Flop-E

Director: Preetam Sarkar

Music: Neel Dutta

Cast: Barun Chanda,Sabyasachi Chakraborty,Paoli Dam,Joy Ganguly,Saswati Guhathakurta, Subrajeet Dutta,Monica Chakraborty, Sanjib Mukherjee and Srijit Mukherjee

This critic is reviewing Flop-E because it graphically explains how not to make any film. Directed by first-timer Preetam Sarkar,the film is about four good-for-nothing young men who are passionate about making a brilliant film. However,their ‘passion’ is restricted to loitering about aimlessly in parks and tea-stalls sharing puffs of a single cigarette or riding in the battered,open-roof jalopy of the only moneyed friend among them. Their families live in abject poverty but the three guys remain immune to this.

The story of the four men is sandwiched between two television panel discussions. The first panel discussion is with a multimillionaire who has never faced failure in his life and cannot understand why youngsters in Kolkata seem to be on a suicidal mission. A panel member tells him that he will not understand because he does not know what ‘failure’ means. The millionaire takes on this challenge. He embarks on a project that should be deemed to failure. One of the multimillionaire’s deputies is appointed CEO of the new project –– to choose a crew that can make a ‘flop’ film!

The last panel discussion is with the four young boys who won the ‘flop film’ contract but the film turns out to be a big hit. These two panel discussions moderated by a very popular anchor of a real television channel looks suspiciously like a real-life propaganda for the said channel!

The ‘plot’ if one may call it so,is about how the four finally get to make a film. What film? No one can tell because the narrative suddenly ‘jumps’ to another story involving actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty playing himself,as an internationally-renowned superstar who signs an endorsement for a given product and is almost terrorised by the company even when he is performing the last rites of his mother –– portrayed by his real-life mother! The audience is expected to take it for granted that this is the ‘film-within-the-film’ being made by the four youngsters because there is no link or explanation provided.

What is the director trying to say? Why did Sabyasachi Chakraborty accept this assignment and also include his real-life mother in this pathetic show? What made a talented music director like Neel Dutt to compose? Why the one star at all? The single redeeming factor are the hilarious episodes showing ‘directors’ being interviewed for the ‘flop’ job.