Antaheen

First post on a specific film, no doubt first of many to come. Managed to watch the Bengali film Antaheen earlier this week. I was a little apprehensive before watching it, as most of the Bengali off-beat films are pretty dark and depressing, but after watching Antaheen, I was pleasantly surprised. I haven't seen director Aniruddh Roy Chowdhury's first film Anuranan yet (despite having a copy of the film - although people who know me will vouch that that is something quite normal for me......), so didn't really know what to expect.

Antaheen is a film about relationships - about two people who start to fall in love by chatting online but not seeing each other, about a separated married couple who are still in love, and married couple living together with cracks in the relationship......... In all honesty, the film doesn't have a story as such, but the screenplay catches your attention from the start, and for the most part, this turns out to be quite an engrossing film, despite the leisurely pace. And what makes the film is the characters populating it - all of them are straight out of life. The 'lead pair' are played by Rahul Bose and Radhika Apte, but each of the supporting characters played by Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore, Mita Vashisht and Kalyan Ray stand out. Special mention go to Radhika Apte and Kalyan Ray - I think this may be their debut film, and they both shine in their roles. Radhika reminds you of a few people - but the closest comparison I can think of is a chilled out version of Nandita Das!!

Overall, this film is well worth a watch - and after it finishes, it stays with you, making you want to spend more time with your loved ones. I was knackered though, so I just went to bed.