Chittagong

What worked: What made this movie special is the content the movie presents; a pre independence times in India, lead by the group of school students. This true story makes its impact fully when the movie ends because that's when the real revolution became a reality in Chittagong. Well written, acted and directed, also the scores are good. The lead Manoj, Rajkumar and Nawaasuddhin shine as always. What did not work: If I were the makers,maybe I would put some more time depicting the psyche of the revels, especially the leader and also introspective reflections so that the intend became inevitable. Final verdict: recommended

One of the most interesting things about Chittagong, the film, is that it is the debut feature of a 49 year old director with a PhD in physics, Bedabrata Pain, who left his day job as a leading scientist for JPL (Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena) after a brilliant 15 year career there, to take up a new career in filmmaking at the age of 45. He started out byco-producing a film by his Bengali wife Shonali Bose, "Amu" which dealt with the government backed pogroms against Sikhs in 1984 after President Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards. "Amu" was shown at major festivals such as Berlin and Toronto. Now Sinhali returns the compliment by coproducing Bedabrata's maiden effort along with maverick producer/director Anarug Kashyap of "Gangs of Wasseypur"

Pain's "Chittagong" is so well crafted that it's hard to believe this is a first time film by a new director, but there it is, one of the more topical films of the year. "Chittagong" tells the story of a little known uprising against British rule by Bengali shoolboys under the leadership of a charismatic village teacher, Masterda Surya Sen. Some audacious young ladies were also involved. Generally speaking historical films relating to partition have not fared well in India. Why such a tale is now suddenly of interest is a good question. Director Pain who is himself Bengali said that he wanted to tell a story in which the Indians come out victorious, because most historical films of the Raj colonial era tend to dwell on defeat and martyrdom. The schoolboy revolt succeeded and Chittagong was actually liberated in 1930, if only for a single day.

At the same time he said he did not want to give viewers a history lesson, but more a sense of dramatic entertainment. In this he has more or less succeeded. Chittagong has the right mix of all the elements --action, drama, politics, romance and patriotism, convincing little-known actors, and is also a history lesson, like it or not, maybe more so than intended.

Pain chose to shoot the film in Hindi, not the original Bengali language which was and is still spoken there. Chittagong today is not even in India, but in the Islamic state of Bangladesh next door, originally created as East Pakistan when India was partitioned in 1947. However, choosing Hindi, the language of Bollywood, automatically gives the film a national rather than a regional outreach. Several Bollywood character actors spotted by co-producer Anurag Kashyap, notably Manoj Bajpayee, who plays the teacher, Surya Sen, in Chittagong, and ended up as Boss Sardar Khan in Wasseypur I, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui who plays his military sidekick, Nirmal Sen, in Chittagong and his weed puffing son in Wasseypur II, have now become high profile figures in what is fast becoming an independent Bollywood Nouvelle Vague ...

Brash and ballsy Indian director-Producer Anurag Kashyap recently locked horns with Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan on the widely read hotlines of personal media accusing Bachchan of using his industry clout to have the release of Pain's Chittagong delayed, so that another picture on the same subject starring Bachchan's own son, Abhishek, could get a leg up in the highly competitive B-Town market.

I needs to be mentioned that Abhishek Bachchan, 36 year old son of King Amitabh, while tall dark and handsome, is no chip off the old block as an actor, and has established a career as a leading man in Bollywood largely on the strength of his illustrious family name and his marriage to fabulous Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai.

The other Chittagong film in queston "Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey", (immediately dubbed KHJJS in true Bollywood fashion) is another Hindi period piece directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles, and also based squarely on the same student uprising of 1930. Deepika, 26, is like Rai another striking beauty from the south, more lauded for her looks than her acting abilities, but exceptionally popular. Gowariker is a respected mainstream Bollywood director best known for "Lagaan" 2001, (Land Tax) which was barely nosed out for Best Foreign Film Oscar that year and brought some recognition to Bollywood from out west.

The two films were set for release around the same time but the Gowariker version got there first by a mile while the Pain pic was held up for over a year until now. Reacting sharply against what he saw as undue influence by Amitabh Bachchan to hold up release of Pain's Chittagong in order to protect his son's film from being upstaged, Kashyap started posting caustic remarks on the networking sites. One of them read: "See Chittagong, a far superior film made on the same subject as Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey.. At 1/8 th of the cost, far superior actors and immense passion... Producers decided to sit on it, because of a phone call from someone, because that someone was trying desperately to save his son's career... welcome to Bollywood, where whose son you are outshines all the hard work and passion and potential and talent. KHJJS came and went, now what?" Well, here's what. KHJJS received some respectable reviews but flopped badly in spite of it's prestige director and bankable stars. Chittagong was voted audience favorite in Florence, but it remains to be seen what it will do elsewhere, especially now that two of its actors, Siddiqui and Bajpayee, have become overnight sensations.

Pain's Chittagong was viewed at the River to River Indian Film Festival Florence,'Italy, in Dec. 2012

Yes... You can find him in this movie but main focus is on Jhunku. So how call this movie as Chittagong I do not understand.

A few years back, Ashutosh Gowariker also chose the same subject for his movie "Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se" in which he majorly failed due to his faulty casting more than his own direction. Ashutosh tried to bring in some commercial value in the project by casting Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone in the lead which actually fell flat, resulting in a film standing in the mid-way. Thankfully, the mistake is not repeated by Bedabrata Pain in his Chittagong, which has the same story told from a different angle and is a better film too if compared to KHJJS in a broader sense.

In Bedarbrata's CHITTAGONG the incident is narrated by "Jhunku", a participant of the revolt himself, giving you a first-hand experience of the brave & tragic chapter of 1930s. The film is executed well with some note-worthy cinematography, a fine background score, a well composed song "Bolo Na" and brilliant performances from the entire cast featuring Manoj Bajpayee, Delzad Hiwale, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raj Kumar Yadav, Barry John, Vijay Varma, Sauraseni Maitra, Chaiti Ghosh and more. Though the proceedings become slow post intermission when the after effects of the heroic revolt are being shown. Still it successfully keeps your interest alive through some new viewpoints added towards the climax, which eventually help CHITTAGONG to become a different movie as compared to Ashutosh's KHJJS in totality.

But at the same time, that doesn't mean that KHJJS had nothing good in it justifying the important subject. On the contrary, there were certain scenes in CHITTAGONG where I strongly felt that KHJJS had something superior as mentioned below.

1. It was quite strange to see that where in KHJJS, the young school boys are chosen & used due to their own self confessed desire, fighting spirit & fearlessness, CHITTAGONG uses them just because they have white cards, which is not a negative feature associated with their existence in the British Empire (unlike the Red Card given to others).

2. Where in KHJJS, Ashutosh extensively shows you the selection, training and grooming of the young boys by their master in details, CHIITAGONG speeds up this important part by just showing them being trained in gun-shooting in few scenes only.

3. In KHJJS the attacks on 3 different spots are shown in great length and details, whereas in CHITTAGONG the detailing is missing, probably because it later has to tell a lot more about "Jhunku", even after the hanging of Surjaya Sen (the end point of KHJJS). So where KHJJS focuses completely on giving the account of the zealous attacks made by the team on different key point of British operations, CHITTAGONG is majorly about these attacks plus its aftereffects years later.

4. Lastly, there is one thing which I respected the most in KHJJS, when they showed the original pictures of all the young boys and their leaders along with the pictures of actors enacting them on the screen in their end credits. In CHITTAGONG too there is short interview of "Jhunku" which deservingly gets a standing ovation in the theater. But truly speaking, the impact of watching those original pictures was much more in KHJJS.

On a concluding note, I am neither in favor of writing off Ashutosh's attempt completely nor in favor of praising Bedabrata's honest attempt whole heartedly. I deeply respect all the martyrs of this brave revolt of 1930s, have tremendous regards for the makers of both the films and salute their spirit behind their earnest efforts sincerely. But here I have to admit that may be I was expecting a lot more from the film as a second attempt.

In short, CHITTAGONG is a simple and straight forward portrayal of that unbelievable kind of chapter from our own Indian History. It mainly scores higher due to its rich execution and polished realistic performances from a well chosen talented cast. But I really wish it was more powerful infusing new life into our blood revisiting that historical event again. In its present version, the experience of watching CHITTAGONG is just like reading a simple enlightening biography of a calm soul, remembering his young days of a freedom fighter with a divine smile on his old face like "Jhunku".

Going through the pages of history I used to think that India is filled with rich historical events and characters yet we hardly see them being made into compelling cinema. While foreign countries have churned great cinema out of their history, India has taken the back-seat. Somehow the interesting historical events are never turned into engaging films barring few. With growing empathy towards our own history the film-makers are showing no interest as market value seems to be turkey. Yet there are people like Bedabrata Pain, a genius Nasa scientist who dared to follow his passion making a great film of courageous men who symbolizes triumph of human spirit.Earlier a film made on similar events by Gowariker(Khelien Hum Jee Jan Se) was naive and childish attempt.

Chittagong uprising is an important incident in Indian freedom struggle led by a school master Surjo Sen. The uprising was of more significance as his army mainly consisted of teenage school students thus making more impact in creating a national uproar. But the film doesn't pivot on Masterda neither it's a homage in memorial of all the martyrs involved in it. Instead it focuses on Jhunku who is narrating his experience of the Chittagong revolution and after getting released from Kalapani how he created a movement involving peasants. The film ends with the footage of real Jhunku (in his early 80s) showing the passion and research work done behind making of the film.Recently no other historical film comes close to Chittagong in terms of authenticity and honesty.

Probably one has seen it in Gowariker's version but Pain's execution brings in layers to the characters. Those revolutionaries were but human it the end. They had weaknesses and fear of failures which are captured with precision. The revolutionaries are portrayed as mortal with strong will power and self-belief. MasterDa's characterization is flawless and the strategic depth in the movement comes out effortlessly through the proceedings. The masterstroke of the screenplay (Co-written by Shonali Bose) is telling the whole story through the eye of a boy named "Jhunku". Through his eyes we build an image of Masterda, NirmalSen, Preetilatha and other revolutionaries of his gang. With people already aware of the fate of Masterda, Jhunku's angle gave a fresh perspective for audience viewing. Brownie points must be given to the writers for showcasing the human side of the British officers. Barry John's character shows inner conflict which is too evident from being a family man. Anurag Aurora as Ahsanaullah & AllexO'neil as Johson depicted sadism with perfection.

Pain excels in his directorial debut. His style of execution should be a lesson to film-makers, even those who are directing for over years but still fails to show any spark. The film gives ray of hope to all of us, that making an honest effort is more important than success or failure. After all leaving NASA to make a film on this uncharted territory speaks volume about the person. Pain also got ample support from his technical team. Eric Zimmerman's cinematography is brilliant. The way he had captured the forest terrains helped the audience to visually stretch back to the era of 1920s. With ample support from teams of Production Design (dependable SamirChanda), Costume design (NeelanjanaGhose) and Art Direction ( AmitRoy) the realistic feel of the freedom struggle is aptly created, reliving those days of uprising. Aldo Velasco's editing deserves mentioning. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music flows with the narrative."Ishaan" -nice composition and with the tragic history behind the song one can't help but to admire the spirit of the director who is an inspiration to many.It's difficult to move ahead with life after such a tragedy.

The film boasts of some finest actors of contemporary cinema. ManojBajpayee fits in as MasterDa and again surprised us with his abilities. NawazuddinSiddiqui is getting is due after a long struggle and showing meteoric rise with meaningful cinema. After GOW, Siddiqui sparkled as Nirmal Sen in this film. He is one of the rare actors of current cinema who can emote with his whole body. RajKumarYadav as Lokenath Bal and Jaideep Ahlawat as Anant Singh are superb. All these four seem to carry the energy of GOW (though Chittagong was shot much before GOW). Delzad Hiwale should be given standing ovation for his portrayal of Jhunku who is awestruck by Masterda and gradually becomes part of the revolution. His transformation from a shaky rich kid to a rebel with a cause has been textured with perfection. Another find of this film is Vega Tamotia who played the role of Preetilata has flawless expressions. Veteran Barry John adds human value to Wilkinson who is serving the queen and at the same time is empathetic to Jhunku. Vijay Verma as older Jhunku leaves good impression. Dibyendu Bhattacharya (last seen as chunni in DevD) is brilliant as Ambika and should get more opportunities in future. Overall the huge supporting cast are as fine tuned as the leading cast.

With people's apathy towards our own history more such Chittagong needs to be made so that we can at least feel pride in something which has been long lost with corruption. Chittagong also reflects triumph of human spirit at every level. Chittagong also boosts such independent film makers to come with their own style and start a new wave in Hindi cinema.Kudos to Anurag Kashyap,Pranay Roy for supporting this brilliant independent cinema which was made 3 years back and got subdued by the biggies of the business.

Immediate Box office might not be huge; but it will go down in the history as a brilliant film that fought all odds to get release.It also shows a new angle to freedom struggle, scanning unknown characters from the page of history books to reality. The film is a must watch for cine-lovers, history-lovers and all who wants to know about bunch of fearless,self-sacrificing young souls who can inject ray of hope to the new generation & helps in becoming strong, righteous characters.