Recent Bengali Films based on significant historical events

Bengali movies have always been great at capturing historical events. Over the past few years, we have seen some thought-provoking films that actually reopened history narrating the incidents that once left a mark in Bengal's history and culture. Soumik Sen's latest ‘Mahalaya’ that revolves around the public outrage in 1976 following Akashvani Kolkata’s controversial replacement of Birendra Krishna Bhadra with Uttam Kumar for Mahisasurmardini. Here we take a look at some other recent Bengali movies capturing history precisely.

Set against the backdrop of a 19th century Bengal, the fictionalized biopic is based on the life of Nabin Chandra Das, the inventor of the popular Bengali sweet delicacy. When Pavel announced ‘Rosogolla’ it surprised everyone because of the unique, never-told-before real-life story. The biopic details the exciting journey of the dessert pioneer who is keen to concoct a new sweet to win over his newly-wed wife Khirodmoni. After going through so many obstacles, he eventually emerges victorious and also rises to eminence. ‘Rosogolla’ has one of the best ensemble casts, more specifically character artists that we have witnessed in the recent times. With Kharaj Mukherjee, Shantilal Mukherjee, Aparajjita Auddy, Subhasree Ganguly, Kaushik Sen, Chiranjeet Chakraborty, Rajatava Dutta and many others gracing the cast, it’s surely a treat to watch.

‘Mahalaya’, written and directed by Soumik Sen, sheds light on the developments of 1976, after Akashvani Kolkata decided to replace Birendra Krishna Bhadra with Uttam Kumar in the hugely popular radio show 'Mahisasuramardini'. The move led to a massive public outrage in Bengal and Bhadra was ultimately reinstated. When a movie speaks about not one but many legends of a culturally enriched society, you have to go for a topnotch cast and the ensemble cast of ‘Mahalaya’ doesn't disappoint us at all. The audience is glad to see Jisshu Sengupta as Uttam Kumar and Subhasish Mukherjee as Birendra Krishna Bhadra. Subhomoy Chatterjee plays Pankaj Mullick.

It’s a court room drama is based on ‘A Princely Imposter’ by Partha Chatterjee revolving around the famous 1975 ‘Bhawal sanyasi’ court case. ‘Ek Je Chhilo Raja’ revolves around Mahendra Kumar Chowdhury, the middle prince of Bhawal Estate, who was down with syphilis and had to be taken to Darjeeling for better treatment along with his wife Chandrabati Devi, brother in law Satya Banerjee and a family doctor Ashwini. He apparently breathed his last in Darjeeling and was cremated there. After 12 long years, a sanyasi returns to the estate and a rumour spreads like wild fire that he is none other than the lost prince of Bikrampur estate. Jisshu Sengupta’s unbelievable look as the Bhawal Sanyasi and his stellar acting earned him accolades.

Set against the backdrop of the liberation war of Bangladesh, ‘Bhuban Majhi’ stars Parambrata Chatterjee and Bangladeshi actress Aparna Ghosh in the lead. Directed by Fakhrul Arefeen Khan, the indo-Bangladesh film revolves around an epic love story of Baul Nohor Majhi (Parambrata) living in Kushtia. A journalist turned documentary filmmaker visits Kushtia to shoot for a documentary on Baul culture and there he meets Nohor Baul. Eventually the journalist finds out Nohor Baul was a freedom fighter who fought in the liberation war in 1971.

This movie is a great example of Srijit Mukherjee's ‘treat to watch’ style of filmmaking. The story highlighted a completely different image of the partition of India. A group of prostitutes played by Rituparno Sengupta, Saayoni Ghosh and Sohini Sarkar in this Bengali epic, who refused to leave their brothel for the creation of Radcliffe Line (a boundary demarcation line between India and Pakistan made on 17 August 1947 ). The honest and striking narrative Srijit used earned the film an 'A' certificate. The content he followed, received positive reviews although there were some factual mistakes. Such was the popularity that the renowned director later made this movie in Hindi also as ‘Begum Jaan’ in 2017 where it was Vidya Balan who portrayed the titular role.