Chaturanga (film)
Encyclopedia
Chaturanga is a Bengali
Movie released in 2008. Directed by Suman Mukherjee, the movie featured Rituparna Sengupta
, Dhritiman Chaterji
, Subrata Dutta, Joy Sengupta and Kabir Suman.
winning author Rabindranath Tagore
, Chaturanga is about a love caught between conflicting worlds of ideas. Set in Colonial Bengal at the turn of the twentieth century, the film weaves a rich tapestry of crisscrossing desires and moralities.The lead protagonist Sachish fleets from radical positivism to religious mysticism in his quest for life's meaning. However, his search ultimately yields nothing but crushing disillusionment. This is because he cannot square his abstract ideals with the powerful presences of two women in his life. One of them is Damini, a young Hindu widow, and the other is Nanibala, the abandoned mistress of Sachish's own brother.Sachish tries to convince himself that Nanibala is simply a helpless woman who needs to be 'rescued' by him. Similarly, during his later religious phase, he pretends that the widow Damini is merely an enticement of Nature that must be avoided at all costs for spiritual salvation.Chaturanga thus becomes, after a point, a psychodrama of unbelievable cruelty. Nanibala becomes a victim of it because as a 'fallen woman' she can only be 'saved', but her humanity cannot be recognized.Damini is first given away by her dying husband, along with all her property, to a religious guru. She then falls in love with Sachish who can accept her only without her sexuality.
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
Movie released in 2008. Directed by Suman Mukherjee, the movie featured Rituparna Sengupta
Rituparna Sengupta
Rituparna Sengupta is an Indian actress. She is the leading actress in Bengali Cinema for the last decade in India, and is also currently performing in critically acclaimed Hindi Cinema.- Early life and education :...
, Dhritiman Chaterji
Dhritiman Chaterji
Dhritiman Chaterji is an Indian actor. He began his acting career in 1970 as the protagonist of Satyajit Ray's Pratidwandi . Most of his acting work has been in the India's "parallel", or independent, cinema with filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen, among others...
, Subrata Dutta, Joy Sengupta and Kabir Suman.
Plot
Based on the novel by the Nobel PrizeNobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winning author Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, Chaturanga is about a love caught between conflicting worlds of ideas. Set in Colonial Bengal at the turn of the twentieth century, the film weaves a rich tapestry of crisscrossing desires and moralities.The lead protagonist Sachish fleets from radical positivism to religious mysticism in his quest for life's meaning. However, his search ultimately yields nothing but crushing disillusionment. This is because he cannot square his abstract ideals with the powerful presences of two women in his life. One of them is Damini, a young Hindu widow, and the other is Nanibala, the abandoned mistress of Sachish's own brother.Sachish tries to convince himself that Nanibala is simply a helpless woman who needs to be 'rescued' by him. Similarly, during his later religious phase, he pretends that the widow Damini is merely an enticement of Nature that must be avoided at all costs for spiritual salvation.Chaturanga thus becomes, after a point, a psychodrama of unbelievable cruelty. Nanibala becomes a victim of it because as a 'fallen woman' she can only be 'saved', but her humanity cannot be recognized.Damini is first given away by her dying husband, along with all her property, to a religious guru. She then falls in love with Sachish who can accept her only without her sexuality.
Cast
- Dhritiman ChaterjiDhritiman ChaterjiDhritiman Chaterji is an Indian actor. He began his acting career in 1970 as the protagonist of Satyajit Ray's Pratidwandi . Most of his acting work has been in the India's "parallel", or independent, cinema with filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen, among others...
... Uncle - Rituparna SenguptaRituparna SenguptaRituparna Sengupta is an Indian actress. She is the leading actress in Bengali Cinema for the last decade in India, and is also currently performing in critically acclaimed Hindi Cinema.- Early life and education :...
... Damini - Subrat Dutta... Sachish
- Joy Sengupta... Sribilash
- Kabir Suman... Lilananda
- Trina Nileena Banerjee ... Nanibala
Crew
- Screenplay & Direction Suman MukhopadhyaySuman MukhopadhyaySuman Mukhopadhyay or Suman Mukherjee is a prominent contemporary Indian filmmaker and a theatre director.-Career:He has done theatre productions ranging from European drama to major adaptations of Bengali masterpieces. Among which are Teesta Paarer Brittanto and Samay Asamayer Brittanto,...
- Cinematography Indranil Mukherjee
- Editing Arghakamal Mitra
- Music Debojyoti MishraDebojyoti MishraDebojyoti Mishra is an Indian film composer. He became popular with his minimalist classical compositions for the film Raincoat. He also worked on a Bengali film, Chaturanga....
- Playback singers Shafqat Amanat AliShafqat Amanat AliShafqat Amanat Ali Khan is a Pakistani classical singer belonging to Patiala Gharana lineage. He is the youngest brother of the late Asad Amanat Ali Khan. He was the lead vocalist of the Pakistani rock band Fuzön...
, Kartick Das Baul, Parama Banerjee, Arijit Choudhury - Production Design Hiran MitraHiran MitraHiran Mitra is an artist based in Kolkata . He left his ancestral country home in Kharagpur to study Fine Art in the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata at the age of 14. His paintings are energetic abstract gestural paintings with the choreography of the human body observed from folk dance...
- Costume Design Suchismita Dasgupta
- Sound Design Jojo Chaki and Anirban Sengupta (Dream Digital)
- Sound Consultant Sukanta Mazumdar
- Subtitles and Consultant Anustup Basu
- Production Controller Pritam Choudhury
- Executive Producer Mallika Jalan
- Producer Avik Saha, Vishal Jhajharia
- Production Company Campfire Films
Music
The songs, especially those from the Vaishnav tradition, are erotic. The divine is expressed in them through allegorical depictions of the illicit love between Krishna and Radha, who was actually his aunt. There is a radical side to this blend of eroticism and divinity. Radha's love for Krishna is beyond all social norms. It is directly expressed, without the priest or the Brahmin caste coming in between. When devotees sing and rejoice in that form of love, it is thus a popular and democratic process that defies caste divisions.- Allah Ke Nur—Shafqat Amaanat Ali & Chorus
- Din Thakte Tiner Sadhan—Kartick Das Baul
- Bhajo Patito Udhadharana—Arijit Chakraborty & Chorus
- Hara Gauri Prananath—Dohar
- Esraj—Instrumental
- Hari Haraye Nama—Monomoy Chakraborty & Chorus
- Jagohu Brishobhanu—Sri Bani Kumar Chatterjee & Chorus
- Hese Khele Nao Re Jogu—Neel Mukherjee & Chorus
- Rupo Lagi Aankhi Jhure—Raghab Chatterjee
- Joy Radhe Radhe—Arijit Chakraborty & Chorus
- Moula Tere Bina—Shafqat Amaanat Ali & Chorus
- Nirodo Nayane—Santa Das
- Background Music—Instrumental
- Praner Majhe Sudha (Hum)-- Parama Banerjee
- Radha Madhabo—Kabir Suman & Chorus
- Aalo Je Amar Gaan Kore—Parama Banerjee
Critical reception
- The film version of Tagore’s novel Chaturanga releases on 21 November five years after Rituparno Ghosh gave us the passionate period piece Chokher Bali. Chaturanga director Suman Mukhopadhyay tells t2 about the challenges of adapting a complex Tagore tale for screen.
- Suman Mukhopadhyay, who has just completed post-production of his second film Chaturanga based on a noted novelette by Rabindranath Tagore, talks about his film in detail .
- Hélas, je n'ai vu que la moitié du film indien Chaturanga (Four Chapters) de Suman Mukhopadhyay. Cette année, les premières projections de certains films en compétition sont programmées à des heures tellement tardives qu'on ne peut assurer tout le service. Désolée!
- L'un des trois films inscrits hier en compétition officielle manquait à l'appel. Enfin, pas tout à fait. Retenues en transit quelque part entre l'Argentine et le Québec, les bobines de Lluvia n'ont pu arriver à temps pour la représentation de la matinée. En revanche, l'honneur devrait quand même être sauf car la représentation de gala devrait avoir lieu comme prévu ce soir à 21h30. Ô cinéma, que de sueurs froides en ton nom! Nous. reviendrons ainsi plus tard sur l'entrée Argentine.
- Chaturnaga, a Rabindranath Tagore classic is now on the big screen. Tagore's highly acclaimed work was written in 1916 and is now being adapted into a feature film by filmmaker Suman Mukhopadhyay. "I realised there will be a lot of expectations attached, but I was very intrigued by the story," said Suman Mukhopadhyay, director.
- Chaturanga, which has been made into a film, has been shortlisted in the world competition section at the Montreal World Film Festival.