As the opening credits of “Antarmahal” (Views of the Inner Chamber) fade away and the sound of a creaking bed assails the ears, the viewer discerns, in the semi-darkness, Jaggu-dada (Jackie Shroff not Jagmohan Dalmiya), the Bengali zamindar, motoring away romantically like an oil drill while below the supine figure of Soha Ali Khan (playing the Bengali zamindar’s second wife) lies still, impervious to his copulatory charms.
And then the zamindar burps. And seeks to excuse himself by saying that the “papad” he had for dinner must have been fried in bad oil. And keeps on sawing away.
Oh what a wonderful sex life Bengalis had. The operative word is “had”—things are obviously quite different now in the Bong bedroom.
Namely that there is no second wife.
Whether 19th century Bengal had the best of times or the worst of times we know not, but if we are to trust Rituporno Ghosh’s “Antarmahal” (a sex-ed up adaptation of Tarashankar’s “Protima” ) it surely was the most debauched of times.
Bhubaneswar Choudhury (Jackie Shroff) has two wives and a mistress and is still unable to produce a progeny despite his laboured exertions (as he tells his second wife “Do you think I enjoy doing this on such a hot day?”). Needless to say, he is unable to connect the dots and realize that there may be something wrong with him (his first wife, Mahamaya (Roopa Ganguly) puts it colourfully—-the zamindar’s snake lacks poison).
Or as they say, his burp is worse than his bite.
Bhubaneswar is also angling for a Ray-bahadur (an honorary title from the British) through the novel idea of crafting the family idol Devi Durga’s face in the image of Queen Victoria—an act that he believes will please the British. (a harbinger of Madam culture yet to come).
A hunky Bihari sculptor Brijbhushan (Abhishek Bachchan) is commissioned to craft the Victorian Durga idol but his arrival in the Antarmahal (inner chambers) sets off a train of events that culminate in the movie’s shattering climax.
Needless to say Jackie Shroff climaxes many times before that.
While Jackie’s techniques and positions may be faulted, Rituporno’s camera cannot as it lovingly and lasciviously caresses Abhishek Bachchan’s bare torso as he bathes and crafts the idol, with Brijbhushan’s aversion to covering his body being explained by an observation made by one of the characters:
Hindustanis (which is the way many Bengalis refer to Biharis/UP-ites) do not like wearing clothes.
Another characterizing trait of Brijbhushan is that he has strong body odour—a point that is reiterated many times in the movie.
Which I presume, somehow, elevates his dreaminess quotient– at least in Rituporno’s eyes.
And lest I forget, our Brijbhushan the sculptor, is quite a pervert himself as he is shown using the Durga idol as some kind of sex toy——caressing the private parts of the statue and thinking erotic thoughts.
Which brings us to the debauchery.
One of the sure-fire ways of introducing perversion in Indian movies is through the stereotype of the uncouth, horny priest. Indeed, the men of God in this movie make Mithun-da’s lusty priest character (the legendary Bhuvan Panda who, with a naked virgin on his knee said: “Nirvastra ladki mere jaang ke upar baithke mere vasna ki aag bujhayegiâ€) in “Chingari” and the head priest at Sabarimala appear almost Sushma Swarajish.
A sample. A priest watches the zamindar getting jiggy with his second wife while reciting slokas in her ear while the first wife sits in front of the priest topless. (and before you run out to rent the movie, the shot is from the back).
And another.The priests advise the zamindar to atone for the desecration of the Durga idol (thanks to the act of putting Queen Victoria’s face on the holy image) by, hold your breath, sending his voluptuous first wife to an orgy with five Bramhin priests.
Justification provided by the horny priests? (Not that an orgy needs any).
The ancient Vedic ritual by which after an Asvamedha Yagna, the queen slept with the horse.
The connection between horse and the five priests ?And between Ashvamedha Yagna and Durga Puja?
I leave that to you to figure it out.
Or you can watch the movie.
But be careful of the gore. Cause theres a lot mostly borne out of “Ritu”-porno’s well-documented obsession (check out “Chokher Bali”) with menstruation (he is more concerned about periods than Mendeleev ever was). Roopa Ganguly’s thighs resemble a street in Haifa, the zamindar keeps asking his wife about her periods and there is even a shot of a bloody pussy… cat ( the zamindar asserts his masculinity by getting a cat killed).
I could go on and on (like Jackie Shroff) but I will stop now.
Cause my fried papad is waiting.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
[GB] A sample. A priest watches the zamindar getting jiggy with his second wife while reciting slokas in her ear while the first wife sits in front of the priest topless. (and before you run out to rent the movie, the shot is from the back).
Why do u have to tell me the “shot from the back”, well, no need to rent the movie, the ‘review’ will suffice 🙂
Now you have me aroused (ahem… my thoughts that is!) I can’t decide whether to watch Bhuvan Panda first or take in Rituporno’s artsy epic before that.
I dont have any words for appreciation for the so called great artists such as these, who in the name of stirring public awareness, in the garb of presenting what they call a true-to-life aspect and under the banner of art, proffer wild and iconoclastic ideas. Im no supporter of Shiv-Sena who feels that wearing of skirts by women and celebration of Valentine’s Day is sacrilege. But The MF Hussains of the world, the Rituparnos and Meera Nairs of the world with their sex-is-art message dont gather any support from me. Infact, I would go so far as to throw in my lot of understanding with their harshest protesters, those common people who get agitated and rally against such “artists”. These poor folks are the ones who end up in the crosshairs of the its-chic-to-be-uber-liberal media, which in its quest to cater to the exceedingly pretentious city-living upper class of the populace, rains down criticisms which pretty much brands them as uncivilized louts. While the “civilized” few, flash their Close-Up smiles and talk about how a nude Saraswati is the ultimate expression of art.
Maybe its fashionable to be garishly unconventional, but art that deliberately roils just for the purpose of roiling, is not art, and deserves acrid criticism.
Once again, O greatest of Bongs, I bow to your superior knowledge. Still enjoyed Dosar though…
Whether 19th century Bengal had the best of times or the worst of times we know not, but if we are to trust Rituporno Ghosh’s “Antarmahal†it surely was the most debauched of times.
How I wish i was born a zamindar in another century.
Did you see this TV a while ago show where RPG and Jaya Badhuri were
being interviewed and Rituporno kept saying to JB what nice bag
[purse] she had in this very naaka voice … finally JB got sort of
irritated and said something like “aato bhalo lagle, bag-ta nea now”
and then proffers it towards him. Maybe you had to be there. It was
pretty funny.
Superbly comic, esp. the line
“(and before you run out to rent the movie, the shot is from the back).”
Great work!!!!
GB: its so unlike you…less of a review and more of story telling…anyways, no complaints.
btw, do you agree with this? no promotion this, just curious…
The Talented rituporno of “Unishe April” is long gone! Now we have Rituporno who feeds probasis and non-bengalis with stereotypes about bengal they nourish in their own mind.
He follows a set formula, some nostalgic dose for “probasi”s (Just remember the scene of kashful in this movie antarmahal, where someone can see full grown kashfuls in rainy season can you tell me, and the movie is having only TWO outdoor scenes and both features kashful and a meandering river) and some bollywood names for the pan-india market ( why he made the sculptor a bihari, just to put Abhishek Bachchan in the role where he did nothing but staring vacuously wearing a loincloth, why is his fascination for Aishwarya Rai, in chokher bali Indrani Halder or some other would have been a much better choice).
Antarmahal is one of the worst movies I have ever watched!
Toba toba…
Check out this post for an exclusive Ontormohol: Behind the scenes.
u WATCHED and REMEMBERED a scene from Chingari?
I bow to thee O great master of all great bongz!!
Also, the “poetic” or some such license that a director gets for making a period or “art” film should get Rakhi Sawant interested in featuring in a period music video….for a Mika song…wot say GB? 🙂
Antarmahal and chokher bali both rank as rituporno coming of age to the porno-era, though in true indian style he dare not go full porno but has to be content with back-baring shots and symbolic red-pussy cats..
Ah the pretentious indian.. i loove him
connect the dots ! o mi God!
sample 2….2 much
Sabarimala priest kidnap drama more imaginative than ritu’s porn escapades..and how is that more artistic than
rakhi’s gyrations or Vishesh film scenes?
ritu cud well do without personal perversions like body odour and caressing idols.
ur climax lines were more potent than Jaggu’s climax
antarmahal will seem tame stuff when our Rituparno will discover that the tantrics not only practice all the esoteric 64 positions but necrophilia is very much a part of their rituals.
so, we can have some more beautiful bollywood bodies playing very interestingly ‘still’ roles.
This was wicked funny, given the fact that we recently watched Aishwarya Rai’s two hour long one shouldered act called Chokher Bali. He surely does come up with amazing reasons for the various stages of undress his cast go through. In this case, poor widowed woman was under societal pressure to give up wearing a blouse. Fine, good enough, atleast it was Ash’s pretty shoulder, but Why O! Why ! did he have to gross us out by showing us Prasenjit’s hairy back? And if Raima Sen starts appealing to you at the end of the movie..how messed up can the director be. Besides stealing crtitcal scenes from Ray’s movies (the kahsful scene, the swing scene which came complete with the same song) is not really creative is it?
What happened to the poor guy after “Unishe April”… he should probably go back to hosting “Ebong Rituporno” on TV where he can compliment old actresses and their clothes in his naeka voice.
Rituporno Ghosh’s movies have always been like that aint they? Maybe i must be mistaken – but these artsy directors from bengal bore me to death! They are umm too artsy hehe!
Porn in the name of art eh? Is there an uncensored dvd coming out 😀
S
Why greatbong, do you keep submitting to your weaknesses and go watch movies like these? Your talent can be spent elsewhere like ahem at blogging.
Something I already mentioned on Jai’s blog – notice how Seasonal Obscenity has this hang-up about piddling scenes or at least scenes in the loo? In just about every film, starting from “Dohon”.
J.A.P.
@GHE: Well I did you a favour didnt I? I just hate reviewers who dont give such warnings.
@Srikanth: Couldnt agree with you more. Whether it be ‘Water’ , ‘Fire’, ‘Antarmahal’ or the execrable ‘Chingari’ the easiest way for an “art” director to showcase our country is to show the Hindu religion as one that has sexual deviancy and oppression written into it. I am not saying that deviancy and oppression doesnt exist—it exists because religion (of any kind) provides unquestioned power to a few and they are likely to abuse these powers for their own gratification. But why single out Hindus? Showing an affair of a Christian priest with a girl (no deviancy mind you) got “Sins” banned (a favour actually considering how crappy it is). And would any brave director ever dare to show turpitude in that other religion which we all fear?
@Jabberwock: Yet to see it. I enjoyed Rituporno’s “Utsab” —it was very much like a classic Ray movie.
@Gauravonomics: I hear ya.
@LeftCoastBong: No I didnt but I know exactly what you mean.
@Avadhoot: 🙂
@Sriram: Well reviews can be done many ways and I hope my attitude towards the movie is clear from the blog. Also if you notice, I have not told much of the story at all…
And no I didnt agree with your assessment of Mr and Mrs Iyer.
@Dodo: The man is talented I feel but refuses to rise above his fascination with menstrual cycles, urination and other bodily manifestations of the act of copulation and defecation. These idiosyncrasies overshadows the story and his celluloid craft —which is why his recent works have been extremely disappointing.
@S. Pyne: 🙂
@Bishu: I had a long time ago…if you look through the comments section, there is one of mine.
@Gourav: Ooh the mere thought of Rakhi Sawant in a Bengali 19th century household saying “Main kitna hot hoon” is just…
@Jhantu: So do I.
@Varsha: Mr Porno is just obsessed with such stuff—no matter what the dictates of the plot are…he just has to have it somehow.
@Swati: Necrophilia? Actually the way Jaggu-dada pummels his wife into copulatory submission, you would be excused for thinking that they are dead.
@Anyesha: You need to see Prasenjit’s hairy back so as to be able to feel some of the pain women in the 19th century had to endure.
@Suyog: What other artsy directors from Bengal are you referring to? Actually Rituporno has a few movies that are very good. And Antarmahal is by no means “boring”—-it may gross you out sometimes…but its not boring in the way Krrish is for example.
@Aravind: Well unless you see it how would you know its bad? Plus a man is defined by his weaknesses. And the fried papads he consumes.
@JAP: Seasonal porn or porn about women’s seasons. (the “ritu” word in Bengali has multiple meanings)—and as to Rituporno’s obsession with excretion, there is this scene between the husband of the molested girl and the husband’s office-mate in “Dahan” that takes place in a urinal—a scene that could very easily have taken place elsewhere.
This is extremely funny, though I doubt if either Rituparno or Aishwarya would see the joke:)
http://kollywoodtoday.com/cinenews/news_item.asp?NewsID=196
You disappoint me to no end. Reality is always an eye sore. No? For someone who bleats hoarse over the “death” of desi-babas and the likes, one would expect a better identification of what is pornongraphy and what is not. Antarmahal is one of Rituparna’s sensitive movies and there will be women even today who would identify with what Soha Ali’s character undergoes in the film. GB, you stick to the Mithun buffoneries, since that’s what you identify with best and are fit enough to understand and comment upon.
“there is even a shot of a bloody pussy… cat ( the zamindar asserts his masculinity by getting a cat killed).”
Brrrilliant!!
Saw this movie the other day, my first Bengali film, and it left me a little shocked actually! But the ending was totally crazy!!
sorry, forgot to add me name..The anonymous in the above post is me! 🙂
Rituporno’s earlier movies were good. When I watched “Hirer Angti” I was quite young, and enjoyed it. Later I watched several other films (Unishe April, Bariwali, Shubho Mahorat)and I can say that the man is talented. But recently he has become obsessed with body-baring and non-bengali cast. I mean, what’s the point of having Aish in a movie if you dub her voice and make her wear black contact lenses?
And since a few people mentioned his interviewing in his nyaka voice, I will add that I liked “Ebong Rituparno”, but his mannerisms were way too feminine. And also, he called everybody “tui”. I mean, people may say I’m old fashioned and all, but calling a veteran actress like Ketaki Dutta who is old enough to be his mother “tui” is simple, plain indecency to me.
And the Jaya Bhaduri incident, well, it happened in an awards ceremony, probably Anandalok Cine Awards or something like that. Jaya Bhaduri was called on stage by Rituporno (who was the anchor) to present an award. Rituparno was dressed in an excuisitely embroidered long kurta, churidaar and udni… something very similar to a designer salwar suit. Jaya Bachchan had an ornately embroidered “batua”. She went up to Rituparno, gave him the bag, and said “Eta tumi dharo. Eta tomar hatei manabe bhalo” (You hold this, this suits you more). 🙂
“I could go on and on (like Jackie Shroff) but I will stop now. Cause my fried papad is waiting”…lol!
I’ve always been partial to the roasted ones.
Great Review, I feel that I have already watched the movie. 🙂
Dada, can’t you see Ritu-da is working on the New Enhanced Form of the Periodic Table?
Long time no work on it……
Nice review. But I’m wondering whether you want us to watch the film…because after reading this, I definitely dont 🙂
I believe Roopa Ganguly is briiant in the film.
Dahan & Utsab were masterpieces, & parts of 4/19 were very good. Once upon a time he would make one awesome & one aantel (pretentious) movie – Asukh & Titli are the ones I recall with dread – in rapid succession. He is definitely productive, but does the new glam-ification of his output make them better. I have’t yet got a chance to see anything since Shubho Muhurat (I own the DVDs of Raincoat & Chokher Bali, so I really should), so I don’t know. Coincidentally, since some comments here mentioned RPG makes movies for the probashi Non Rez Bong crowds, I watched Asukh, Utsab & Shubho Muhurat in theaters outside Cal, & the last two definitely made me nostalgic for home. I guess he is now trying to break into Bollywood, hopefully to tap into a wider audience & not just the money/fame. He won’t be the first one from Calcutta to do that, but whether he is a success (Bimal Roy) or a failure (Satyajit Ray) in that endeavor still needs to be seen. But for all his faults he is not an Aparna Sen, who has alas made only one good film – 36 Chowringhee Lane.
GB mentioned RPG’s obsession with bodily functions, & when I recently watched Unishey April (for the first time) I was quite surprised to find a scene where Prasenjit takes a leak in the loo at Debasree Roy’s barsaati with the loo door open & in full view of Debasree.
PS: I am told by friends in Ananda Bazar Patrika group that he is gay. The resemblance between him & that other purveyor of NRI drama, Karan Johar, is now complete.
PPS: I guess this makes Abhishek the second most celebrated protima sculptor in Bong (ish) movies – the old man in Ray’s Feluda adventure ‘Joi Baba Felunath’ is easily the tops, & his murder scene was super creepy & scary.
A Vedic term of core importance, ‘rta’, stands for *the* natural law followed by the cosmos. So many Indian languages have derived words (from Sanskrt) like ‘rit/riti’ (tradition), ‘ritu’ (season/menstruation), etc., for terms that are supposed to capture some naturally principled pattern. So may be this is just the natural porno (ritu-porno) rhythmic pattern of inner-chamber expression from Ghosh-da/di/dadi? Shaukeen psycho-analysts, jump in…!
Brilliant stuff Greatbong. I liked the “Dont run to to rent the movie” part very much 🙂
Just awesome. I hope Soubhagya Dash will be happy that you have gone to reviewing movies. I am happy too if only because he is not around keeping you “honest”. (The self-confident pomposity of that man would be repugnant if it was not so funny).
As an aside, I was hoping for something from you on the Israel-Hezbollah stand-off and what it means for us Indians. Not that I did not enjoy a look into the inner recesses of Rituporno’s mind.
Incidentally I hope you remember that Lord Rama did Ashwamedha Yagna. I hope you understand what I am getting at.
Lastly, I love your self-deprecatory humor and the punch lines you throw (like the burp and bite bit) effortlessly.
“What other artsy directors from Bengal are you referring to?”
— Mrinal Sen would come to my mind immediately, whose movies bore me too, but this is strictly my opinion. If had to rate the most boring artsy director ever, then it would be Adoor Gopalkrishnan (who of course is not from Bengal).
Suyog
Oops, forgot to add Aparna Sen & Aruna Raje to the list.
Cheers,
Suyog
Don’t get me into even saying a word about this hypocritic pornographic classic from the hyped Bong filmaker of our times ( so they say!!). Amazing to think what a wretched crestfallen path he took in his directorial journey since the golden days of Hirer Angti, Unishe April, Utsav, Shubho Mohurat to Antar-mahal. Surely more than something is wrong in that gay head of his, a long-lust soul that comes out so nudely in his crafts and a rubbish representation at that.Yuck!!!
A film where a goddess is not even spared from the vicious glares and caresses of her sculptor and a man complaining about how hot the day it is while fornicating with his wife – why doesn’t somebody take him to a prep school to make him learn how better films are made.
Now, that “Ebong Rituporno” gets mentioned in the posts, reminds me of the never forgettable episode where the “neka legend” Moon Moon Sen was his host. It was tough to decide which of the two was excelling in the act.
Though quite late, thanks Arnab for rekindling the visions associated with the film.
Nice new category. Kind of appropriate that “nyaka” should be the first object of discussion in it ! 😀
What does ‘neka’/nyaka’ mean ?
what non sense is this…last week only i got antarmahal and mixed doubles (hinglish film, cute and worth a watch) …i wished i read this review before i wasted my 50 rs…
i personally want to kill all these directors who think they are being oh so politically correct and sensitive (puke!) by making these women centric films…
Fire, Chingari and antarmahal are brilliant examples of such crap…
women just suffer and suffer and suffer…
the only movie of Rituporno that I liked was “Shubo Mahurat”…LOVED rakhee in this movie. instantly forgave her for the “peetaji”s she subjected us to in hindi movies.
Going on a tangent here but is rituporno gay? he looks it! and doesn’t he resemble that Khalid Mohammed guy (the ex-critic of the ‘slimes of india’?)
@Pradeep:
You are right in asking. The bongs on thsi blog should really have explained what “naeka” or “nyaka” is. The word refers to extremely affected mannerisms that some people have, an exaggerated lilt in their voice, or sensitivity in their demeanour. The best way to explain id probably to give you examples – have you seen the way Moon Moon Sen talks, or an Rituporno interview? Those people are the exemplifications od “naeka”.
Other examples would be some of the 70s heroines coyly (coy affected naeka) batting their eyelashes e.g. Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Saira Banu etc.
Also Salman Khan in Hum Saath Saat Hai…
Thanks Shan. I get the idea. Btw, antarmahal is available on youtube:)
http://youtube.com/results?search=antarmahal&search_type=search_videos&search=Search
the best example of naikami (the bongs might disagree) was in dhoom , rimi sen’s act – tumi boka tumi mishti etc etc
Oh god, so much bias againt Rituda. It’s terribly unfashionable to say so, but I somehow like the guy’s work. I’m not saying he churns out flawless masterpieces, but you can’t deny that there are flashes of insight in most of his films. And his characters become quite engaging. As for his piddling-undressing kind of hang-ups, he somehow does it in a tongue-in-cheek manner that almost redeems it. No? Ah well, maybe I’m just as big a perv as ‘Seasonal Pornography’.
YOURFAN writes:
@Shan:
According to me the examples of Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Saira Banu that you gave for ‘nyaka’ are not correct – they are definitely not nyaka by Bengali standard. “Nyakami†in Bengali is speaking words/sentences in a slow motion accompanied with slow body movement (no double meaning please!) specially of hands and face. I don’t think Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Saira Banu ever did that.
@Pradeep:
I don’t think you got the right definition from Shan – may be because he never saw one genuine ‘nyaka’ Bengali. Besides, it is really difficult to describe.
@GB:
I tried my best to define “Nyakaâ€. I think since it is your post you should give us a definition of Bengali nyakamo. Let us see what you come up with after eating you “papor”.
Feel sorry for Mendeleev……….poor guy must be turning in his grave
Does simi garewal define nyaka?or is she plain pretentious?
me too non bong.
thats interesting if one can be excused for presuming the heroine is dead at the time of the copulatory act.That amounts to brilliant direction ! but how come it doesnt get censored?
@Yourfan:
Unlike you, I think Pradeep got the idea. All the three actresses I mentioned have done several nyaka roles in their lives – I never meant to say they were nyaka by themselves, merely that some of their roles made them act such.
Plus I believe that anyone who has seen and heard Moon Moon Sen even once does not need any other example to understand the meaning of “nyakami.”
And I don’t understand the “Bengali standards” of nyakami. Did you mean the “phool chure marbo” type of cliched Shantiniketani nyakamo? Is that the Bengali standard? Nyakamo is affectation – with a regional twist, that’s it.
@Pradeep:
I actually watched the entire film on YouTube. Thanks for the direction. I didn’t think it was a great film, but neither did I dislike it, unlike Arnab. It was quite okay, with a very good performance by Rupa Ganguly. Abhishek Bachchan was totally wasted.
@Arnab:
As for bodily fluids, I personally feel that there is nothing to be disgusted about that. Very few filmmakers even dare to touch upon these subjects, that’s why they tend to shock us, and yes, disgust some of us. And this disdain for filmmakers who actually try to make it part of their memes is not just Indian in nature – Catherine Breillaut has faced the same criticism for her French films, as has Gaspar Noe.
I am no Rituporno fan, and I do believe that he exploits the female body and sex for selling his films. I even get irritated by his pretentiousness each time i see him on TV. But he does dare to tackle unusual and controversial subjects, and tends to address them in a better manner cinematically than a, say, Kalpana Lajmi.
Bottom line – would I be a happier film watcher if Rituporno did not exist? I think the answer is no. The same cannot be said of Kalpana Lajmi and her ilk.
@Deepa: Unbelievable.
@Games of Light: Thank you for your advice, o Luminant One. I shall limit myself to Mithun-da movies and not dare to attempt to understand movies that only exalted beings like you may understand. Kindly excuse me for my insolence. And as to women who identify with Soha Ali Khan’s plight—well speak for yourself.
@Vikas: What an introduction to Bengali cinema !
@Joy Forever: Rituporno is a talented guy and has the ability to tell a good story. But yes of late he has become obsessed with “crossing over” into mainstream Bollywood and in addition, his tendency to introduce his personal fetishes into his movies.
@K: Dont case you tummy upset.
@Sanjay: 🙂
@Anomit: Yes I can see that…wish he would leave that to chemistry people though.
@GhostofTomJoad: I think the movie was definitely interesting and the basic story was good. However its cringeworthy aspects almost drown out the positive parts of the movie—–indeed there is a much better movie inside “Antarmahal” struggling to come out.
@Tipu: Satyajit Ray tried to make into Bollywood? How was that? As a matter of fact, he rejected RK Films offer to make movies under their banner (a fact that may have led Nargis, Raj Kapoor’s mistress, to launch a vile personal attack of vendetta against Ray).
@S Pyne: Now my turn to say “Tauba tauba”
@Sandesh: Just a warning to my readers…dont want them to waste their rental.
@Rohan: Yes I understand what you are trying to say. Rather an uncomfortable thought and wonder whether the VHP has had that thought too.
@Suyog: Mrinal Sen’s “political” movies are boring because his ideology supplants everything else. However he has made a few non-political movies which are very good. And interesting.
@Oliveoyl: Again RPG’s main intention in Antarmahal is to “shock” and make you cringe through depiction of sordid acts —whereas he would have been better served if he had made things more implicit and let the power of the story move us.
@Anon: “Nyaka” now thats got people confused.
@Pradeep: It is hard to define “Nyaka” but you know it when you see it. A word I use to explain it is “faux femininity” i.e. a visibly artificial show of femininity done in order to get male attention. It is characterized by eyelid fluttering, hair tossing, silly giggling, back arching and assorted other things that many men find intoxicating.
Rituporno is found to do that—-and he is a guy.
@Nandini: Mixed Doubles? oh lord I couldnt sit through the end of that one….and yes Rimi Sen was very nyaka in “Dhoom” but I confess I found it strangely arousing. Maybe it was the “Shikdhoom” effect.
@Aqua: Havent seen a picture of Khalid Mahmood
@Marauder’s Map: I agree with you on Ritu-da’s command over the craft—his movies move along at a fast pace, have engaging story lines and decent performances—but as I said of late his obsession with bodily functions and the perverse nature of the human mind has led to the story he wants to say getting sidetracked.
Tongue-in-cheek? Blood rolling down Roopa Ganguly’s inner thighs? I wouldnt say so.
@Yourfan: I didnt use the word “nyakamo” in my post and so didnt define it there. Have done so in the comments section. And people who want to know more can always read “Hottie Hottie Bong Bong”
@The Quaint Quenyan: Quite so.
@Varsha: That’s pretentious “I am super-cultured snob”..
@Shan: The fact is that in a story that highlights female oppression in 19th century Bengal, it is in no ways necessary to touch upon bodily fluids. Its besides the point. The main intention of the depiction of menstruation, body odour and burping during copulation is to shock and once the shock keeps on getting administered every 5 minutes, it becomes plain irritating and draws attention away from the plot.
I also feel that people like Rituporno think it gets them Western approbation to show the Hindu religion in poor light (perverted sculptor, horny priests). I am not a Hindu right-winger and totally understand that perversion exists everywhere and more so in organized religion. However I believe RPG, Deepa Mehta and their ilk are not equal opportunities offenders in this case as they believe in highlighting the retrograde elements of Hinduism and of no other religion. Because they are afraid of the others. This is what pisses me off about these so-called “courageous” film makers.
I also would not feel good if RPG didnt exist. Because at least he has talent. Which is not what I can say about Kalpana Lajmi.
aha.. a good review.. read a lot on this movie…but u beat them all
@Tipu: Satyajit Ray tried to make into Bollywood? How was that?
I meant Hindi movies (so that he could reach a wider national audience), rather than the pejorative that Bollywood has become. I had ‘Shatranj Ki Khiladi’ in mind. If I recall, the language barrier became too much for Ray & he said he would rather concentrate on making movies about a people/culture that he is very familiar with. Of course, he wenton to direct ‘Sadgati’, but that was for DD so I guess we can keep that one out of this discussion.
Didn’t mean to confuse the issue. My enthusiasm for RPG has waned, but I still follow his career with interest, but not as much enthu as I reserve for GB’s writings 🙂
@Games of Light: Thank you for your advice, o Luminant One. I shall limit myself to Mithun-da movies and not dare to attempt to understand movies that only exalted beings like you may understand. Kindly excuse me for my insolence. And as to women who identify with Soha Ali Khan’s plight—well speak for yourself.
BG, Great decision. Stick to it.
BTW what makes you assume that I am a woman? Now, now don’t twist the argument the other way round to suggest I’m akin to shroff’s character to my wife/girl friend.
Be more intelligent than that.
On the projection of Hindusim to the Western audience bit, I see your point. But in Antarmahal that did not come across as the central point as it did in Deepa Mehta’s Water. Water sucked. It simply pandered to what a Western audience would lap up from an Indian film.
BTW shob shomoy chobol marar jonno ready thako keno?
@Dwaipayan: Thank you
@Tipu: Okay got that. Yes the language barrier was too much for him.
@Games of Light: Chobol? Just because you do not agree with what I said about the movie, you say my intellect is shitty enough to be worth reviewing Mithun movies and I am the one with “chobol”? Double standards?
Again you are free to see greatness in the movie but that doesnt give you the right to get “personal” on me does it?
I never said your intellect is “shitty”. I never used the word.
I was refering to your excessive defensiveness.
Getting ‘personal’? Who said “talk for yourself”??
Just because you, GB, do not agree with what I said, did not give *you* the right to sarcastically refer to me as “o Luminant One” or write “exalted beings like you may understand”. C’mon we both know how much “love” you had for me when you wrote thus! Now who had double standards?
Take it easy dude.
GB, you stick to the Mithun buffoneries, since that’s what you identify with best and are fit enough to understand and comment upon.
This above is what you said. And it means my intellect is shitty enough for Mithunda movies—-the “fit enough to understand part”.
Capiche?
And calling you “the enlightened one” after you said the above line is a personal attack?
Whoa.
Still maintain: You are still the one with double standards.
In any case, feel free to continue. I wont bother with you anymore unless you have anything new to say.
Bandor re naachte dekhe ki moja re bhai 😉
Chaliye jao Games of Light, neche jao GB bhai.
Doog Doog Doog
However I believe RPG, Deepa Mehta and their ilk are not equal opportunities offenders in this case
You are too generous, my friend. Forget about them being equal opportunities offenders and remember the Islam-as-savior-of-oppressed-Hindu-women meme in the last scenes of Parama and Fire. They are not going to risk a fatwa or anything inconvenient like that.
The connection between horse and the five priests ?And between Ashvamedha Yagna and Durga Puja?I leave that to you to figure it out.
Since you asked nicely, you see, in Fire, Sita was fucking the other lesbian Radha. Now how could our desi Porno upstage the NRI Deepa? Of course, by making Sita to fuck a horse.
Watched it on Youtube. I’ll throw up if I eat anything tonight. Recommend it for folks contemplating crash dieting.
@Sunoh Zara: Yes I hope you enjoy your own dance. For the sake of full disclosure, this dude has the same IPÂ from MI as Games of Light. Again not my obsession with IPs….WP shows it right in my face. Heh.
@Dipanjan: Hmm…
@Anon: Cringe worthy isnt it?
Two days after I got back to Bombay from NY, I went to see Dosar with my parents. Perhaps I lack the intellect or sensitivity, or perhaps I am unable to grasp the deeper, underlying message. Konkana Sen is brilliant as expected, but is Rituparno losing his mind ???
this is one o the best reviews i read ho ho
Eeeeesh!!! Ki oshobbhyo!!!
O.
The biggest criticism of the film seems to be the ‘gore’ and the fact that it is replete with sex scenes which are not even titillating (so why have them at the first place, is what most people seem to be asking). Well, what’s wrong with that? The sex is supposed to be dull; signifying the atrocity that happened in the name of procreation. The scene where the artisan touches the clay goddess and fantasises about his love is wonderfully poignant-it handles a familiar theme in a refreshingly bold manner.
Like all Rituporno movies except ‘Titli’ (which is possibly his worst), this film has very few outdoor scenes. Soemthing that often makes me wonder why Rituporno takes the trouble of dabbling in cinema, since his proclivity for indoor shots makes all his films look like plays. Apart from that, I found the film eminently likeable-a great narrative, very decent performances and fairly impressive direction and editing.
While I love most of your writings Arnab, I have to say that this was a very careless critique of the film. It’s nothing more than a fairly hilarious narration of the film’s story with some dull commentary thrown in.
Like ‘Herbert’, another film that has been much criticised, this film is way ahead of its times. We won’t accept gore in Bangla cinema; we count sex scenes without trying to understand if those scenes have a point and would hurriedly brand a film as being ‘overtly sex-laden’ and hence ‘not fit for public consumption’.
Well, I would say that this movie has opened a new genre of Indian movies – totally new. never experimented before – Unlike tradional Hindi/ bengali or even hollywood movies, this movie shows how a hero (Abhishek Bacchan), even without toching, or speaking to villain (Jakie) has proved to the world that he is a MO***R F***R. That explains why Ritu-PORNO had to put so many sex scenes, and dragged the story so long.
Despite of my anger at RPG and his breed of directors, I was curious enough and watched Antarmahal. I still stand by my disgust at the utter balderdash that his story is, and the farcical way he has presented it. But, to give credit where its due, his direction is worth mentioning. I do not understand a word of Bengali, but made do quite satisfactorily with bad subtitles. I must say the movie had a flow to it and was higlighted with very good acting and has a smattering of well intected humor. This was my frst RPG movie, and I admit he has talent, but apart from that, its akin to watching M.Night Shyamalan wasting away his wonderful directorial skills on some cock-and-bull fabrication.
hey greatbong,
maybe you should also write reviews of movies like Satiricon…
and on another note, (if I might be excused my blatant stereotyping) is rituporno gay?
@Sandipan: havent seen “Doshar” yet.
@Nehud Irfan: Thanks…
@Obangali: sottyiiiii…
@Rony: Oh of course…its way ahead of our times. Thats why I didnt get it. The problem with the movie is it needless attempts to “shock” our sensibilities. I dont think RPG’s point would have been diluted if he hadnt shown blood gushing down Roopa Ganguly’s thighs or Abhishek the potter massaging the breasts of Ma Durga.
@Amit: Mm.
@Srikanth: Yes his direction has always been good…no doubt.
@Ayush: I have no idea. He is a bit effeminate in his way of speaking (actually more than a bit). But that’s all that is in the public domain. Rest is mere conjecture.
You are the bloody best thing I have discovered in 2006! Are you Ramesh Mahadevan in disguise?
@TIPU,
what do u mean by saying aparna sen has made just one good movie????cud u explain plz?
by the way, GB, your review was cooooooool(though it was hardly a review but some sizzling storytelling)…but i thoughroughly enjoyed it….
and another thing, some1 mentioned he/she has found out that ritu(parnA) is gay, whats the heck with it? he is effeminate…so? ritu is surely not after ur ass, rite? y dont u criticize his métier instead of commenting on his sexual orientation?
plz….i want phone number of ritu porno ghoush…or give me his mailing address
Stumbled upon, without meaning to, upon Antarmahal and you review.Well, it seems to have all the ingredients of a movie that sells. But did it?
And the review is good.
Stumbled upon, without meaning to, upon Antarmahal and you review.Well, it seems to have all the ingredients of a movie that sells. But did it?
And the review is good.
Awesome … hilarious. I had a good laugh. You’re in your elements writing such reviews!
Basically, it shows Brahmins are stupid orphans willing to do anything coz they had nothing anyway…so if queen sleeps with a horse, I still think its a better deal than 5 bald brahmin priests…