Bow Barracks Forever : the movie

When Vandu asked me this morning which movie I would like to watch today - Partner or Bow Barracks Forever, I answered in my slumber 'Bow Barracks Forever'! I was looking forward to watching this movie mainly for two reasons - a) It was made by Anjan Dutt of 'The Bong Connection' fame. I have heard good reviews of TBC, though I have not seen it yet b) I had read somewhere that the movie (BBF) was based on true story.

Well, the movie didn't turn out exactly what I had expected it to be. I was a tad bit disappointed after watching it. For the first 15 minutes or so it seemed we were watching a highschool play - everyone was very loud and unnatural. But gradually they settled in their characters and the movie picked up its tempo. The film is about the lives of a group of Anglo-Indian people who have been living in 'Bow Barracks' (an old & dilapidated building in Kolkata) as tenants for a long time - their struggles, problems and relations with other tenants. Victor Banerjee (Peter the Cheater) and Lilette Dubey (Emily Lobo) had the most important roles in the film. Other important characters being Sabyasachi, Neha Dubey, Clayton Rodgers, Moon Moon sen and Sohini Pal.

As always Victor gets into the role so well that it becomes difficult to differentiate the character from him. So was the case in this film too - as a man who has seen good times in the past but poverty has made him con people (with quite a panache!) in his old age; full marks to him! Lilette is a widow with 2 grown up sons - elder one in London who is the achiever & younger (Clayton) is a loser. She has a very optimistic attitude towards life and has dreams of settling into a good life in London (where he elder son is). She looks quite at ease in her role. Sabyasachi was disappointing in the film (I, personally like Sabyasachi's acting a lot, otherwise) as Tom - the Armenian wife-basher & smuggler. He looks quite artificial in the scenes he is supposed to be drunk and getting mad at his pretty wife (Neha).

Clayton (as Brad, Emily's younger son) has been given a good role, including a full-length song :). He is sometimes good and sometimes terrible. Neha has done a good job as Tom's tortured wife Anna who is secretly having an affair with Brad. Saw Moon Moon Sen (as the over-sexed Rosa) after a long time - she has put on a lot of weight and hasn't improved much in her acting skills. The film has all the ingredients (romance, violence, tragedy) and ends on a positive note that the residents of Bow Barracks would continue to live in their 'heritage' abode for some more time to come. The music is very good in the film (I heard that Anjan Dutt is a good musician himself, though he did not compose for this film).

There are two things I particularly did not like about the film - a) Although the entire film was in Enlish, there were some important dialogues in Bengali which were not subtitled. Although I understand Bengali, but I saw many people around me struggling to figure out what was being said. b) The intimate scenes (between Anna & Brad or Rosa & Bipin) were not picturised aesthetically. So instead of conveying the tenderness, they attracted lewd remarks from the audience.

Overall a watchable film if you like crossover or reality kind of movies (Vandu was highly disappointed as she is more of a fantasy/feel-good/happy endings kind of a person :) ) but don't go with too high expectations.