Three very different people from three very different worlds collide one winter afternoon in an anarchic Kolkata. One of the best films to come out of Bengal in a long, long time, Shaheb Bibi Golaam is a mind-bending film which hops from one genre to another with as much ease as it moves from one great performance to another. Without an iota of pretension or constantly trying to mislead the audience, which the other recent Bengali thrillers have mastered, Shaheb Bibi Golaam is a work of pure passion and honesty from the director. Playing with structure, the film connects different story strands through one catastrophic event. All the actors, even the ones in bit roles, are the top of their game. The background score is incredible even though the songs sound from a different film. But overall it's a groundbreaking film which should travel well in the rest of the country given the quality and class of storytelling and treatment. OK, I just saw this movie, and I think I have yet to absorb it fully. The storytelling is extremely deft and well done, with each separate story weaving into each other seamlessly - this is brilliantly done. But let me go more in depth. I think I'll start with the negative, cause I'd like to end with the positive.<br/><br/>There are plot holes aplenty. The minister's son is capable of r–-g a woman, but whimpers like that, like a little girl, in front of his father? The taxi driver gives Parno a couple of rides, and 2 days later falls so deeply in love that he's besotted like that? This story needed to be developed a bit more in the movie, it's not impossible that such a thing may happen, we needed to be shown How - it would have added a lot more depth. If she has a car, what's she doing catching a cab home in any case, why doesn't she just drive home in her own car, or if she's too drunk, get one of her friends to drive? And most of all, we're supposed to believe that someone is *married* to Swastika Mukherjee AND DOESN'T GIVE HER SEX, LOL!! :) Is this *possible*? Is this guy MAD, or impotent or something??!! :) (actually something close to that IS suggested, isn't it? :)) But why did she have to become a *prostitute*?? If she wants to have sex, well, all she has to do is to go out into the street and snap her fingers at the nearest boy/s, and 10 of them will be ready to jump on her…? :) Why do it for *money*??<br/><br/>But leaving these things aside, the Positive - FINALLY SOMEONE HAS ADDRESSED THE ISSUE OF A BENGALI HOUSEWIFE'S SEXUAL DESIRE!! FINALLY!! In 2016, Bengali culture just *couldn't remain* what it is any. more. (I'm a guy, so I have a vested interest in as many Bengali housewives being sexually liberated as possible! ;) ) It's done BRILLIANTLY - the scenes with her and the various men were MIND BLOWING!! I think Bengali TV is still meant for the old woman who has opinions on somebody going to a FU*KING GYM!!! Thank GOD that won't exist anymore!!<br/><br/>I thought, when I first heard about the movie, that it would have a more philosophical bent - I thought Swastika would find solace from that husband of hers in a *lover* - someone whom she finds *emotional sustenance* in - this was not attempted in the movie. It's just a thriller. It's not that it doesn't make a statement, it does, but not with the Swastika part of the story line. What's more disturbing is the *point of view* behind it - even now, the minister's son is shown to be the decadent, Westernised, elite drunkard and womanizer, and the taxi driver is the dutiful, loving, good guy - so good he carries his father to the toilet, for God's sake! How many people reading this have heard about *taxi drivers* raping people? What, every fourth or fifth day in the paper? And believe it or not, I'll bet that there are some *minister's sons* in India, maybe even in Kolkata, who are clean, make their money honestly, and have never even come close to harming a woman - not many LOL! :) , but some. *This point of view has been removed from the movie*!! Even now, poor means good and rich means bad. In 20 bloody 16, Kolkata STILL hasn't got rid of communism. Why'd you do this, Pratim? There are some people who go to nightclubs, and drink, and so on, who are NOT stupid - what are we supposed to do, apologize because we use Ipads and Twitter?? I guess the sad reality is that there ARE people like the minister's son in Kolkata - I don't know many myself, but there is at least one person I can think of who is almost the ditto copy of that character - and also that recent Sambia case springs to mind. By the way, that acting was AWFUL - he says "bitch" more times that anyone I've heard - he *says* it wrong. I didn't feel he was evil - when he was attempting to smash the windscreen of Parno's car, I didn't feel scared at all (which is a good thing - it shows that Bengali men can never be rapists in real life). He SHOULD have smashed it in - would have lent more weight to the character. <br/><br/>Anyway, at the end of it - 1) I'm glad that someone finally brought up the topic of Bengali women's desires, as I said. and 2) I'm glad about the ending - when Anjan Dutt cut off that son of a b**ch's d*ck, *I* WAS CLAPPING AND CHEERING LIKE MAD!! (actually when he sat on top of him, for a second I thought he was going to r**e him, but that didn't happen!) EXCELLENT!<br/><br/>The director somewhere said, the issue of whether to go and see a Bengali movie has a question mark at the end of it - his job is to turn that into a exclamation point. He has been successful. I will definitely go and see more Bengali movies if stuff like this comes out. And I will keep an eye out specifically for more movies from *him*.
Lavyber replied
295 weeks ago