2019 Hiralal Sen Award: The 10 Bengali films which competed for the Best Bengali Film award

Last year his film made headlines for all the good reasons. ‘Rainbow Jelly’ was one of the surprise hits of Bengali cinema in 2018. And now director Soukarya Ghosal has one more reason to celebrate. He has just won the Hiralal Sen Award given to the Best Bengali Film of the year. 25 jury members of the Film Federation Societies of India (East) select the best film from top 10 Bengali films of the year for the prestigious award. This year Parambrata Chatterjee, Indrasis Acharya, Pratim D Gupta all vied for the award after delivering one of the most prosperous years of Bengali cinema in recent years in 2018. Have a look at the Tollywood films which were nominated for the 2019 Hiralal Sen Award.

Soukarya Ghoshal's children fantasy drama ‘Rainbow Jelly’ surprised everyone with its unique content and went on to win several awards in international film festivals. It narrates the story of an underprivileged child Ghoton (played by Mahabrata) who stays with his angry uncle played by Kaushik Sen. His uncle rebukes him every time, so the kid is left with no other choice but to take refuge in the fantasy. One day, an angel named Pori Pisi (Sreelekha Mitra) visits him and says if the uncle is fed food of seven colours, he will become a different person. Pori Pishi prepares a rainbow jelly for the child and life is never the same for him again.

Pratim D Gupta’s ‘Ahare Mon’ can fill your heart with warmth while bringing back a smile to a tired soul’s face. It’s a true celebration of cinema and life! Deliberation in the design of four stories and the unpredictable equations between the lead characters has elements that right away inspire us to feel lucky for the little joys in life. The film doesn’t raise intellectual questions, neither has it a happy ending. The film only tells the stories often hidden in social norms and the realities of a mundane life. Pratim D Gupta not only delivers his finesse in storytelling but also surprises with the vibrancy in each of the characters. Together these characters make ‘Ahare Mon’ a vibrant kaleidoscope of life, filled with emotions and leave you with a smile or even a lump in your throat, yet fully satiated!

Abir Chatterjee made intelligent and witty Shona Da all fun who has inclination towards both history and mystery!! His fans instantly connected with the character as he embarked on an adventurous treasure hunt! Abir’s smart appearance as the protagonist Subarna Sen AKA Sona da, a history professor from Oxford University, in this treasure hunt drama is the main USP to attract the audience. He has played sleuth characters like Byomkesh and Feluda, but as the young and intelligent heartthrob, Abir once again wins hearts.

‘Shonar Pahar’ highlights the fading shades of an elderly person's life and how a strong bond is built between a kid and an old woman. The film, directed by Parambrata Chatterjee, tries to strengthen that bond further. In today's era of the rat race, kids should spend more time with their family especially the grandparents who have the ability to nurture and shape their mind in the right way, that’s the message it spreads. The story is about an elderly woman who has to confront a tense relationship with her son and ultimately finds some sort of peace in her friendship with a little boy. Pillared by a captivating performance of Tanuja and the amazingly vibrant little Srijato Bandopadhyay, ‘Shonar Pahar’ manages to tug at your heartstrings at the exact places giving a memorable emotional experience deeped in sensitivity. Jisshu and Param enhance the cinematic experience in their own brilliance without even disturbing the warm and soft center-stage journey of Upama and Bitlu.

The dreams and memories of an elderly woman are narrated to us as she witnesses them. Jonaki (played by late Lolita Chatterjee) is almost in her deathbed and the memory of her entire life, starting from her love affair with a Christian boy (Jim Sarbh), is being shown to the audience. In her decaying memories, all looks at their most memorable forms. While she is in eighties, others look much younger when the memory is from her teenage years. Be it her doomed love or the arranged marriage where she was not happy, it covers the basic story but the film has a lot more to narrate.

‘Maati’ weaves around Meghla (played by Paoli Dam) who returns to her ancestral home in Bangladesh, years after her grandmother’s mysterious death. Her grandmother (played by Aparajita Adhya) decided not to leave Bangladesh after the partition but later she was murdered by one of her trusted men. Meghla finds out the murderer’s descendants are now living in the same house. In Bangladesh, she meets Jamil (Adil Hussain) who explains the stark reality in contrast to Meghla’s so-called illusions about her ancestral home. The story is also about her journey back to the root and realizations about an undivided Bengal’s history and the ill effects of partition.

Anindya Chatterjee’s ‘Monojder Adbhut Bari’ is like a theatre of the absurd at its best. Despite made with a shoe-string budget, it’s a must watch, whatever your age group may be. The children adventure drama, based on Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay’s novel by the same name, turned out to be a huge hit despite facing tough competition from other big releases like ‘Ek Je Chhilo Raja’, ‘Byomkesh Gowtro’, ‘Kishore Kumar Junior’ and ‘Hoichoi Unlimited’ last year. Featuring some of industry’s big names like Soumitra Chatterjee, Sandhya Roy, Abir Chatterjee, Bratya Basu, Rajatabha Dutta, Shilajit Majumdar, what makes ‘Monojder Adbhut Bari’ such a delight to watch are the crazy characters and their awesome quirks.

Directing his second film Pupa, Indrasis Acharya earned accolades for working with such a difficult and controversial subject of euthanasia. Choosing such a hard-hitting subject is always a risky business as it requires a really sensitive handling and Indrasis Acharya did it like a pro never attempting to put in extra effort to make the story further complex. The film was made with a shoe-string budget and saw a small scale release but those who were lucky to see it were moved by the sincerity of the narrative. Indrasis even earned an overwhelming response at many prestigious film festivals as well.

Uronchondi narrates the story of four different people who embark on a journey together. The plot follows three female protagonists from three different generations - Chitra Sen, Sudiptaa Chakraborty and newcomer Rajnandini Paul, and a young lorry driver Chottu played by Amartya Roy. There are so many instances in our society in which women from a very young age confront oppression, torment and debauchery. The characters Chitra Sen, Sudiptaa and Rajnandini are playing portray the faces of such women who eventually stand apart after facing years of abuse and repression.

Directed by Manoj Michigan, this film showed why Abir is called as the one-man army in Tollywood. He is certainly every director's delight. Although at the initial phase of the film, his character to some extent reminded us of his previous portrayal of 'Abby Sen', with the film’s progress his character starts to reform and transforms into a completely different one. Abir as Joy Chatterjee will no doubt compel you to reconstruct yourself. Jaya Ahsan too leaves her mark opposite Abir.