~~ The Song Of The Road ~~. Review on The Bong Connection

The word “bong” in the title of this movie was enough to draw my attention the first time I ever heard of it and I guess so is the case with thousands of other “bong” people or “bong connected” people residing in Kolkata–no wonder after it’s been released for over nearly three weeks or so, the movie theatres here are still running house-full shows…so even though I heard negative things about the movie from most of my classmates and I am no great fan of the Anjan Dutt(the director), I still went to watch this movie.

The movie is based on the lives of  two groups of “bong” people–one group centered around Apu(Parambrata Chattopadhyay), a simple IT guy who has got a new job in America and has gone to live there leaving his family and girlfriend(who has refused to leave her beloved city Kolkata behind)–Sheela(Raima Sen)–behind in Kolkata and the other group centered around Andy(Shayan Munshi)–a young handsome NRI musician-who has returned to Kolkata from New York to take charge of everything his father ran away from, to take care of his grandfather and to do something to portray to the whole world the rich heritage of Bengali music…

But both protagonists realize that life is not a bed of roses and they can’t make everything happen according to their wishes…

So in Group One–We see Apu as the epitome of simplicity and innocence, much like Aparajita(the Unvanquished) from Pather Panchali: a poor “bong” who is beaten up and robbed by rogues in America on his very first day there, he also realizes that the great room-mate with whom he is sharing his rooms is actually a gay…but he gets over all these things because he is just too good to mind anything.There in America Apu finds many different types of people and learns different heart-breaking but useful lessons of life–a profit motivated cruel boss, Gary(Victor Banerjee) who though a bong, has converted himself into an American but the fact remains that he is “second class American”;some so called “kolkata-loving” bongs who are stuck up in America for ages and complain of the food, culture and everything there, but they don’t really make any effort to come back to Kolkata;he meets a cabbie, Hassan(Shauvik Kundagrami) aka “Haas”, who is a Bangladeshi bong, an outlaw as he has no legal papers and stuff–and with whom Apu has had the time of his life–but Hassan is shot dead by the cops before Apu’s own eyes;he meets Rita(Peeya Rai Chowdhury) there, an American-bong girl whose parents had almost set-up their marriage but Apu refuses to marry the girl as he is afraid that he might break Sheela’s heart, for whom he realizes he doesn’t care more than he cares for the “crazy-spoilt-brat” Rita, then his roommate is also fired from the job by Gary who has got a thing against homosexuals.So Apu goes to defend his room-mate and human rights but he gets chucked out of his job by Gary though Gary admits that Apu remains “The Unvanquished” as he didn’t get scared of Gary’s threats…so **Apu decides to return to India–leaving Rita behind…back to Sheela…

In group-two–Andy gives a mesmerizing performance at ‘Someplace Else’ and Sheela(who also happens to be Andy’s friend) encourages him to do something in the music line in India–Andy inspired by Sheela asks his invalid Grandpa whether he should stay in India for good or not and when his grandpa blinks he decides to do something to bring back the old music which used to be played in Satyajit Ray’s time…but he fails miserably…he tries to compose an album by using just basic instrument like harmonium, flute, sitar et al instead of modern instruments like synthesizer or electronic guitar…but he soon finds out that none of the bong people in kolkata are really bothered about their own glorious musical heritage…so he just spends some nice time with Sheela roaming about Shantinikaten and on the banks of the Hoogly river and then his grandpa who meant a lot to him passes away–his uncle decides to sell their huge family estate but Andy doesn’t consent and after having a huge family argument, he decides to return to America…leaving Sheela behind for good for whom he had developed a soft spot in his heart and who also likewise had started liking him more than a friend…

*Both these young men learn some vital lessons of life in two different countries where they do not belon-they find deeper meaning of life, they find love, and above all-they find what it takes to be a true bong, no matter where you are!

The cast was simply awesome–Shayan Munshi's the best thing about the movie: he looks awesome, speaks in a perfect accent(both American English and bengali), his acting skills are astounding, his gait–oooh…just wonderful, he manages to evoke so much emotion in the audience with just his voice and eyes–in short he is impeccable.Parambrata was also good–he suits perfectly as the silly, innocent, starstruck bong in a new city among new people.Raima Sen was “OK…not bad”–I have never liked the Sen-sisters but Raima Sen was alright in this movie(that’s probably cause she didn’t have much to do in the movie, just a bit of stupid dancing, a bit of giving moral-support and a bit of the Sen-sister’s usual whining).Peeya Rai Chowdhury was also fabulous* as Rita–the rich spoilt brat.Victor Banerjee as usual was great as the cruel boss Gary.Shauvik Kundragami did an amazing job–the flamboyant cabbie Hassan–he showed both a fun side of life and the tragic side of life–a father wanting to go back to his own country to see his daughter and the “Haas” in America who always went on flirting with girls.Soumitra Chatterjee also had a role–as Andy’s dying father but the catch is–he didn’t have a single dialogue to utter!

The music in the movie, all thanks to Neel Dutt, was great–except the remix version of Rabindranath Tagore’s “Pagla Haowae”(though it was sung by Shreya Ghosal and Nachiketa) with Raima Sen dancing like a psycho on the fast beats–it was simply disgusting to have a Ranbindrasangeet remixed like that!Shaan’s “Majhi Re” was mezmerising(probably because it’s picturizes on Shayan Munshi singing at ‘Someplace Else’).Then ‘O Majhi Re’ is another painful-beautiful song by Swapan Basu.The title track “The Bong Connection” rocks alright.And last–the age old track “Tumi Na Thakle”(sung in tribute to our beloved city Kolkata) by Anjan Dutt and Usha Uthup is also included in the movie which summarizes the whole point of “The Bong Connection”.

The cinematography was good and the dialogues were awesome–the funniest dialogue in the movie was when one of the middle aged bong women ask Apu after his arrival in America “Sunlam Naki Victoria Memorial Ke Biye Barir Jonno Bhara Dicche” meaning–“I heard that the Victoria Memorial is being given on rent for Wedding Purposes”–can you believe that!

This movie is probably Anjan Dutt’s tribute to Satyajit Ray–as he name’s his protagonist after Ray’s(or rather Bibhutibhusan’s) Aparajita, Dutt even finds a place in the movie for Soumitra Chatterjee who played Apu in Ray’s Apu-r Sansar…Overall the movie isn’t as bad as most people told me it would be…for non-bong people I am sure it would be a great entertainer, for bengali people–it’s about emotions…*