Top 7 Bengali Family Films to watch this Festive Season

Exams are over, and festivities are on. We are all indulging in savoury food and spending fun-filled moments with our near and dear ones. It is a great time to catch up on some good entertaining family films that the kids can enjoy. Today I have tried to make a list of films that are light-hearted and can be enjoyed by the whole family alike. 

1. Hirer Angti (1992): Adapted from noted author Shirshendu Mukherji's story of the same name, this movie is acclaimed director Rituporno Ghosh's first directorial venture. The film, just as the story goes, has multiple characters. A stranger visits a house that has a lot of inmates and makes friends with a kid from the family. A diamond ring that belongs to the family is the main attraction of the story, The film is simple, a bit slow for today's time but the overall feel is quite nice. Every time the stranger appears the tune of Rabindranath's song, "Sarate aj kon Atithi"(Who is this guest at autumn) plays in the background. 

2. Ajab Gayer Ajab Katha 1998): Another screen adaptation based on Shirshendu Mukherji's story, Nabiganjer Daitya, this film was directed by renowned director Tapan Sinha. As with most of Shirshendu Mukherji's stories, this one also has a village with a lot of interesting characters, including a thief, a strange man, a ghost and a lazy protagonist. The screen adaptation was a bit different from the original story, and Sinha had masterfully made the changes to make it more entertaining for viewers of all ages (this is a children's story). Tagore's "Aji Marmaro Dhwani keno" was placed very beautifully on one of the characters, who is a king without a kingdom. This is a great watch for the festive season. 

3. Badshahi Angti (2012): Abir Chatterji has been the most successful Byomkesh in Bengali films, after Uttam Kumar. Interestingly he had played Feluda also in this film by Sandip Ray. Many Feluda fans did not enjoy his takeover from his predecessors Soumitra Chatterji and Sabyasachi Chakraborty in this movie. But I was glad to see the changes in the iconic detective character, created by Satyajit Ray, that came in Abir's presence. Feluda was younger, athletic and more action-oriented. Perhaps, this was the director's conscious attempt, due to the actor's physical characteristics and personality. The historical backdrops of Lucknow and the beauty of Badrinath were enjoyable. Whether you like Abir as Feluda or not, this film is quite entertaining.

4. Manojder Adbhut Bari (2018): Children's movies are incomplete without the intervention of author Shirshendu Mukherji's immemorable stories. This one is another of his gems, brought to the screen by musician-director Anindya Chatterji. A small boy who belongs to a royal family is kidnapped by some robbers as a kid. A petty detective has to find him. The film is nice to watch, due to some interesting dialogues, especially the ones between the robbers and the ones with the king and the nautch-girl. The performances by Shilajit as the leader of the robbers, Bratya Basu as the detective Boroda and in one of the guest appearances Aparajita Adhya as the nautch girl are memorable.

5. Ballavpurer Roopkotha  (2022): A debt-ridden heir of a huge mansion, wants to sell his abode with some strange historical significance. But he has no takers as it is haunted by the ghost of one of his ancestors. Interestingly he gets a buyer and what happens then is what the story is about. The film is funny, interesting, spooky at times and most importantly the most enjoyable family film in recent years. Director Anirban Bhattacharya has left no stone unturned to make this an out-and-out entertainer, including the selection of the cast. The flashbacks, shown with flying flies and a continuous monotonous buzz are a novel idea by the director. The background score, the glimpses of the haunted mansion, and the hilarious dialogue between the characters never give the audience the chance to get bored. This is an intelligent horror comedy, and this time is the best to watch, given that horror comedies are the flavour of the season. 

6. Tenida and Co. (2023): Tenida is one of the most loved characters in Bengali children's literature. The 1st time it was adapted to a movie, long back, it became quite successful and the lead character of Tenida was played by veteran actor-comedian Chinmoy Roy at that time. After that, there were a couple of attempts but those failed miserably. I was unaware of the latest film, till I watched it on TV some days back. Tenida is played by noted comedian-turned-politician Kanchan Mullick. The director has taken the liberty of mixing 2 stories with his own input. This was the issue of this movie, for me. There was so much to take, that it got confusing. You see a fraud Babaji, a scientist, a kidnapping and a few more unnecessary characters that do not gel with one another. Although Tenida is supposed to be a funny character, who likes to boast about himself to his gang of followers (Charmurti), I found Mullick to be very loud in some scenes. Gourab Chakrabarty as Kyabla, the most intelligent in the group, does justice to his role. The twists in the story at the end were quite interesting. Despite the flaws, the film is a good one-time watch.

7. Boglamama Jug Jug Jiyo (2023): The film is about Boglamama, a comic book character created by Rajkumar Maitra. He is a middle-aged kind-hearted man, who is the leader of a group of young boys. I have not read the comic books, but as a movie, I liked this one, especially due to the amazing performance by Kharaj Mukherji as the lead character. There are many funny scenes in the film, that are very enjoyable. Mukherji is equally spontaneous in his comic timing as well as in the emotional scenes. Rajatava Dutta as a goon gives a brilliant performance too. I am sure this will be an enjoyable watch by the family.