The Bong Connection

Who wrote the character of Hasan into the plot? Thats the hammiest performance ever from anyone - the actor looks like he is out of a school play - no, I take it back - I have seen child actors perform with more intensity in school plays.

And who cast Peeya Rai Chowdhuri? She definitely needed Rita Koiral to dub for her shrill voice which made it hard to understand (and along with that forced accent) three quarters of what she was trying to say.

What was the director thinking when he put these two amateurs in the team that had Soumitra Chatterjee, Victor Banerjee and Mamata Shankar in its revered cast ?

And then the beer. You think there will be a sober moment, but no! everyone was drinking and driving and was making merry throughout the time that would not pass as fast as I would want it to, but my friends kept assuring me this will get better.

The only scene that was an original was Apu washing his hair instead of his mouth after throwing up in front of the girl he was trying to charm and that too, right before they started having that mouth-to- mouth kiss. Interesting ... but it would really have helped to spread the word on hygiene had Apu washed his mouth before kissing this chic.

And then the title soundtrack - could it not have been lifted from George Michael's 'Faith' to that extent? Did it not suffice that Mr. Tagore's songs were completely twisted into the new generation theme tune?

Bong Connection failed to connect with me but maybe in some weird ways, there are taxi drivers who happen to have two girlfriends and a relaxed life while driving cabs to make money and maybe there are white American wives whose only job is to deliver drinks to her husband and their guests from morning.

Oh and why was everyone so bitter everywhere? Guess the alcoholism was not helping cool any of them. Perhaps next time Mr. Dutt should use some marijuana instead of beer and chill the characters.

One of the better movies I've seen. Just as a film, it is well made. Parallel plots with a lot of convergence. Lot of intelligent (cross) references at different places. The dig at Mira Nair's Namesake was brilliant (I found that movie more than a tad boring). Satayajit Ray's Apu was brought up time and again, and near the end there was a direct reference to it - acknowledging Ray's hero.

As the other comments say, there is much stereotyping. But most of the humor and characterization come from this. Some characters like Andy are too good to be true, but as in all stories, the protagonist is such.

The fact that I could relate to the movie, made it all the more enjoyable. It has nice songs too, which do not spoil the storyline too much, as songs are wont to.

The director, Anjan Dutt usually makes black comedies more close to Bengali intellectuality. He maintains the same genre, but in a more subtle way. The film conveys a stronger message and has a more positive and generic feel to it.

Raima Sen looks great but doesn't flex too much of her facial muscles. Peeya Rai Choudhuri is pretty believable as the American youngster. All in all an enjoyable see.

I just couldn't relate to this film-everything is over-the-top & cliché-ridden. Particularly the American part is filled with the stereotypical distorted view of America many Indians have-street crime committed by minorities, homosexuals, constant drinking & throwing up, gun-toting cops shooting a fleeing suspect & the racist, homophobic Bengali-turned ugly American. And of course the Bengali girl who becomes a slutty American teenager. I doubt any American successful businessman, no matter what his real feelings are, would openly spout such racist & homophobic nonsense in this day and age. The Kolkata part wasn't that much better either, it sure gives the feeling all older generation Bengalis are losers & younger generation are all aping the West, again stereotypical characterizations. Andy-the paragon of idealism-comes off as a mixture of an idiot and a snob. One other thing. I doubt Rahul's girlfriend Sheela-with her obvious Westernized ways, would be so averse to going to America. The less said about Hasan the better. The one character I liked was Rakesh...the mixture of neither feeling he belongs in America fully, but at the same time knowing he cant go back, and dealing with both realizations is indeed something many expats go through (altho' I haven't heard the term second class citizen too many times these days). While one may forgive Andy's naiveté at thinking Kolkata is still the Baul music city of his dreams, his lecturing to people right & left about how to live comes off as annoyingly snobbish rather than an artist reaching out.

For one who has stayed abroad for a considerable amount of time and been in touch with the ex-pats community, this movie comes as a reflection to ones own self.

All the characters are defined to perfection and everyone of them did play his or her job neatly. The characters are real, the situations apt and the portrayal of bengalis be it from kolkata or from houston are made with perfect light and I can proudly say that in recent times, I have not come across another PERFECT movie as this. A few veteran actors were though wasted and could have been done away with.

The character of Hasan is as true as my taxi driver in Abu Dhabi and the typical bengali chit chat gossip in a idle get together on weekends are lifted from my times in London and made me nostalgic.

Thank you Mr. Dutt for giving us a brilliant movie with all perfect cast and technicians. The use of music was good too but the durations could have been cut short by a few minutes each time.

Its a TENner from me.

Anjan Dutta delivers a dud. (Bow Barracks Forever was better any day.)Totally clichéd and lacking subtlety, Bong Connection left me cold. Does Mr Dutt actually know what the usual Bong does when he/she goes to "phoren" lands these days? Parambrata, who fails miserably as an actor here, seems to get into all sorts of trouble the moment he lands there. The situations are unreal and ridiculous, and the De Niro-ish (hope the great actor doesn't ever get to watch this) over-the-top performance by the Bangladeshi taxi driver is laughable.

Halfway through, I felt Shayan Munshi would salvage the film. I could see he was trying his best, and I give the two stars to the film for his role (and also for the gorgeous Raima Sen, who sadly doesn't have much to do), and a song that he sings in a club.

You don't need much imagination to do a remix of Tagore's "paagla hawa" (and it is the "in" thing these days); yet, the director fails even in this. The song doesn't touch you, the visuals don't move you. It seemed forced, as if they were conscious they were doing something new, something great. Ha! In the end, I wished Mir had more footage: he could have tried to at least make me laugh; but laugh I did, at the immaturity of the production and the lack of intelligence of everyone involved in the making of Bong Connection.