Kolkata : Bollywood flick ‘Prayabartan’ female lead Mousumi Bhattacharya, her debut Hindi film, says as a Bengali she discovers instant emotional connect with any film themed on Durga Puja.
Mousumi, also features in a significant role of a Anurag Basu production, sounded upbeat about Gogoler Kirti, the thriller unfolding in a ‘bonedi barir pujo’, a centuries old household puja of erstwhile zamindars.
The Hanuman.com actor, having essayed Prosenjit Chatterjee’s wife on-screen in the film on digital bridge, told PTI, “Recreating Puja atmosphere in early Feburary may sound onerous for people outside but not here.”
“Bengalees always look forward to ways in celebrating the puja. None of us complained when we were made to wear sarees typical of the autumn festival days in mid February and blew conch shells to invoke the Goddess during Sandhipuja at shoot.. There is a saying whenever you perform puja, the rituals are to be real and elaborate even before the camera.
“And in that way we are luckier to celebrate puja twice this year, during shoot and now when the ‘real’ puja is in the air and people’s steps,” the doe-eyed girl, having earned audience acclaim for her performance as a village belle opposite Saswata Chatterjee in Sandip Ray’s ‘Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy’ said.
‘Gogoler Kirti’, based on the story Mohisasur Mordini, mirrors the assembly of faraway members of an erstwhile feudal family, with the next generations having settled in other cities and abroad but revisiting the roots during the family puja. The two children, the protagonists of the film including kid sleuth Gogol became our own children.
“As we posed before the Ekchala Protima with dhak beats bringing up the frenzy, we felt the trance and a true family, a big family having split in different parts but retying the bonds. Only a Bengali may understand this most,” Mousumi, whose film Pratyabartan on Maoist issue also stars Mrinal Sen’s ever-dependable actor Sreela Majumder said.
London festival screened Balukabela.com actor Locket Chatterjee, a known face in Tollywood films, says “Puja becomes an important face of Bengali cinema just like the Ganapati festival is for Hindi films set in Mumbai. People outside get familiarized with the colour, the splendor, the sartorial style all manifest during the five-day celebrations.”
Gogoler Kirti, produced by Ishanee Films, is eyeing the puja fervor as the child sleuth, once a regular feature in Pujobarshiki’s (annual autumnal special numbers by publications) will now pop up from the celluloid to wean away the pandal-hopping crowd, director Pompy Ghossh Mukherjee said.
“Our forte is Bengaliness, parampara and the popular literary creations of Bengal which is slowly giving away to the digital world and English paperbacks,” the director said.