ওয়াশিংটন বাংলা রেডিও Washington Bangla Radio

Acclaimed singer, song-writer, composer, creative writer and journalist (among many other interests) Nilanjann Nandy talks to Subhomoy Mukherjee of Washington Bangla Radio in this exclusive, personal and up-close interview. Do not miss his extempore singing.

Click on the play button to listen to the full audio interview online on WBRi on-demand radio broadcast service.

Powerful character actor Subrata Dutta - a renowned name in Bengali and Bollywood Cinema in India and Indian film-lovers across the world - recently bagged another "Best Actor" award - this time at the Cairo International Film Festival, 2009 - for Jai Tank directed film Madholal Keep Walking [BUY DVD] co-starring Swara Bhaskar. As you will hear Subrata describing in the interview, in Madholal, he plays the role of a man in Mumbai who has lost a hand and has thus had to extensively shoot with one hand tied to his back, in real locations, sometimes on a hidden camera.

Subrata has previosuly won the "Best Actor" award at the Osian Cinefan Festival 2006 for Subrata Sen directed Bengali film Bibar - Calcutta Unabashed (DVD Release) co-starring Tannishtha Chatterjee, Payel Sarkar, Biswajit Chakraborty, Dulal Lahiri, Kunal Mitra etc.

Madholal Keep Walking has had a limited trial release in Calcutta in August and will be re-released soon on a much larger scale.

A graduate from the elite National School of Drama, New Delhi and Central School of Speech and Drama, London, UK, Subrata has and continues to play lead roles in films in various languages. He is also a renowned stage theater actor.

Subrata Dutta grew up in Bankura district of West Bengal, and in his young days, had little clue that he would become a powerful and internationally acclaimed character acter in films and theater. He studied Zoology at the graduate level and Business Administration at the post graduate level. He then chanced on attending a workshop at the National School of Drama, New Delhi and subsequently applied to study there, and was selected. His subsequent apprenticeship at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, UK was financed by a scholarship from the Brtish Council in Kolkata.

Subrata Dutta performed various roles in stage theater in Delhi for around 8 years, eventually also playing roles in parallel and art-house films and then lead roles as protagonists and antagonists.

Subrata Dutta is playing a lead role in Ram Gopal Verma directed RAKTA CHARITRA that is expected to have a release date in October 2010. RAKTA CHARITRA will be released in two episodes and in three languages.

After a long string of successful Bengali films featuring Subrata Dutta - Buddhadev Dasgupta's UTTARA (BUY DVD), Kushan Nandy's 88 Antop Hill [BUY VCD], Suman Mukherjee's  Chaturanga (DVD Release), Subrata Sen's Bibar - Calcutta Unabashed (DVD), Arin Pal's Doshta Dosh (BUY DVD), Anjan Das's Achin Pakhi (DVD) and so on, ANTIM SHWASH SUNDAR (Last Breath Beautiful) (BUY DVD) by Kris Allin is now playing to capacity audiences in theaters in Kolkata, featuring Subrata Dutta as Prem Sengupta, Indrani Halder as Vibha, Paran Bandopadhaya as Mystic, Kaushik Banerjee as Sarda, Kunal Padhy as Mehra, Swagata Mukherjee as Alka, Punya Darshan Gupta as Rao, Debdut Ghosh as Patel, Sanjukta Roychowdhury as Anjali, Surangana as Arti and Prakash Sharma as Raghu.

Subrata recently appeared in Achin Pakhi with the young promising actress Manali Dey of Mouri fame from the superhit Bengali TV show Bou Kotha Kao.

Subrata Dutta's other upcoming films include Reema Mukherjee's ARDHANGINI EK ARDHASATYA which is adapted from Rabindranath Tagore's short story GHARE BAIRE (previously made into a film with the same title by Satyajit Ray) where Subrata plays the role of Sandip and appears with Subodh Bhave, Sreelekha Mitra, Manoj Mitra, Reema Lagoo, Varsha Usgaonkar and others. The film is headed to the Berlin International Film Festival.

Subrata Dutta is also appearing in the upcoming film BLIND LANE with Sonali Chowdhury - the film is directed by Amitava Sengupta and is based on the Kamtapur movement.

Listen to Subrata Dutta once again on Washington Bangla Radio. We wish Subrata Dutta all the best and we look forwarding to having him with us on Washington Bangla Radio again.

Akash Adhikari is an acclaimed Nepali film-maker with over 15 popular Nepali movies to his credit. He is the writer-director and lead actor of the eagerly anticipated Nepali movie Kathmandu (2010) with an international cast. Akash talks to Washington Bangla Radio's Arijit Chakraborty in an exclusive, comprehensive and intimate interview about his career and his films. Do not miss the special preview of his next film Suryoday (Sunrise) that Akash talks about in detail exclusively on WBRi.

Kathmandu - with a tag-line of "Anything can happen in this city" - is a contemporary story of the relationship between youngsters and their parents. In some ways, Kathmandu is a universal film about teenagers and the responsibilities of parents in both being protective and inspirational towards developing independence and self-confidence in their teenage children. It may be seen as a film about universal generation gap issues.

Kathmandu is shot in San Fransisco, USA and of course, Nepal using the Red Cinema 4K Camera for the first time in Nepali cinema, and features an international cast and crew. Kathmandu is written and directed by Akash Adhikari and produced by Akash Adhikari and his brother Ben-Nabin Adhikari who lives in New York. The internationmal star cast includes Akash Adhikari, Resh Marhatta, Gauri Malla, Samyukta Rana, Arjun Shrestha, Ben-Nabin Adhikari, Suresh Adhikari, Sangita Chhetri, Sunil Dutt, Subhatra Adhikari and more. The movie introduces newcomer Prapti Ghimire to Nepalese cinema. Ani Choying Dolma and Indian Bollywood singer-actor Sukhwinder Singh make guest appearances in the film.

^{A scene from Kathmandu (2010, Nepali)}
The Nepali film songs have been performed by Indian Bollywood playback singers like Sukhwinder Singh, Aakriti Kankard, Kailash Kher, Sunidhi Chauhan, Adhitya Narayan and Sanjivini. Rahul Pradhan has composed and directed music in Kathmandu and Dirgha Gurung has taken care of cinematography.

Akash Adhikari also talks in depth about his next film Suryoday (Sunrise). That film is about a complex relationship of a woman and multiple husbands. The Nyinba people of Nepal live high in the Himalayan mountains and practice fraternal polyandry - when a woman marries a man, in Nyinban culture, she marries all of her husband's brothers as well. Beneficial aspects of such a custom include preservation of inherited wealth and property without too much fragmenting, while obviously the relationship between the woman and her husbands is fascinating.

Dharmendra Bhatt is an unusual instrumentalist from Ahmedabad, India - he is an expert in North Indian Hindustani Classical Instrumental Mandolin.

Check out Dharmendra's performance of Indian Ragas on Mandolin in the player.

Antim Shwash Sundar (English title The Last Breath Beautiful) is a 2010 Kolkata Bengali movie released in theaters in Calcutta today, Aug 20, 2010.

The film stars Subrata Dutta, Indrani Haldar, Paran Bandopadhyay and others. Subrata Dutta has delivered a powerful performance as Prem Sengupta in the film, as posted by Washington Bangla Radio film critiques in our WBRi Kolkata Tube blog.

Debutant writer-director Kris Alin talks exclusively to Arijit Chakraborty on Washington Bangla Radio in a comprehensive, intimate and informal interview that you can listen free online by pressing the play button in the player.

April 27, 2010 (Washington Bangla Radio) By Subhomoy Mukherjee, WBRi Kolkata Correspondent:

In this informal and unedited intimate chat with Subhomoy Mukherjee, Usha Uthup talks about her multi-cultural background, her family and early days with the pioneering all-girl band SAMI Sisters which she and her sisters founded, her love of music in different languages, her love for Tagore and the cultural mosaic that is India. An epitome of versatility and open-mindedness, Usha Uthup has truly transcended not only Indian regional cultures, but music in its global sense. Do not miss her song snippets in various languages including Russian.

Usha Uthup's songs are available for download online in MP3 format - click here to listen to free previews and download audio songs MP3 >

Magic Hour Entertainment's  Egaro - The Immortal XI is an upcoming Bangla movie celebrating the best of Indian soccer (football) and the July 29, 1911 historic victory of the Indian team of Mohun Bagan against the British East Yorkshire Regiment, thus Mohun Bagan lifting the IFA Shield for the first time ever. The film is directed by Arun Roy and produced by Anilava Chatterjee.

EGARO features music by the folk band MOKAM (Mayukh - Mainak) known for their unique and innovative sound rooted in folk and tribal music of Bengal.

Watch a video of and listen to producer Anilabha Chatterjee talking to Subhomoy Mukherjee, WBRi correspondent, in an informal and intimate interview online.

Subhomoy writes:

Anilabho Chatterjee started his career as a journalist. Then he liked to cover the sports, eventually he felt in love with sports and till date, even as a producer of popular television events, he likes to do programs on sports, even the programs with celebrity sports persons.

Tollywood Kolkata Bengali movie actor Prasenjit Chattopadhyay, affectionately called Bumba-da by his huge fan following, is one of the top stars of Bangla cinema for over a quarter of a century. Son of popular hero of yesterday, Biswajeet Chatterjee (buy Biswajit DVD Collection Online), Prosenjit started his career in film at the age of around four with Chotto Jigyasha directed by his dad. Prosenjit's sister Pallavi Chatterjee is also an acclaimed actress.

In this comprehensive, informal and intimate interview, Prosenjit Chatterjee talks to Subhomoy Mukherjee of Washington Bangla Radio about his career in films and Bengali cinema. Do not miss the words of one of the greatest Bengali movie personalities with unbeatable popularity.

Prasenjit Chatterjee lives in Kolkata with his wife, actress Arpita Pal Chatterjee and their son Trishanjit. Arpita has recently re-emerged in Bengali cinema after a gap of several years.

King of commercial / pop Bengali cinema for many years, Prosenjit has matured into a full-fledged character actor powerful enough for challenging roles in parallel and art-house films starting with Rituparno Ghosh's 2003 gem "Choker Bali" (Chokher Bali - A Passion Play Online DVD Release) where he appeared alongside Aishwarya Rai and Raima Sen. His fabulous performance as Kaushik in DOSAR (2007) [BUY DVD] co-starring Konkona Sen earned him a Silver Lotus National Award. He considers the role of Kaushik as the most challenging in his 300 or so films so far.

The 1983 film 'Duti Pata' (1983) saw Prosenjit Chatterjee debut as the hero. The film was a super-hit and launched Prosenjit into super-stardom in Bangla cinema. Other remarkable Prosenjit-starrers include AMAR SANGI (1987) [BUY DVD] with Vijayeta Pandit -  the famous song "Chirodini Aami Je Tomar" still reverberates in Bengali hearts, Tarun Majumdar's Apon Amar Apon (1990), Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s 'Ami, Yaseen Aar Amaar Madhubala' (2007) and many more.

Prosenjit has acted against around 50 heroines and ex-wife and childhood friend Debashree Roy remains his favorite actress to work with. He has appeared with Satabdi Roy in the highest number of films, and has acted with other top Tollywood heroines like Rachana Banerjee (WBRi Interview), Rituparna Sengupta (Interview), Indrani Haldar and his wife Arpita Pal Chatterjee.

Surajit Dhar is the writer-director of PA MA GA RE SA (Bengali, 2009) and BRITTO (Bengali, 2010). In this exclusive interview, Surajit Dhar talks to Arijit Chakraborty of Washington Bangla Radio about his career, experience and thoughts about modern Bengali cinema as well as, of course, his films.

Anup Das is the director of the Indian film LIFE EXPRESS (2010) that deals with the interesting subject of surrogate motherhood and contemporary urban Indian lifestyle that sometimes tends to leave little time for a career-oriented woman to have children.

Anup Das's previous short film RIKSHAWALLA has been critically acclaimed and screened in Film festivals in Germany and Calcutta. The film is about how a city that claims to be fast modernizing with Subways and contemporary forms of transportation still relies on human-pulled rickshaws to a large extent.

Sudeshna Roy is one half of the popular duo of film makers along with Abhijit Guha. The duo is famous for directing a myriad of quality TV serials, telefilms, and full-length Kolkata Bengali feature films including Prosenjit-starrer Sudhu Tumi (BUY DVD), Cross Connection (BUY DVD) and the eagerly anticipated Prem By Chance (2010) starring Abir Chatterjee and Koel Mullick and featuring music by Rupankar Bagchi.

Arijit Chakraborty of Washington Bangla Radio talks to Sudeshna Roy in this exclusive and intimate audio interview.

Sudeshna Roy was born and grew up in Calcutta. She started off her career as a journalist, and was associated with acclaimed journals like Aajkal, Telegraph, and with Sananda women's magazine from the very inception of Sananda. Circa 1994, when Satellite TV finally reached India, Sudeshna started a women's magazine program on ZEE TV channel, where she met Abhijit Guha and they started working together. Today, Sudeshna and Abhijit have delivered over 3000 hours of television programming. Additionally, they have directed numerous Telefilms.

In 2004, the duo directed their first Bengali feature film Sudhu Tumi (BUY DVD) based on a romantic family comedy-drama story by Sudeshna. Sudhu Tumi scored a number of firsts in Bengali cinema industry - it launched popular television actress Gargi Roychowdhury into feature films and featured film-song playback singer Shreya Ghoshal singing Rabindra Sangeet. Most remarkably, Sudhu Tumi saw the debut of Ranjit Mullick's daughter Koel Mullick in Bengali cinema - who is now one of the top Tollywood actresses of the younger generation. Koel appeared against the venerable Bumbada - Prosenjit Chattopadhyay - in Sudhu Tumi.

Acclaimed Bengali and Bollywood film-maker Bappaditya Bandopadhyay talks to Subhomoy Mukherjee in this extensive, informal and intimate interview on Washington Bangla Radio.

We always expect something different to watch , something different to think whenever we go for a movie by Bappadityo Bandopadhyay.

Bappadityo started his career with Television, specially telefilms, and as assistant director for movies.

That time he came in touch with Film Director cum Musician Gautam Chattopadhyay ( of Mahiner Ghodaguli ) whom he knew from his childhood.

Working with Gautam changed the focus and vision of Bappadityo and he felt the urge within himself to make feature films of his own.

In 1998 he made his first feature, Sampradan. As he was not aware about economics and distribution part of filmdom that time, he could not reach to all with Sampradan rather he could not popularize Sampradan.

After Sampradan, he made critically acclaimed film Shilpantar based on a short story by famous author, Shirshendu Mukherjee.

After Shilpantar he was in Bollywood for years and that time he debuted there with award winning “Devki”

After Devki he returned in Tollywood and made “Kantatar” which made Bappdityo a Bengali household name as director.

After Kantatar, he made Kaal on flesh trade racket and Housefull as his autobiographical.

In the meantime he started his career as a producer with the film Hello Kolkata made by his friend Manoj.

Right now he is very busy with last minute works of his present directional, Kagojer Bou, based on another Shirshendu novel and starting of his next feature.

Kagojer Bou casts Paoli, Rahul, Priyanka, Bratyo, Nandini, Joy among others and Gaurav aka Gabu from Laxmichada starts his career as film music director with this film. Bappadityo made this film very contemporary with a story of merely 40 years ago.

He not only experiments with subjects but also with new actors as well as versatility of established and popular actors by utilizing them in completely new kind of characters to them.

He truly maintains and follows the Tollywood gharana started by trio Satyajit-Ritwik-Mrinal, who incidentally his favourite directors too among others, and we hope to see more and more qualitative works from this creative genius.

We also wish all the success for Kagojer Bou as well as all future Bappadityo ventures.

Though he is famous as Gabu, his nick name, the full name of this famous drummer from the reputed Kolkata Bengali Band LAKKHICHARA is Gaurab Chatterjee. Gabu is also a background score composer and music director of Kolkata Tollywood Bengali movies including KAGOJER BOU and NECKLACE (2010). Subhomoy Mukherjee of Washington Bangla Radio talks to Gaurav in this informal and intimate interview. Somnath Dasgupta (complete WBRi Feature) of Ami Budhin Bolchi fame also appears in this interview.

Debojyoti Mishra talks to Subhomoy Mukherjee in this exclusive, comprehensive and intimate audio interview on Washington Bangla Radio.

How to describe Debojyoti Mishra who is an musical institution by himself!! We can only consider him as a gifted prodigy of Bengali Music. He is one amongst the best music directors of Tollywood. At the same time he is showing his talent for Ad films, soaps and movies from other countries and of other languages too.

Washington Bangla Radio is pleased to present a selection of the beautiful and unique compositions of Toronto Tabla Ensemble (www.tablaensemble.com)  for your listening pleasure. These audio tracks are presented courtesy of the Toronto Tabla Ensemble and their Artistic Director, Ritesh Das (e-mail: riteshdas [at] tablaensemble [dot] com). Click on the play button above to listen to the songs on WBRi On-Demand Radio.

The songs are:

• Indo Africa -Toronto Tabla Ensemble. Composer Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri
• Weight - Toronto Tabla Ensemble. Composer Ritesh Das
• Tap Root -Toronto Tabla Ensemble and Donald Quan. Composer Ritesh Das & Donald Quan
• Waterfall - Toronto Tabla Ensemble. Composer Ritesh Das
• Joyfully Seven- Toronto Tabla Ensemble
• Weaving - Toronto Tabla Ensemble. Composer Ritesh Das
• Bable - Ritesh Das and Hari Krishnan. Composers Ritesh Das and Hari Krishnan.

About Toronto Tabla Ensemble

This critically acclaimed independent band from Toronto, Canada, is a total music experience. The TTE has developed its own powerful style using rhythms from India, while exploring contemporary musical landscapes with artists from other cultures.

Playing to sold out audiences since 1991, this influential voice in Canadian music, brings together the North Indian percussive tradition of Tabla, with some of Canada's best music and dance groups.

Staying true to form, content and feeling, the TTE moves what is traditionally a solo instrument to an unparalleled level of ensemble work.

The intricate rhythms and abundant tonal variations possible on the tabla combine to make it one of the most expressive of all percussion instruments. Add to this the versatility of mallets, percussion, voice, violin, bass and dance, and you have what the Ensemble is all about.

The Ensemble has performed at all of Canada's best folk, jazz and art festivals, has appeared nationally and internationally on Bravo!, CBC News World and Much Music, and in 2003 was commissioned to create the current theme music for the CBC RADIO 1's daily morning show Metro Morning.

MP3 Download

Toronto Tabla Ensemble albums are available in MP3 Audio download format online. Click on the album names below to listen to free samples and download Mp3 Audio tracks.

• Weaving
• Alankar
• Compilations
• Firedance
• Second Palla

Band Members

Ritesh Das

Ritesh Das, composer and musician, has studied tabla with gurus Pandit Shankar Ghosh, Ustad Zakir Hussain and most extensively with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. He has toured throughout the US, Canada and India, and performed with many of India's great music and dance innovators. Since moving to Canada, he has established himself as an extraordinary teacher of tabla and founded the Toronto Tabla Ensemble in 1991.

Joanna De Souza

Joanna de Souza is perhaps the only Canadian born artist to achieve a Master's Degree in Indian Classical Kathak dance through Prayag Sangit Samiti, Allahabad, India. Her study of Kathak, which began in 1978, continues under Pandit Chitresh Das. Since her return to Toronto, she has gained reputation as an excellent Kathak dancer, teacher and choreographer. Her traditional and collaborative works have earned her a variety of nominations and awards. She is Artistic Director of M-DO and has been a member of the TTE since 1993.

Neel Punna

Neel, a native East Coaster, began studying with Ritesh Das upon his move to Toronto in 1993. As an integral member of the Toronto Tabla Ensemble, he regularly accompanies kathak dance classes and is on the teaching staff of the M-DO and Toronto Tabla Ensemble Centre for World Music and Dance. Neel has traveled with the Ensemble on many tours and has attended all professional development workshops with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.

Jonathan Gooch

Jono Gooch completed Grade 10 piano in 1996, under Clayton Scott at the Royal Conservatory of Music. A keen interest in rhythm lead him to the drums & he has been playing the kit drum since 1992 & has studied tabla with Ritesh since 1999. He has toured nationally with the Toronto Tabla Ensemble & plays locally with the Three Bears, Shiver Mc Timbers, Clocknuts and You Left Saving The Planet.

Heather Thorkelson

A passion for tabla lead Heather to begin studying tabla with Ritesh Das upon her return from abroad. She has toured internationally with the Ensemble and participates in all professional development workshops, including those with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. She is a member of the Ensemble's Board of Directors and plays a vital production and promotional role in all concerts and fund-raising events.

Bindhu Sadasivan

Bindhu made her debut with the Toronto Tabla Ensemble in 2007. She participates in all performances, classes and workshops and is studying the art of kathak dance accompaniment. Outside of the Ensemble, she works as a full-time occupational therapist.

Robin Kalnin

Robin had his first exposure to the Indian classical performing arts while completing a degree in music at the University of British Columbia. A saxophone player by training, he has composed music and played in a variety of jazz, classical and contemporary settings. Upon moving to Toronto, an interest in Indian percussion lead to studies in tabla. Robin performs with the Toronto Tabla Ensemble and accompanies kathak dance classes and performances.

Vitra Gosine

Vitra has been studying tabla for the last several years and made her debut with the Ensemble in 2007. She participates in all classes and workshops and is studying kathak dance accompaniment. Outside of the Ensemble, Vitra is an Investment Finance Analyst.