Madly Bangali

Patches of good craftsmanship here and there. And a couple of good songs. That apart, Madly Bangalee is just what most Anjan Park Street Dutt's films are- pretentious, pompous, puerile.

Slightly self indulgent just like the target audience it's meant for. A coming of age film that is as underrated as it is elegant. I watched it long time ago when it was released and i've watched it again 12 year later. I finally get it.

One of my friends suggested me to watch this film and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for that,else I would have missed out an extremely well scripted,well-crafted cinematic gem.Being a film-explorer I watch almost all kinds of films of various genres,from various countries and various ages and I am pretty surprised after watching this.This one certainly stands out.

'Madly Bangali',one of the finest films that I have watched, is not just a film.It is an experience.This film is about a group of youngsters,from eclectic backgrounds, in their late teens-early 20's, and their struggling rock band named 'Madly Bangali'.They share an extremely strong bond of friendship with Bobby(Lew Hilt),an indebted English man in his late 50's who runs a garage which serves as the place where the band practices.One day Bobby's friend San Banerjee (Anjan Dutta) drops by and offers to mentor this group of youngsters.The rest of the film is all about the journey of these passionate souls,their life evolving around music,love,friendship,emotions,phases in their relationship with people ,friends and family etc and various incidents which affects them and people around them. Kudos to Anjan Dutta for coming up with such a brilliant script. The best part is the treatment of this film.One can clearly make out that a major source of inspiration behind each and every frame of this film is life itself and how closely the director must have studied it to envision it.An extremely mature character sketch ,spectacular performances by all the actors,an eye catching sense of detail,editing and yes of course youthful and soulful music and lyrics makes this a delightful watch.A visual poetry with lots of life,extremely well crafted, this one is surely a treat for lovers of quality cinema.

Anjan Dutta seems to be stuck in a time warp, in which his films describe the travails of youngsters wanting to enter the music scene. Biographical elements, possibly. This film is no different. What is appreciable in Dutta's films is the whole range of non-filmy characters, each one quirky, each one with a personal ghost, each one with a personal tragedy. Such characters make Dutta's films very watchable, although the slow pace of some may bring about a few yawns.

This film too is cast in the same mould. Very melodious English-Bengali songs are a continuous feature in the background. The characters are vulnerable, tragic and wholly believable. There are many loose ends, but then life itself has so many loose ends. The loose ends treatment make the film realistic and very watchable, if not very entertaining.