Teenkahon

This movie revolves around relations not defined by society.As the name suggests three stories neatly told and evidence of inspiration from Masters of Bengali Cinema.. The first story..a story of innocence and love that demands possessiveness and manipulation and the magic of Black and white will tie you up. Second story is an excellent one room show between a husband and a lover of a same woman and the decision to bring forward the one responsible for her suicide.The story is superbly told with cinematography being excellent you will feel connected! Third one is my personal favorite with twists and turns and ....the lust and shadows of human manipulation!!! A must watch for those who understand movies...

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.

Starved of watching Bengali films on big screen in Dubai, Abhijaan 2015 - the Bengali Film festival in Dubai was such a great opportunity for movie lovers to watch Bengali films... and that too such great films like TeenKahon. What a stellar movie Teenkahon is... absolute stunning ending... the treatment is also very different. While the first act reminded us of Apu in Pather Panchali and it was very evident that Ray had a huge cinematographic influence on the director. The less we discuss the third act, the better it is for those who still haven't seen the movie. Incredible climax. Cannot give a 10 out of 10 only because I didn't get the second act so much, although Sabyasachi has never given such a stupendous performance in any of his movies. Rituparna has evolved so much since her early days - she even acts through her silence. Ashish Vidyarthi has given a kick-ass performance as well. 3 different stories, different treatment - a whiff of fresh air in Indian cinema alibi this Bengali film. Given a chance for a remake, I would be keeping the elements of rain and child as a common thread in all the three acts.

Good wishes to both Buddy and Mona and the entire think tank of Lamb Little... this is just the beginning of story telling for you... your journey begins only now!

Teenkahon comes across as trying too hard to be art-house. The checklist seems to be taken care of – it is full of things you'd expect in such cinema. The cinematography, for instance, is a lovely black and white in the first story Nabalok. There are beautiful visuals of the countryside and the Rabindra sangeet is mesmerising. Likewise, the other two stories too have their bits of wonder whether in the form of acting (Sabyasachi Chakraborty is extraordinary) or the theme or some really clever screenplay (in the third part).

But all put together, you can sense that it is trying too hard. None of the stories really pull you in the way they should. It doesn't give the sense of an organically evolved script. Now, this is a complaint which isn't easy to articulate but I'll try.

I'll use comparison. Take Asha Jhawar Majhe, another art house Bengali film that made some waves recently. Nothing much happens through its runtime. Or at least, it appears like nothing much happens. But it all comes together towards the end. It feels like the film crystallises suddenly and my heart felt a firm tug as the lady sets off to work again at the end. Everything seems so right about the film. Masterfully shot, enacted, and directed.

But Teenkahon often feels forced. It feels like a bunch of nice things stuck on a inherently nice idea but they don't really work well together. Often the staging feels sub par and sometimes the acting doesn't come through. One could blame these issues on the inexperience of the director (Teenkahon is Bauddhayan Mukherjee's debut) but this is often a problem of ambition that doesn't match with vision. Mukherjee seems to be full of ambition but without the vision of the master that he seems to aim to be.