Raksha Bandhan 2021: 5 onscreen siblings etched in our hearts forever

Bengali cinema has often explored the sensitive dimensions of different forms in relationships in our lives. And, while the charms of this adorable relationship are already in the air, we can’t help but wonder, who are some of the popular onscreen siblings in Bengali cinema? Take a look at these 5 instances.

The sibling love between Apu and his elder sister Durga is the heart of this Satyajit Ray classic ‘Pather Panchali’. Their scenes of everyday intimacy reflect the eternal bonding between a brother and sister. Ray’s camera captures their squabbles and tenderness, be it the huddling during rainstorm or the chasing scene when they try to tease a man selling sweets – it’s better to have a close look at the sweets instead of living in a world entirely devoid of them.

‘Dada Ami Bachte Chai’ (Brother I Want To Live) could still send chills down anyone’s spine, couldn’t it? In Ritwik Ghatak’s ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’, the way a selfless young woman Neeta (Supriya Choudhury) sacrificed her own happiness for her unappreciative family in the film, it’s like an unmatched one. Shankar (Anil Chatterjee), Neeta’s elder brother and a struggling singer, shares a special relationship with her sister Neeta. They call each other khoka and khuki, a little boy and little girl. When one is mentally down, the other steps in to cheer him up.

‘Dada Ami Bachte Chai’ (Brother I Want To Live) could still send chills down anyone’s spine, couldn’t it? In Ritwik Ghatak’s ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’, the way a selfless young woman Neeta (Supriya Choudhury) sacrificed her own happiness for her unappreciative family in the film, it’s like an unmatched one. Shankar (Anil Chatterjee), Neeta’s elder brother and a struggling singer, shares a special relationship with her sister Neeta. They call each other khoka and khuki, a little boy and little girl. When one is mentally down, the other steps in to cheer him up.

Yet another Ritwik Ghatak gem! The partition drama ‘Subarnarekha’ focuses on the dramatic conflicts portraying a strained relationship between brother and sister. Ishwar (Abhi Bhattacharya) fails to come to terms with his sister Sita (Madhabi Mukherjee), as she plans to marry Abhiram (Satindra Bhattacharya), a lower caste young man. Such caste prejudice turns into a key element in the narrative when Ishwar orders Abhiram to leave for Calcutta. When Ishwar asks Sita to meet the family which came to see her for a possible marriage arrangement, Sita’s refusal leads to a patriarchal violence.

Despite being a talented footballer, a jovial, kindhearted Saheb (Tapas Pal) was often bullied by his arrogant brothers. Only his sister-in-law and sister Bulti (Mahua Roychowdhury) cared for him. Saheb had a lot of potentials but lack of support from his family pulled him down. When Bulti's marriage was fixed with a well-educated family and budget of her marriage was too much to bear for the family, Saheb decides to sell his kidney ending his football career keeping his family in the dark. Barring the melodramatic scenes, watching ‘Saheb’ with your sister can be an emotional tribute to the sibling bonding.

In ‘Ahaa Re’, the sibling bond goes beyond the typical brother-sister love. Bappa, the young boy and Basundhara, his sister-in-law, can show you what sibling love actually means. Bappa who has lost his elder brother and Basundhara who has lost her husband, with time, become the ideal brother-sister jodi sharing their responsibilities to the elderly father.