Paoli Dam, Sreela in Maacher Jhol, flashes the thumbs-up sign in front of a standee. “You can call it a food film or a relationship film, but I feel it is a film about women empowerment. The characters are beautifully sketched and written. Sreela is so strong, powerful and full of depth. She has a big heart and that is the beauty of the character,” said Paoli, who celebrated the weekend run of Maacher Jhol with “kaanta pona maachher kalia” and rice for Sunday lunch. “It was a treat to myself!”

Anik Datta had ‘maachher jhol’ for lunch on Saturday, as an antidote to a heavy dinner he had the night before! “I thoroughly enjoyed something which I used to hate when I was young — maachher jhol. Over the years I have acquired the taste and come to appreciate it. The film brought back memories from my childhood. It is a good-looking, delightful film,” said the man behind films like Bhooter Bhobishyot and  Meghnadbodh Rohoshyo. “This is a special film as it couples entertainment with contemporary realities, and succeeds tremendously in doing so. The film has managed to encapsulate a yearning for a return to Calcutta even while celebrating the many opportunities that the world offers our youth today, ” said Subhasis Ganguli (right), regional director (east), INOX. 

Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury saw the film for the second time on Saturday! “There’s an honesty to the film, which I liked. I found all the qualities of a good filmmaker in Pratim. The measured performances were mind-blowing. I liked the craft. Traditional Bengali ethos was presented in a very modern way. There are some lovely moments which are not cliched. The climax is brilliant and the film just makes you feel so good,” said Tony, seen here with wife Indrani (in white), Sauraseni Maitra and Paoli Dam. Sauraseni was both “tense and excited” on the premiere morning, but was “completely thrilled and overwhelmed” with the response. “My phone has been ringing continuously and my Facebook is loaded with messages. I was almost teary-eyed… when I came out of the theatre, Pratimda was the first person I saw. I rushed to hug him,” said the model-turned-actress who plays chef Maggi in Maacher Jhol. “My mom has been telling me to make maachher jhol for her!” laughed Sauraseni.

Pratim D. Gupta with Paoli Dam. “I watched the entire film one more time with my t2 family and it was so much fun. Maacher Jhol has a lot of new elements, whether the French scenes or the food shot montages. I wasn’t so sure how the Calcutta audiences will take to the movie. So I was overwhelmed with the opening the film got. There was a 100 per cent jump from Friday to Saturday and about a dozen shows in different parts of the city went houseful on Sunday. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing and the notifications on Facebook and Twitter just keep popping up.That everyone seems to see their own parents or their own children in the film is what I think has made Maacher Jhol such a treat for the audiences,” said Pratim. The film releases in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Ahmedabad on September 1.    

Swissotel GM Subhrajit Bardhan watched the film with wife Manmeet Bassi and daughter Keara Bardhan. “I used to be a chef and I worked abroad for seven years so many incidents looked familiar. My mother is almost a photocopy of Mamata Shankar’s character, who would say, ‘It’s your life and you should figure it out’. Coming to Swissotel, I didn’t expect them to show so much of the hotel! The hotel looks fresh and clean and Pratim has showed it really nicely, in so much detail. Many of the staff haven’t seen it yet so we’re planning to take the entire team together for a show,” smiled Subhrajit.

Pictures: Rashbehari Das

TEAM T2 RUSTLES UP ITS MAACHER JHOL VIEWS

TIME TO FOLLOW THAT DREAM

Maacher Jhol worked on me in mysterious ways, burrowing deep into my brain, and triggering stashed away memories of a hot summer long ago. I must have been about 16 then. All my friends were narrowing down their career choices. But my father, for better or worse, just let me be. He asked the mandatory questions but never forced me into anything. I was the angst-ridden, socially-awkward teen, who nurtured impossible dreams of playing guitar solos to a stadium full of people. We had our differences and altercations and hardly agreed on anything. Watching the father-son conflict unfold in Maacher Jhol got me thinking about unresolved issues and how I could have approached certain things differently at that time. The tender moments between mother and son underlined the strength and resilience of family bonds. That director Pratim D. Gupta completely eschewed melodrama and did not use a mother’s ailment as a trope to gain audience sympathy was another high point for me. Maacher Jhol also made me stop for a moment and think that time hasn’t run out yet for pursuing my dream. Time to buy a new guitar and bury my nose in Motley Crue man Nikki Sixx’s autobiography, The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star!
Arindam Chatterjee

FOOD USED AS A METAPHOR FOR THE FAMILIAR

Being a Bangal, maachher jhal does for me what maachher jhol never will. Some watery and semi-sweet fish jhol with potol thrown in…  thank you, but no thank you! But Maacher Jhol the film turned out to be a whole lot more than just a culinary adventure (well, it was that too, quite delightfully, but more on that later). I remember how Pratim, a colleague and the director of this film, had loved Rock On!! and had given it a rare 9/10. When I sat back and watched Maacher Jhol on Saturday afternoon, I saw a bit of the Farhan Akhtar film — chasing dreams, family conflict, abandonment…. — playing out in this film. But Maacher Jhol is its own kind of film, with food being used as a metaphor for the familiar — family, friends, the city one grows up in… and love. The food shots, fish searing in a pan to the curry magically turning a golden brown, reminded me so much of MasterChef Australia, a show that I absolutely love. And that final shot with the Eiffel Tower lighting up was pure magic. 

PS: How often do you get to watch a film that has two colleagues in it? Besides Pratim, there was Sibendu Das, t2’s Chief Food Man, putting in a cameo as a chef at Swissotel. Way to go, boys! 
Priyanka Roy

MAACHH AND THE HOME CONNECT

I am not a big fan of fish. Over the years, I have been force-fed the katlas, ruis, kois…. In fact, I associate maachher jhol with being down with a stomach bug. So, a film on maachh and jhol isn’t that appetising for me. What left an aftertaste though is the maachh and home connect, familiar, safe, harmless. It will never let you down. And it just might make you feel better, which the finest caviar may not. Or, in this case a Michelin star. Mamata Shankar and Sumanta Mukherjee as the mother and father were so relatable. “Dyakho, kintu dyakhatey esho na,” says 
Sumanta’s character to Ritwick, the son. Searing. Sauraseni Maitra’s smile is oh-so-warm. Paoli Dam’s Sreela seems vulnerable at first, but emerges as a woman who won’t be messed with. Ritwick Chakraborty’s salt-and-pepper Dev looks so suave.
Saionee Chakraborty

A REFRESHING WATCH

Maacher Jhol. When I first heard about the name of the film, I had decided to relegate it to the category of ‘Yet another wannabe film with an oversmart name’. However, the film proved to be exactly opposite. Simple and succinct, sans unnecessary drama, this was a refreshing watch. The story is probably the simplest I have watched in a film made in the recent past and the narrative is simpler still. The film deals with issues like familial conflict, marital discord, abandonment and love with fantastic flourish.
Anannya Sarkar

WARM AND ENDEARING

I’ve never really liked maachher jhol, the dish. But the movie was a warm and endearing tale of a man with dreams, struggling to balance the old and the new. We’ve all been at that crossroads and Ritwick’s Dev brought alive the crisis, albeit with extreme subtlety. His bond with his mother (Mamata Shankar) was one of the high points and often reminded me of my own, even though she makes better chilli crab than maacher jhol! The way the flashback scenes were intercut with the present was fresh and innovative. But my favourite part has to be the bit that featured a colleague. I don’t know about an Oscar, but ‘chef’ Sibendu Das has won my heart with his overacting! I wouldn’t mind watching the movie again. But trying the maachher jhol with orange juice? Maybe not!
Rwitoban Deb

A FEEL-GOOD FILM

Beyond who had acted in the film and who had directed it, I knew nothing about Maacher Jhol. But within the first few minutes, two things were becoming apparent. One, this would be a Ritwick movie. Two, it would be a fairly slick film, particularly visually, some ‘photographic’ frames thrown in (such as one later with Ritwick standing in the doorway of a corner building). And that’s pretty much how it panned out. This was a “family drama”, but the story moved 
briskly and the dialogue was crisp. This should be a feel-good film for Bengali expatriates as well, many of whom would possibly be able to identify, at least in part, with Dev D’s scenario. The film comes together in the end with every single thread neatly tied up — a bit too pat, perhaps, for those who like things a wee bit straggly and something left to the viewer’s imagination.
Abhijit Mitra 

LEFT ME HUNGRY!

Picturesque locations, crisp editing, superb performances and a lot of style — Maacher Jhol has all the ingredients needed for a delicious movie. While Ritwick as the quiet and calculative Michelin-starred chef Dev D was perfect, three women, for me, stole the show — Mamata Shankar, as the loving mother who reminded me of my own Maa, Sim (Kaya Blocksage) as the understanding French girlfriend longing to be loved and included, and Paoli as the quiet yet headstrong independent woman who captured attention in every scene she was in. The way the movie is shot helps in maintaining a steady pace, moving from past to present through various techniques quite deftly, making it quite a treat for the eyes. I only have one complaint… the film left me feeling immensely hungry!
Deborima Ganguly

LET’S HAVE A SEQUEL ON HER!

In most Bengali homes, there’s no getting away from maachher jhol, whether you like it or not. And most mothers are extremely attached to their recipes. In this case, Dev’s mother was attached to her son’s recipe and so the audience is treated to various visuals of fish being swept into not-at-all-unhealthy-looking oil and other accompaniments, depending on what the chef is experimenting with. The narrative isn’t the least complicated, the flashbacks are seamlessly woven in and you’ll find one astonishingly strong female character, she’s definitely my favourite… let’s have a sequel on her! The protagonist is painfully flawed but that doesn’t matter in the least. The movie ends with a recipe, so if you’re inclined to cook, keep a pen handy. The Parisian scenes certainly lend ambience and all the good eating, right from scene one, will bring on the munchies. You won’t regret watching it in the least. The problem is, give yourself a week and you might not really remember watching it.
Ramona Sen 

BRING ON THAT MAACHH!

I am a Bengali who hates fish. Blame it on the innumerable times I had a bone stuck in my throat and the phobia of going to a doc to get it removed. So going to watch Maacher Jhol was quite ironic for me. What I loved the most about the film was its freshness — the plot, the riot of colours and Ritwick and Paoli’s powerful yet understated acting. The touch of orange in the jhol intrigued me and after watching the film I did crave to just try it once, which of course did not happen. A day later on Sunday afternoon, as I sat at the table to have my lunch I had a plate of gorom bhaat, maachher jhol and a slice of gondhoraj lebu waiting for me. For once, I didn’t complain for not getting chicken and instead happily feasted on the jhol and the maachh (with a little help from Maa, of course!)
Pramita Ghosh

LET’S GO ON THAT CALCUTTA CULINARY ADVENTURE...

As my first time watching a Bengali film, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by Maacher Jhol. The split-location filming between Paris and Calcutta has you wondering how the love interests, Dev and Sim, will come together in the end. At first glance this film may appear to be about cooking — specifically, that fish curry — but really this movie is ultimately a heartwarming tale about family being brought together in the face of adversity. That said, the cookery element has definitely made me want to be more adventurous and experimental with food for the rest of my time in Calcutta.

Bethany Kirkbride
(Bethany is a student of University of Oxford and is interning with t2)

ISN’T THAT A T2 BOY?!

We spot Priyam — Sibendu Das of Team t2 — in the first half of the film in a scene where a number of ‘Swissotel chefs’ stand in a row and greet their idol Dev D for the first time by taking off their chef’s hats. We cheer and laugh and point and nudge each other and look for other people’s reactions. Every time the camera focuses on, or glides past, Sibendu we break into broad smiles, proud of our colleague’s acting debut. And it doesn’t stop at one scene. Chef Priyam makes a comeback in another sequence decked up (in chef’s clothes) and in character, listening intently, nodding, and occasionally grinning at Dev D’s words. Sibendu, of course, kills it!