Teenkahon

This is a movie about the obsession that can be created by love. This love can be as innocent as a child, as dramatic as the husband of an unfaithful wife or as mysterious as a person who can go to any extent to achieve the woman of his desire. The best part of the movie is that it tells three (Teen) stories (Kahon) which took place in three different times. And the beauty is that each one of them is shot based on the time when those stories were taking places. The way of shooting a film has evolved from time to time and this change can be observed as we move on from one story to another. Amazing concept which gives you the feeling of traveling through time. My personal favorite is the Third one which was the story from the Director himself, but I will always admit the depth of obsession can only be felt through the second story where a betrayed husband is obsessed with the lover of his unfaithful wife.

Some films make you happy, some films make you sad and some just amaze you. Teenkahon is a film that I would name among my favorites. The film was riveting. This movie is very different because it has stories concerning not only the characters' love lives but their obsessions as well. It is exciting, creative and well worth a few hours of your time. This movie is filled with amazing actors and their performances. Bauddhayan has done a wonderful job with his debut direction. He has portrayed all these three stories with enough delicacy. One of the best things about this movie is that it's very much related to our own life. We all experience those magical moments that make us obsessed at some point in our life. All these three story lines develop methodically and beautifully. I was thrilled with the unexpected ending of this movie. All in all I would definitely recommend it. It's a must watch!!

Teenkahon consists of 3 stories Nabalok,Post Mortem and Telephone.Cinema as a craft is quite complicated as it involves numerous skill sets to produce the final product.According to me two things make or break a movie (1) the story telling and (2) balancing the numerous skill sets appropriately in the movie. Debutant director Bauddhayan Mukherjee showed his mastery in dealing with both these elements, making Teenkahon a modern day classic.The simplicity with which complex scenarios are presented is a rarity in today's Indian Cinema. Nabalok explores the mind of a child with respect to relationships with women in great depth but in a very polished manner.The director kept his patience with the camera to capture the mood of every scene.One can see the "Ray Influence" in Nabalok,but never at the cost of originality. Post Mortem my favorite of the three is just fascinating as it explores the contradictions within a person in very subtle and unique way using camera,situation and the actors.Popular Bengali actor Sabyasachi Chakrabarty has been unshackled from his typical self and this will remain one of his best or may be the best performance. In the last story Telephone which is incidentally written by the director himself is a typical mystery but presented in a very unique way keeping the audience attentive throughout. Rituporna Sengupta again showed that with a good director she can reach exceptional heights. Asish Vidyarthi who plays the role of a cop and husband to Rituporna combined his facial expressions with great physical acting.

The casting in Teenkahon has been excellent and specially the young boy in Nabalok will live with me for a long time.The only area where Teenkahon could have done better (anyway it is good) is the use of music.

Hoping to see more from Bauddhayan Mukherjee.....

Saw Three Obsessions (Teenkahon) at the Aravindan Puraskaram screening. I must say it was a very bad screening. Why would a prestigious award allow such bad screening? But I liked Three Obsessions. As a film buff, I must say it was very beautifully shot. Abhik Mukherjee is a master craftsman.He is brilliant. And as debut film this is quite remarkable. Ms. Beena in her citation read that "the filmmaker has exceptional command over the language of cinema." I agree with her. As a first time filmmaker Buddhayan Mukherjee has shown very good skills. The first story did remind me of Satyajit Ray but in a good way, the second one I thought could have been shorter but what a performance by the husband. The actor desrves prizes. The third one again was quite something. Asis Vidyarthi was superb in his role. And what an ending! Must watch.

Teen (=three) Kahon (=stories, story-tellings) is billed as a triptych, but to me, it was not a three-fold story. The film is comprised of three separate stories - powerful stories by their own rights - that were bound together by a single thematic underpinning: all-consuming, obsessive love. None of these three was the typical Bollywood-flavored love stories that are churned out annually by the various vernacular film industries of India. Each story was complex, many-layered and gut-wrenching in their own way.

Some other reviewers have accused this director, Mukherji, of following too closely the other celebrated film-maker from his state, Bengal, the illustrious Satyajit Ray. Ray's influence, given his stature, is perhaps not an easy thing to avoid for serious film-makers of Mukherji's generation, but I didn't get that sense from these three films. Rather, the presentation and the color techniques used changed from film to film - and it seemed that the director has aimed to recreate small vignettes from three different periods of Indian cinema, perhaps his way of paying tribute to the 100 years of Indian movie-making.

I would recommend this highly to lovers of quality International cinema. I understand the language (Bangla), but the subtitles seemed to run from the screen a little too fast, which may make it difficult for non-Bengali audiences to get the nuances.