DVD/VCD reviews

An absolute must-see movie, Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (DVD; Rs 499) from Diskovery Video is available for your private collection. This is a film that traces the life and work of a smalltime lawyer Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who rose to become India’s spiritual leader, The Mahatma, through his philosophy of non-violence. He won over his countrymen with his humanity. He wanted freedom for them. But he wanted to achieve it through peace.

His rise from the struggling lawyer in South Africa to the famous leader of India is not just interesting, but intriguing as well. The soul-stirring film about this simple, semi-clad, unassuming human being grabbed eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. Even today no one can match Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of the Mahatma. In spite of being a foreigner, his ability to delineate a character so Indian definitely deserved all the accolades it received worldwide. Among a predominantly foreign cast (Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard) some of the Indians in the cast are Saeed Jaffrey (Sardar Patel), Alyque Padamsee (Mohammed Ali Jinnah), Amrish Puri (Kahn) Roshan Seth (Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru) and Rohini Hattangadi (Kasturba). The DVD is available with a language option (English and Hindi) and with subtitles. A collectors’ item unquestionably.

They are the kings of comedy in Bengali cinema ? Bhanu and Jahar ? and if they get together one can guess how hilarious the situation can be. That’s exactly what happens in Purnendu Roy Chowdhury’s Bhanu Goenda Jahar Assistant (VCD; Rs 199), from Angel Video. Two failed detectives take up the case of the runaway daughter. The events that follows turn rollicking with Bhanu and Jahar pitching their stuff. The cast includes Subhendu Chatterjee, Pahari Sanyal and Lily Chakraborty as well. A real fun film to be watched with family on the couch.

A film directed by Mrinmoy Chakraborty with a very intriguing title, Cinemay Jemon Hoy (VCD; Rs 199) is a story of a very normal family affair and hardly what happens in films. But with Debashree, Sabyasachi and Arjun in the cast the proceedings are just as interesting; as it happens in films. The cast includes Supriya Debi. The story is written by Dibyendu Palit and starts off with the tale of a girl from a typical middleclass family. But what changes her life and how and what are the choices she has to make in the end are played out for the family on Max Video.