Recent Bengali films that showed a more realistic side of Indian families

Indian cinema has often been famed all over the world for its grandiose and unrealistic stories. Stories that sometimes make even real life pale in comparison. But thanks to the new wave of content-driven films, there have been a lot of instances when despite coming from one of the most melodramatic cinematic communities in the world, Bengali filmmakers have brightened our world with a realism that not just exactly portrayed the real struggles of family life, but celebrated it too.

Here are a few Bengali movies in recent times that showed us families as they have been - confusing, hyper-stressful, dysfunctional messes which we simply can't help but love and hate and even love some more.

Suman Ghosh’s much anticipated family drama ‘Basu Paribaar’ finally hit the theatres on April 5 and managed to strike the right chord. Rituparna Sengupta, Aparna Sen, Soumitra Chatterjee, Sudiptaa Chakraborty, Jisshu Sengupta, Saswata Chatterjee, Paran Bandopadhyay, Lili Chakraborty – you name it and everyone is here to enthrall you. The family drama revolves around an elderly couple who are married for 50 years and their family members as they decide to celebrate Mr. and Mrs. basu’s 50 years of marriage in a family get together. The story unfolds during the get together of all the family members at their ancestral home.

‘Mukherjee Dar Bou’ explores the relationship between a mother and daughter-in-law in new light. Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy’s Windows Production has always churned out topics that are way beyond our common thoughts and this time they returned to produce Pritha Chakraborty’s directorial debut. What makes this film more special is it released on International Women’s Day this year. So ‘a film by the women, for the women’ tagline seems fitting. Anushua Majumder here played the mother-in-law, Koneenica Banerjee as the daughter-in-law. Biswanath Basu plays Mukherjee Da. While Rituparna Sengupta plays a psychologist, Badshah Moitra and Aparajita Auddy too essays pivotal roles.

The unique bonding between a grandkid and his/her grandparents is beautifully portrayed in Nandita Roy & Shiboprosad Mukherjee’s 'Posto'. No doubt Soumitra Chatterjee, Lily Chakraborty, Mimi Chakraborty and little Arghya Basu Roy gave stellar performances. But the show stealer was none other than Jisshu Sengupta, portraying the alcoholic and struggling painter who tries to be a good son and a good father at the same time. After all, it’s not easy to play a man who ‘dances to his wife’s tunes’ or is ‘dependent on his wife’s income’.

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.

A great family movie gives us so many learning experiences. It highlights the value of a relationship and the bonding between family members. ‘Bela Seshe’ gave a serious message about how we depend on our family to lead a healthy and happy life. Who could have played the challenging role better than Soumitra Chatterjee? His presence made the Shiboprasad-Nandita directorial a really special one. As per the narrative, Biswanath Majumder’s (Soumitra) relation with his three daughters (played by Rituparna Sengupta, Aparajita Auddy and Monami Ghosh) actually forms three layers of a family bonding. However, dissecting a film like ‘Belaseshe’ too much would rather not do justice to the subtlety with which the focal point has been established and examined.

Director Arindam Sil's family drama, narrating the story of Durga Puja has a significant message for the society. A long lost belief that says, the goddess lives inside every woman, is what the film is all about. It's simply the courage of 'Durga,' a young lady from Sundarbans that stops the robbery in the Basak family on Dasami night. Going against the social limitations and prejudices, Durga turns out to be the reflection of Goddess Durga, who protects everything good in this world.