph at almost all levels. An ensemble cast at its best, scintillating dialogues that convey in their simplicity, and often with humor, all the nuances, the many shades of familial relationships.
DIRECTED BY
Suman Ghosh
CAST
Soumitra Chatterjee, Aparna Sen, Rituparna Sengupta, Saswata Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Sudipta Chakraborty, Koushik Sen, Lily Chakraborty, Paran Bandopadhyay, Sreenanda Shankar, Subhasish Mukherjee
Venue: MovieMax, Niles
Date: Sunday, May 19, 2019
The story is about Ghosts who are rendered homeless as all the old haunted buildings in Kolkata have been converted into multi-storied buildings, malls and multiplexes. Their very existence is at stake. Some of them, from varied social-economic background, take shelter is a disused dilapidated single-screen theatre. They plan to make themselves relevant and fit for the future as contemporary ghosts. This is a scathing political satire, full of fun, music and action.
DIRECTED BY
Anik Dutta
CAST
Paran Banerjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Barun Chanda, Moon Moon Sen, Kharaj Mukherjee, Kaushik Sen, Sumanta Mukherjee, Arunava Dutta, Chandrayee Ghosh
Venue: MovieMax, Niles
Date: Sunday, March 31, 2019
The film narrates the story of the invention of Rosogolla. Nobin Chandra Das's father dies soon after Nobin's birth and the faces financial crisis. Nobin decides to become a sweet maker. His love interest (later wife) Khirodmoni suggests and inspires him to invent a new type of sweet. After years of hard work and multiple failures, Nobin invents Rosogolla. This invention makes him famous in West Bengal.
DIRECTED BY
Pavel
CAST
Ujaan Ganguly, Abantika Biswas, Bidipta Chakraborty, Kharaj Mukherjee, Kaushik Sen, Aparajita Auddy, Rajatabha Dutta, Chiranjeet Chakraborty, Shantilal Mukherjee, Subhasree Ganguly
Venue: MovieMax, Niles
Date: Sunday, February 3, 2019
Mahendra Kumar Choudhuri, the middle prince of the Bhawal Estate (also known as the Bikrampur Estate), was affected by syphilis and was taken to Darjeeling for treatment along with his wife, Chandrabati Devi, brother-in-law, Satya, and a family doctor, Ashwini. He apparently died in Darjeeling and was cremated there as well. After 12 years, a Sanyasi shows up at the estate, arousing people's curiosity and leading to a rumour that he is the lost prince of the Bikrampur Estate.
DIRECTED BY
Srijit Mukherji
CAST
Jisshu Sengupta, Jaya Ahsan, Anirban Bhattacharya, Anjan Dutta, Aparna Sen, Rudranil Ghosh, Rajnandini Paul, Barun Chanda
Venue: MovieMax, Niles
Date: Saturday, November 17, 2018
Maati is a 2018 Indian Bengali-language drama film directed by Saibal Banerjee and Leena Gangopadhyay and starring Adil Hussain & Paoli Dam in the lead role. The film encapsulates the emotional upheaval, the deeply personal impact that the Bengal divide has had on the minds of people. It does all of it through Meghla’s (Paoli Dam) journey in search of her roots. 'Maati' traces Meghla's trials with truth and humanity, while tackling issues of migration, human displacement and relationships.
DIRECTED BY
Saibal Banerjee and Leena Gangopadhyay
CAST
Adil Hussain, Paoli Dam, Sabitri Chatterjee, Shankar Chakroborty, Laboni Sarkar, Chandan Sen, Aparajita Adhya, Monami Ghosh, Anusuya Majumdar, Rishi Koushik
Venue: Yellow Box, Naperville
Date: Saturday, September 22, 2018
A heartwarming collage of inter-connected love stories, Ahare Mon is a romantic drama that revolves around people who are otherwise forbidden to fall in love. Anjan Dutt and Mamata Shankar play two members of an old age home who elope and embark on an adventure of a lifetime. Ritwick and Parno play hustlers who plan and pull off one con job after another. Adil Hussain plays an immigration officer at the airport who comes across a ravishing frequent flyer played by Paoli Dam. Chitrangada Chakraborty plays Titli, a girl fighting a terminal disease but crazily in love with Dev.
DIRECTED BY
Pratim D Gupta
CAST
Paoli Dam, Adil Hussain, Mamata Shankar, Anjan Dutt, Parno Mittra, Ritwick Chakraborty, Chitrangada Chakraborty, Dev
Venue: Hollywood Palms Cinema, Naperville
Date: Saturday, August 25, 2018