Ek Din Achanak
Encyclopedia
Ek Din Achanak is a 1989 art film
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...

 directed by Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen is a Bengali Indian filmmaker. He was born on 14 May 1923, in the town of Faridpur, now in Bangladesh in a Hindu family. After finishing his high school there, he left home to come to Calcutta as a student and studied physics at the well-known Scottish Church College and at the...

, based on a Bengali novel, Beej by Ramapada Chowdhury..

Synopsis

One evening, in the midst of torrential rains, a professor (Shreeram Lagoo) goes out for a walk and fails to return. As the evening stretches into days and the days into weeks with no sign of him, the member of his family struggle both to regain their footing and to understand what might have caused him to leave. Slowly they return to their quotidian activities. The professor's son Amit (Arjun Chakraborty
Arjun Chakraborty
Arjun Chakraborty is an Indian actor and director presently based at Kolkata.He made is debut as an actor in the 1983 Hindi film Zara Si Zindagi, and his first major role was in the 1986 film Ankush starring Nana Patekar. Later he shifted mainly to the Bengali film industry starting with the 1989...

) establishes his fledgling business; his younger daughter Sima (Roopa Ganguly) resumes her studies at college; and his elder daughter, Neeta (Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...

), the backbone of the family, returns to her office job.

Behind the facade of normalcy, though, the family is deeply wounded. Amit enjoys success in his business but is bitter and dour. Neeta has a very patient and supportive boyfriend (Anjan Dutt) but the relationship is stuck in a holding pattern. And their mother (Uttara Baokar) suffers debilitating depression. Their hesitant attempts to piece together the Professor's state of mind before his disappearance raise more questions than they answer: Was he having an affair with a former student (Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...

)? Was his academic career crumbling? Was he a plagiarist?

Cast

  • Shabana Azmi
    Shabana Azmi
    Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...

     - Neeta
  • Shreeram Lagoo - Professor (Neeta's father)
  • Aparna Sen
    Aparna Sen
    Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...

      - Student
  • Uttara Baokar
    Uttara Baokar
    Uttara Baokar is an Indian stage actor, who also acts in both on films and television. An alumna of National School of Drama, she remained lead actress with the NSD Repertory Company in the 1970s and '80s, a period which saw the revival of Hindi theatre in Delhi, before moving to television and...

      - Neeta's mother
  • Roopa Ganguly - Seema (Neeta's sister)
  • Arjun Chakraborty
    Arjun Chakraborty
    Arjun Chakraborty is an Indian actor and director presently based at Kolkata.He made is debut as an actor in the 1983 Hindi film Zara Si Zindagi, and his first major role was in the 1986 film Ankush starring Nana Patekar. Later he shifted mainly to the Bengali film industry starting with the 1989...

     - Neeta's brother
  • Manohar Singh
    Manohar Singh
    Manohar Singh was a distinguished Indian theatre actor-director and a character actor in Hindi films. He is best known for his performances in films such as Party and Daddy...

     - Neeta's uncle
  • Anjan Dutt - Neeta's boyfriend
  • Lily Chakravarty - Neighbour
  • Anil Chatterjee
    Anil Chatterjee
    Anil Chatterjee was a Bengali actor in the Bengali cinema during the early fifties through to the late eighties and was mostly remembered as a character actor. He acted in about 45 movies, both as a character actor and in leading roles with the limited opportunities he received during his time...

     - Arunbabu

Awards

  • 1989: National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
    National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
    The National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress winners:...

    : Uttara Baokar
    Uttara Baokar
    Uttara Baokar is an Indian stage actor, who also acts in both on films and television. An alumna of National School of Drama, she remained lead actress with the NSD Repertory Company in the 1970s and '80s, a period which saw the revival of Hindi theatre in Delhi, before moving to television and...

  • 1989: Venice Film Festival
    Venice Film Festival
    The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

    : OCIC Award - Honorable Mention: Mrinal Sen
    Mrinal Sen
    Mrinal Sen is a Bengali Indian filmmaker. He was born on 14 May 1923, in the town of Faridpur, now in Bangladesh in a Hindu family. After finishing his high school there, he left home to come to Calcutta as a student and studied physics at the well-known Scottish Church College and at the...


External links

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