VALENTINE'S DAY TREAT! ‘Saptapadi’ to ‘Ahare Mon’: Bengali romantic movies to get you in the mood for love

The romance genre is wide and sweeping: you can either lean in the emotionally dramatic direction or in the way of comedy. That's what makes it so great; in a way, the romance category has a little bit of something for all of us. And while everyone has a favorite, we've put together the most iconic from Saptapadi to ‘Ahare Mon’, with a couple new favorites scattered in, too. These are some of the most romantic movies ever made. Here is our collection of the evergreen Bengali romantic films to binge on this Valentine’s Day.

In ‘Robibaar’, Prosenjit and Jaya Ahsan play as an estranged couple Asimabha and Sayoni, who got separated in bitterness years ago. However, they come across each other on a Sunday (Robibaar) after a long gap. Both Asimabha and Sayoni try to delve deep into their own lives through self-assessments. While it is quite clear that Prosenjit’s character Asimabha has retained his previous traits, Sayoni has traveled a long way.

The iconic bike sequence of this Bengali classic turned out to be a template for many Bengali romantic tracks. Came to the celluloid during the height of the Uttam-Suchitra wave, ‘Saptapadi’ is all about the doomed romance of a Bengali Brahmin boy and a Christian girl. The movie was packed with all the elements a romantic Bengalee of 1960s can dream of like the immortal music scored by Hemanta Mukhopadhyay. The outstanding camera work, brilliant script, heart-touching music and above all a giant named Uttam Kumar’s one of the career best display turned ‘Saptapadi’ into an almost near perfect movie experience for cinelovers.

Pratim D Gupta’s ‘Ahare Mon’ can fill your heart with warmth while bringing back a smile to a tired soul’s face. 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.

‘Ahaa Re’ ticks all the right boxes given an unconventional premise. A rich Bangladeshi Muslim (Bangladeshi actor Arifin Shuvoo), a middle-class Indian Hindu, and the medium of food, the fusion of Epaar Bangla and Opaar Bangla, to set the course of their love story. There are some noteworthy performances to savour as well. Rituparna Sengupta has delivered with considerable restraint right through. Arifin Shuvoo also excels in his role. As the old patriarch bristling at being addressed as meshomoshai, who is keen to learn magic even at this ripe old age, Paran Bandyopadhyay is exceptional.

Shapmochan is another Uttam Suchitra classic directed by Falguni Mukherjee. The entire film sees Suchitra Sen with her amazing portrayal of Madhuri and her desperation to eliminate a family curse and inspire Uttam Kumar (the character Mahendra) to pursue his musical career. A strong story line and superb acting by some of the stalwarts of the Bengali films make this 1955 classic one of the elite films Uttam and Suchitra has ever acted in.

Sriman Prithwiraj is a comic take on child marriage. With a cult following, Ayan Banerjee and Mahua Roychoudhury as the child-couple are still talked about in every Bengalee adda. The free-flowing comedy flick gave some amazingly rendered traditional Bengali romantic tracks. It’s punctuated by a set of stand-offs the young boy faces, mostly with unwanted results for those who are against him. The Bengali classic is a beautiful pre-adolescent love saga.

The legendary Suchitra Sen and Uttam Kumar – that’s what this movie is all about. It’s simply their charisma, their chemistry, their presence which will captivate you throughout. As per the narrative, Uttam Kumar is an amnesiac following a train accident and meets a doctor played by Suchitra Sen. They fall in love and eventually ties the knot, but soon Uttam Kumar recovers his lost memory after another accident. He then returns to his old life, leaving Suchitra but she visits Calcutta in search of her husband. Uttam fails to recognize her. Isn’t it an intriguing storyline? The climax is even better!

Suchitra Sen’s heartwarming performance in this 1959 classic is still regarded as one of the gems of Bengali cinema. Based on a short story ‘Nurse Mitra’, ‘Deep Jwele Jai’ tells the story of a young nurse (played by Suchitra Sen) who helps a progressive psychiatrist in treating his patients suffering from emotional trauma. However, when the nurse gets involved in a relationship with one of the patients (played by Basanta Chowdhury), things get complicated. One of the most outstanding features of the film is its musical score by Hemanta Mukherjee and the title song ‘Ei Raat Tomar Amar’.

This was the period when Uttam Kumar was intentionally passing on the baton to younger generation. But in ‘Mouchak’ despite a handsome Ranjit Mullick catches the limelight, its still Uttam Kumar who creates larger impression. The legendary actor taught how to make the audiences laugh even with simple performance. It’s one of the rare occasions when the famous comic trio of Robi-Anup-&-Chinmoy acted together and Chinmoy perhaps overshadowed the other two. Arabinda Mukherjee, who already gave the other masterpiece 'Dhanni Meye' (1971), once again showed his mastery over this comedy genre.

The all-time favourite on-screen couple of the Bengali cinema not just created many memorable romantic moments but also shattered many taboos around romance, just like in 1956 classic ‘Sagarika’. Made by the directorial group Agragami, its story follows a young talented lad Arun (Uttam Kumar) with a big dream of studying medicine abroad and the women in he comes across, one of them even cost him dearly. Arun, after being blind for a period, finally reunites with his love and a happy ending sees life becomes all good.

The crackling chemistry between Jisshu Sengupta and Koel Mallick in this movie is eye-popping. ‘Ghare And Baire’ is deals with so many subjects like love, passion, friendship, separation, twist and comedy. In the film, Amit, a band musician, destroys his bohemian dreams of making music in Kolkata and steps into the corporate slavery in Mumbai. He hopes one day he would be able to express his feelings for his best friend Labanya. But he suffers a heartbreak when an unconventional Labanya under tremendous family pressure agrees to a traditional arranged marriage to a ‘Probashi Bangali’.

Entertaining, thrilling, engaging and most importantly 'emotional'! That’s what everyone said after watching this Raj Chakraborty directorial. This movie is a 'stroke of difference' since it heavily differs from other 'commercial blockbusters'. You can actually 'feel' every characters pain and emotion. As per the narrative, there were mainly two couples – one is played by Soham and Mimi Chakraborty and the other one is Abir Chatterjee and Paayel Sarkar. Full of wit, charm and cinematic charisma ‘Bojhena Shey Bojhena’ made the audience glued to theseat until the end. Loaded with really good main and supporting characters the 2012 hit became a sure-surprise gift to all moviegoers.