ওয়াশিংটন বাংলা রেডিও Washington Bangla Radio USA

Actress Amneek Sandhu

London, UK, Feb 5, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio) US based Producer/Director Rohit Gupta's first film, Another Day Another Life (ADAL) continues to make it's presence felt at several upcoming International Film Festivals and builds up it's own collection of rave reviews, critical acclaim and an impressive line up of screenings.

Another Day Another Life has been invited to screen at the Cape Winelands International Film Festival 2012 in the Short Film Award Section. The Festival runs from 14 - 24 March 2012 in Cape Town & Stellenbosch in South Africa; at the prestigious India International Film Festival (IIFF) 2012, taking place in Tampa Bay, Florida, 17-19 February 2012; The Mix Shorts International Film Festival (MSFF) 2012 to be held from February 17-19 in Richmond, Virginia, and Media Film Festival (MSF) 2012, in Pennsylvania from February 25-27. The film is also competing at the SeeFlik 2012 and Box [ur] shorts 2012 film awards in the US.

Actor Benjamin Jacobs

A recent review from the Judges of the MIX Shorts 2012 said, "Another Day Another Life is a remarkably fast pace film, the action never slows or halts. The title is an excellent one that implies so many different things. There is no question this a compelling short film".

Michigan, USA, Feb 4, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio) Databazaar Media would be releasing Aparajita Tumi, online on 15th February 2012. WBRi caught up with one of the main actresses of the film Kamalinee Mukherjee for a casual chat on a Saturday morning.When asked how and what she thinks about the film, especially her character ‘Ushashi’, she said, it is a very sensitive film and deals with a topic which is most of the time avoided by us. It is a very honest film and has been dealt with very delicately. And ‘Ushashi’ is the soft part in the film, not necessarily the grey. It is a very complex character and she really enjoyed playing it.

Listen to Kamalinee on WBRi.

By Bidisha Bagchi

Michigan, USA, Feb 3, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio) WBRi had a very special guest today; someone who is known to be a model, a wonderful Bharatnatyam dancer and a superfine National Award winning actress. This beautiful lady who is a powerhouse of talent has acted in various films in the four different south Indian languages and even in Hindi and has now set the Bengali films’ silver screen on fire. She is none other than Padmapriya Janakiraman.

Padmapriya was kind enough to spare a few minutes from her busy schedule and candidly chatted with us just before she left for her shoot.

Aparajita Tumi is her first Bengali film and WBRi asked her about ‘Kuhu’ - the character she played in the film and about the film in general, which by now has already tasted success and is also being critically appreciated by many.

She said that the film was basically about relationships, a story of four people and others who are attached to the lives of these people. ‘Kuhu’ is a very independent, strong headed person with her own share of positives and negatives. What makes her beautiful is the way she grasps life, its surprises and the way she reacts or deals with them.

Padmapriya is a very well known personality in all South Indian films, so how did a Bengali film happen?

Listen to Padmapriya chat with WBRi.

Calcutta, Feb 4, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio) Relatively small films, with pertinent and gripping story-lines, have always found favor among the discerning moviegoers. Last year, films like ‘Shor In The City’ and ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’, while not big money-spinners in themselves, had managed to garner considerable critical acclaim. Of course, it is almost always imperative for such movies to have a talented director at the helm – who would be able to do proper justice to the main storyline of the movie. Rumi Jaffery, who had so far managed to give us such duds like ‘God Tussi Great Ho’ and ‘Life Partner’, returns with his third directorial venture, ‘Gali Gali Chor Hai’. The promotions of the movie were low-key (not surprising, with the ‘Agneepath’ juggernaut arriving only a week before!) and, rather surprisingly for an Akshaye Khanna-starrer, expectations were not that high from ‘Gali Gali Chor Hai’. Does the third time prove to be lucky for director Rumi Jaffery? Not quite, for the movie is a distinctly average fare!

Calcutta, Feb 4, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio / Penning Creations) Action-adventure has always been a favourite genre among Hollywood filmmakers. While movies like ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘The Lord Of The Rings (trilogy)’ were path-breaking action-adventure flicks from the ‘90s and the early 2000s, directors went on (successfully!) churning out immensely entertaining and high-quality movies of this genre during the latter half of the last decade too (think ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Inception’). The advent of 3D technology enhanced the popularity of this genre of movies further, with directors now being able to add that extra bit of realism and glitz in their films. Not all such action-adventure flicks were uniformly good, however. The Eric Brevig-directed 2008 flick, ‘Journey To The Center Of The Earth’ is a prime example of a rather disappointing movie that belongs to this genre. Brad Peyton (of ‘Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore’ fame) now returns with ‘Journey 2: The Mysterious Land’, a sequel to the rather ho-hum earlier movie. While Peyton manages to show off his directorial skills quite effectively in this film, ‘Journey 2’, on the whole, is a relatively drab affair.

The movie opens with young ‘Sean Anderson’ (Josh Hutcherson) trying to escape from the police after a botched up attempt at accessing a remote signal from a satellite research center. ‘Sean’, however, does not manage to avoid the authorities and is duly handed over to his step-father ‘Hank Parsons’ (Dwayne Johnson). However, ‘Sean’s troubles had not entirely gone to waste. He had managed to get hold of a satellite transmission code, which sounds like a mix-and-match of several disjointed and incomprehensible words. In a bid to bond with ‘Sean’, ‘Hank’ (whose relations with his stepson had always been rather strained) solves the code, which seemingly gives the directions to a certain strange island (from ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, ‘Treasure Island’ and Jules Verne’s ‘The Mysterious Island’ novels). ‘Sean’ is convinced that it is his long-lost grandfather, ‘Alexander Anderson’ (Michael Caine), who is sending out the signals, in an attempt to let his family know that the so-called ‘Mysterious Island’ has finally been discovered.

Read the film review and watch the trailer.

Calcutta, Feb 4, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio / Penning Creations) Films belonging to the comedy genre are rare commodities in the contemporary Bengali movie industry. It indeed requires a great deal of finesse and tactical acumen on the part of filmmakers to pack in just the right combination of humorous gags, so that their movies are actually able to tickle the funny bones of the viewers.

Given the relatively tricky nature of the task of making a genuinely funny movie, it is hardly surprising that many of the modern day Tollywood film directors have stayed away from this genre. Director Aniket Chattopadhyay (interview) is one of the very few among the current crop of moviemakers who actually have a successful track record in making enjoyable and sophisticated films with a distinct comic flavour. The director’s first two movies (‘Chha-E-Chhuti’ and ‘Bye Bye Bangkok’) were well-made and found favour among critics and cinegoers alike. Chattopadhyay now returns with his third directorial venture, ‘Goray Gondogol.’ With an ensemble cast that comprised of a nice mix of seasoned performers and fresh faces, all seemed set for the director to achieve his hattrick of hits.

‘Goray Gondogol’, in essence, is a love story that runs into troubled waters due to external circumstances and a team of rigid (and often, eccentric!) relatives. He is ‘Rik’ (Rahul - interview), a young and successful software professional, who earns a decent buck and is eminently eligible for marriage. She is ‘Paula’ (Sampurna Lahiri - interview), a pretty young lady who dreams of a happy life but is somewhat cowered by her dominating father (Dipankar De - interview). The two meet, fall in love and decide to hitch up together soon. Little did the lovebirds (and the audience!) realize that ‘gondogol’ was just lurking round the corner!

Trailer - Goray Gondogol

Read the complete Bengali film review exclusively on WBRi.

Mumbai, February 4, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio) For all the lovers of music, films and R D Burman,  for all those who have missed out on the many screenings, festivals or otherwise, the landmark film on RD Burman, Pancham Unmixed: Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai (an unending journey) … here’s an opportunity to catch the film once again.

By Avishikta / EveryMedia

Mumbai, Feb 4, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio) Bollywood in recent years has become the playing field for the rich and the famous. The notion that Bollywood is a very profitable industry is true in all senses. In the face of steep competition, most production houses have come up with innovative marketing strategies to increase the profit margin.

Mumbai, Feb 4, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio) PVR Pictures have announced that they will release Dibakar Banerjee's thriller ‘Shanghai’ starring Emraan Hashmi, Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin, and Prosenjit Chatterjee (interview) on June 8th, 2012.

Mumbai, Feb 4, 2012 (Washington Bangla Radio) Team Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu has released the ninth and last of the video Blogs today, on their official Dharma YouTube Channel. The video blogs have been shot by Imran have shot on the sets of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. Watch it via WBRi.