Kolkata Comeback

IF Bollywood has 8216;crossover8217; as its holy grail, Tollygunge8217;s equivalent would be the Comeback Trail. Only, it8217;s actually...

IF Bollywood has 8216;crossover8217; as its holy grail, Tollygunge8217;s equivalent would be the Comeback Trail. Only, it8217;s actually happening in Kolkata, people are talking about it, with their fingers tightly crossed.

ASH AND CASH

The first confirmed sign of the good times lies in the sudden solvency of the Bengali film industry. From Yash Chopra to Ramoji Rao, they have evinced interest or have already invested in Tollygunge8217;s film studios. And following the money trail have come Bollywood stars like Aishwarya Rai, Sharmila Tagore and Raakhee. Which, of course, spells hope for the industry.

The figures back it up. Y2K saw 32 Bengali films released, in 2001, it was 41 and in 2002, the figure hit 50. So even as its richer cousin across the country was wailing about the uncertainty of the movie business, in Tollywood, 80 new producers enrolled themselves with the Eastern India Motion Pictures8217; Association, the apex body of producers and exhibitors in Kolkata.

THE BABU BIT

Of course, it8217;s all propelled by a return of the audiences to the cinemas. 8216;8216;Bengalis are back to watching Bengali films,8217;8217; observes noted filmmaker Buddhadev Dasgupta. 8216;8216;That8217;s why more Bengali films are being made. They are not limiting themselves to commercial cinema, but also the other kind, alternative cinema.8217;8217;

The first signs of good times ahead came with the success of a potboiler called Sasur Bari Zindabad literally, Long Live the In-Laws, produced by Shree Venka-tesh Films. The film ran for 25 weeks, a phenomenon almost unheard of since the glory days of Uttam Kumar. Since then, quite a few films have hit the bull8217;s eye 8212; Sonar Sansar, Inquilab, Jeeban Juddha, Pratibaad 8212; though none are quite in the same league as Saathi, a launch film for two newcomers, which was released on April 15, 2002, and is still playing to packed houses.

KAHANI MEIN TWIST

Since not much has changed about the movie-going experience in Bengal 8212; cinemas are by and large decrepit and Kolkata is yet to get its first multiplex 8212; the credit for the newfound success must go to the films themselves. Says Mahinder Soni of Shree Venkatesh Films, 8216;8216;Earlier, we made masala films with Mumbai plots 8212; murder and revenge, song and dance 8212; but made them shoddily. Now we invest more money, get technicians from Mumbai and the South, and make better looking films.8217;8217; So, the majority of Tollywood8217;s productions may still be puerile, but they look slick and, most important, they make money.

CASH AND TANGO

It8217;s the oldest truth in the book: Money begets money. So, says Biplab Sinha, manager of Vijay Lakshmi Films, 8216;8216;Since Hindi films are pirated as soon as they are released, there is no point distributing them. But Bengali films are not pirated like that. So we have given up distributing Hindi films and started producing Bengali films.8217;8217;

GETTING LUCKY

That8217;s the makers of alternative cinema. Says Aparna Sen, whose English-language film Mr and Mrs Iyer is doing brisk business across the country, 8216;8216;The boom is good for Tollygunge as a whole. People are not only watching commercial films, they are watching films made by us as well.8217;8217;

Interestingly, the same people are pumping money into both kinds of cinema. Shree Venkatesh, for instance, is bankrolling Rituparno Ghosh8217;s Chokher Bali 8212; the film that brought Aishwarya to Tollygunge 8212; and has approached Sen for another film. Explains Soni, 8216;8216;Films directed by the likes of Dasgupta, Sen, Rituparno sell, that8217;s why we make them.8217;8217;