Chokher Bali is a Bengali

Bengali cinema

Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major film-making hubs in the region: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh .The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first...

 film based on the novel Chokher Bali

Chokher Bali

Chokher Bali , literally Sand of the Eye, equivalent to eyesore, is a Bengali novel written by Rabindranath Tagore in the early twentieth century.-Plot:...

by 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...

. It was directed by Rituparno Ghosh

Rituparno Ghosh

Rituparno Ghosh is a Bengali film director. He has won 8 National Film Awards in India and several awards at international film festivals abroad.- Early life and background :...

 in 2003 and stars Prasenjit as Mahendra, Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is an Indian film actress. She worked as a model before starting her acting career, and ultimately won the Miss World pageant in 1994...

 as Binodini and Raima Sen

Raima Sen

-Early life:She is the daughter of Moon Moon Sen and the granddaughter of legendary actress Suchitra Sen. Her sister, Riya Sen, is also in the Bollywood industry. Their father Bharat Dev Varma is a member of the royal family of Tripura. Her paternal grandmother, Ila Devi, was the princess of Cooch...

 as Ashalata. Ashalata and Binodini refer to each other as Chokher Bali. The other major characters are played by Lily Chakravarty (as Rajlakshmi, Mahendra's mother) and Tota Roy Chowdhury

Tota Roy Chowdhury

Tota Roy Chowdhury is a Bengali Indian male actor of TV and films. An alumnus of Goethals Memorial School, Kurseong; he was brought up in strict discipline by the Irish-Catholic brothers. He represented his school in football, basketball and athletics. In his final year, he won the schools Best...

 (as Behari, Rajlakshmi's adopted son). The film was later dubbed into Hindi and was released internationally under that language.

Upon release, the film met with positive critical and box office reception.

The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali

The Indian National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali winners:...

 and was nominated for the Golden Leopard

Golden Leopard

The Golden Leopard is the top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, an international film festival held annually in Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. Directors in the process of getting an international reputation are allowed to be entered in the competitive selection. The winning films...

 (Best Film) award at the Locarno International Film Festival

Locarno International Film Festival

The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...

 in 2003. The film screened at the 34th International Film Festival of India

International Film Festival of India

The International Film Festival of India , founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually in the beach town of Goa, in the Western Coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excellence of...

 on October 19. The film was the Official Selection at the Chicago International Film Festival

Chicago International Film Festival

The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....

 in 2003 and was showcased in over 25 International Festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

, London Film Festival, Palm Springs, Karlovy Vary and Washington DC International Film Festivals besides winning the Apsara Film Producers' Award for the Best Regional Film 2004.

Plot

Binodini is a young woman who is left to her own devices when her sickly husband dies soon after they are married. She returns to her village and lives there for a couple of months until she sees one of her relatives passing by. Binodini hails the woman and the two soon agree that it would be best if Binodini came to live with the woman and her son, Mahendra. (Mahendra was one of the first to see Binodini's photo when she was unwed yet refused her on account of his being "unready for marriage.") When the two arrive, the woman's son and his new bride are constantly sneaking off to be alone together. This infatuation does not last long, and Mahendra soon begins to see that his wife's friend, Binodini, is more his type. The story details the lives of these three and Mahendra's best friend as they deal with issues as distrust, adultery, lies, and fallings-out.

Music

The film's background score is by Debojyoti Mishra

Debojyoti Mishra

Debojyoti 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....

, and notabily it contains no playback singing. Sreela Majumdar

Sreela Majumdar

Sreela Majumdar is an actress in the Bengali language film industry of India.She has done voice dubbing for Aishwarya Rai in the film Chokher Bali .-Early life:...

 dubbed for Aishwarya Rai in this Bengali film and Sudipta Chakraborty dubbed for Raima Sen.

Culture

In olden days in Bengal, women and girls who were best friends would often set a common nickname for themselves and address each other by that name. In this story, two friends Binodini and Ashalata call each other 'Chokher Bali.'

Cast

• Prasenjit as Mahendra
• Aishwarya Rai
  Aishwarya Rai
  Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is an Indian film actress. She worked as a model before starting her acting career, and ultimately won the Miss World pageant in 1994...
  
   as Binodini
• Raima Sen
  Raima Sen
  -Early life:She is the daughter of Moon Moon Sen and the granddaughter of legendary actress Suchitra Sen. Her sister, Riya Sen, is also in the Bollywood industry. Their father Bharat Dev Varma is a member of the royal family of Tripura. Her paternal grandmother, Ila Devi, was the princess of Cooch...
  
   as Ashalata
• Lily Chakravarty as Rajlakshmi, Mahendra's mother
• Tota Roy Chowdhury
  Tota Roy Chowdhury
  Tota Roy Chowdhury is a Bengali Indian male actor of TV and films. An alumnus of Goethals Memorial School, Kurseong; he was brought up in strict discipline by the Irish-Catholic brothers. He represented his school in football, basketball and athletics. In his final year, he won the schools Best...
  
   as Behari

Critical Reception

Aishwarya has not only given one of her finest performances but also one of the best in cinema.

Professional Reviews
IMDb  link
PlanetBollywood link
ABC Australia Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster... link

Other titles

• Choker Bali: A Passion Play (International: English title)
• Sand in the Eye (India: English title)
• Binodini (India: English title)

External links

• citwf.com page