Sarvajeet Mukherjee

BASU PARIBAR ( BASU FAMILY ) ... This film is loosely based on the short story 'The Dead' by James Joyce . Had the opportunity to watch the film . Simply loved it . The plot revolves around a family drama . What begins as a glorious reunion of The Basu Family ultimately reveals deep underlying problems that every individual has been trying to hide in their lives . The myths of pride wither away and skeletons tumble out of the cupboards revealing personal prisons , prisons , Byzantine and Beckettian . There seems to be no escape . However , the film , to my mind, does not end in a negetive note . It does reveal the essential truth of Life . Life itself is a Prison , and we are like Godot , waiting eternally , living in denial . The hint that the film gives at the very end is the Hope , Hope , that the walls of the prison shall indeed break down , shatter like glass , once , denial is replaced by acceptance . Like , Sisyphus , eternally condemned to roll the stone to the top of the Mountain to seek Solace only to meet with abysmal despair at the fact that the stone shall only roll down once again to the very bottom of the Mountain thereby perpetrating perpetual hell , Life too appears to be a living hell for us since we seek Solace in those Places where Despair awaits. Solace lies in the very acceptance that Life is the Prison and the Prisoner, the cruel Absurd . Solace , lies in the acceptance of this cruel Absurd and yet continuing to face it , and accepting it with courage . A la Camus , to live and to create in this desert , that is the task of the Artist . Life is Art . Hence , the Happiness/Solace that Sisyphus seeks lies in the very action of rolling the stone to the top of the Mountain and in not what happens after .In denial , the walls of the Beckettian Prison strengthen , in acceptance , and continuing to live on , the walls wither away unto thin air . Thus , a la Camus , one must ACCEPT THAT SISYPHUS IS INDEED HAPPY . This film is indeed well made . The direction , the use of colours , the choice of music , and the acting were just awesome. A thought provoking film and a must watch! Hope that you like it as i did . Ratings 5/5

Before any criticism , there are several things that I had in mind . Firstly, this is a Bengali Film and hence , budget constraints are always a problem . Also , this is a Science Fiction film , the story being penned by the legendary Satyajit Ray. Before I went to watch the film , I was rather apprehensive about how the director Sandip Ray is going to manage the special effects that the story demands . The cast , Dhritiman Chatterjee, Subhasis Mukherjee and the other foreign actors were the least of my worries , they are tried and tested veterans and Dhritiman Chatterjee as Shonku and Subhashis Mukherjee as Nokur Babu were brilliant, So were the cast playing the role of Sanders and Kroll and the actors for the Brazilian characters . When I watched the film , I was amazed by crisp story telling and an amazing way by which the director was able to keep special effects minimum and use them unless absolutely necessary. In short, I loved the way Sandip Ray negotiated these practical problems and used his available resources in an extremely efficient manner. Kudos! I had some minor issues regarding frame settings, but that is an entirely personal issue . I would love to see Sandip Ray produce more films of the iconic Professor Shonku series . Thanks for a GREAT FILM ! Considering budgetary constraints, I would easily give this film any score between four point five to five out of five points . This is a Family Drama. I would encourage All to watch and Enjoy the Film .

To my mind , this film is a narrative about mankind itself . Hence , the multi racial cast is absolutely justified . Once again , the film concentrates in bringing out as much as possible the main spiritual/philosophical messages that the Mahabharata tries to convey. The director does not concentrate on elaborate set designs or special effects and to my mind that is what the Mahabharata is all about in its truest essence . Thus people who expect Harry Potter or The Justice League type of special effects are STRONGLY ADVISED AGAINST watching this film . If however , a person has a serious interest regarding Indian Spirituality , then , this 6 hour film serves as a brilliant introduction. I watched the entire film at one go and found it extremely captivating. The acting was brilliant . There were no excesses . I , being an Indian ,liked it thoroughly and found it to be a welcome alternative to some presentation of the same Epic that concentrates or might concentrate on elaborate set designs and special effects thereby loosing out on the Spiritual Narrative which is after all the primary goal of the Epic .

This film takes the Star Wars saga to an entirely new realm . To mind , this film is no longer a film that simply categorizes good as good and evil as evil . Many fans of the the Star Wars canon might have been rather dissatisfied by the way the character of Luke or Snoke was portrayed . Before going into greater depths regarding the film , one must keep in mind that George Lucas had the films of the great director Akira Kurosawa in mind when he created the Jedi or the Sith . More importantly , his films were inspired a lot by Zen Philosophy ( recall the dialogues of Master Yoda who I regard to be among the central , if not , the central character in the canon ) . Yoda speaks like a true Zen Master when he addresses Luke and his action in destroying the Force Tree and the texts bearing the Ancient Jedi Teachings is the act of a true Zen Master and it is to my mind the most important part of the Film . Thus , the teaching : Knowledge has its Limitations , but the Force Knows no Limitations . One must keep in mind that when Yoda speaks about Knowledge , he actually has been stressing on Searching ones Feelings . Thus , wielding a Light Saber or lifting rocks become secondary, Realizing the Connection between the Self and The Force is Primary . " LUMINOUS BEINGS WE ARE , NOT THIS CRUDE MATTER " . I remember reading an incident as described by the Zen Scholar D.T. Suzuki , where a discipile comes before the Master and questions him regarding the Buddha state of Enlightenment . The Zen Master , opens his mouth and shows the disciple his tongue . The disciple turns and when he is just about to leave , the Master questions him if he has got his answer . The disciple replied and said that the Buddha state of Enlightenment was his Masters Tongue . At this , the Master chuckled and said " I was just trying to tell you that i have a sore in my tongue !" Absurd it might seem , but upon deeper thaught, one realizes that , Enlightenment is something that can be attained , felt but not described ( The name that can be mentioned is Not The Name , The way that can be described is Not The Way : Tao te Ching ) . Now , if one choses to draw parallel to this incident with Luke training Ray and asking her to reach out ...one shall see the striking semblance . Snoke , here appeared to be a character far more devious and sinister than ten Darth Sidious combined . But is he devious and sinister ? Is he not trying to reach the same balance by approaching from the Dark Side what Master Yoda is attempting to do from the Light Side ? Food for thaught ! "Darkness rises and light meets it " ( Profound statement ) . And he is actually successful in pushing Kylo Ren ( Ben Solo ) further to the Dark side . "The Supreme Leader is Dead Long Live The Supreme Leader " Well, to mind , episode eight of Star Wars is Pregnant . Let us wait and see Episode nine . I simply hope that the director shared my ideas. Episode nine might turn out to be a Great Film also ... Rating 5/5