Continuing with the mid-year checkpoint discussion, here is taking a pause to look at the Bangla films of 2019. Personally, I think it has been a pretty good year for Bangla Films in 2019 so far and has been a big turnaround since last couple of years. There have been quite a few good films that made their mark, and the good thing was that we got to see a lot of promising new talent coming up with the best of the year. There were also films in relevant and refreshing themes, modern in treatment with a lot of soul. We still had some biggies that were disappointing, but then which year won’t have that in the mix.
The next part of the year has a lot of interesting films lined up, and by the time 2019 year draws a close, we are likely to have significant additions to this list, which can only be good news. So here is a high-level listing what stood out for the year so far, based on the films I watched (I do an auto-filter to pick up films for watching).
BEST FILMS
- Nagarkirtan
- Tarikh
- Jyeshtho Putro
- Kia and Cosmos
- Bijoya
Honorable Mentions: Shahjahan Regency, Mahalaya
Disappointments: Vinci Da, Mukherjee Dar Bou, Basu Paribaar, Durgeshgarh-er Guptodhan
BEST DIRECTORS
- Kaushik Ganguly – NagarKirtan, Jyeshtho Putro, Bijoya
- Churni Ganguly – Tarikh
- Sudipto Roy – Kia and Cosmos
Honorable Mentions: Srijit Mukherji (Shahjahan Regency), Soumik Sen (Mahalaya)
Disappointments: Pritha Chakraborty (Mukherjee Dar Bou), Srijit Mukherji (Vinci Da), Anjan Dutt (Finally Bhalobasha)
BEST ACTORS
- Ritwick Chakraborty – NagarKirtan, Jyeshtho Putro, Tarikh, Vinci Da
- Kaushik Ganguly – Bijoya
- Riddhi Sen – NagarKirtan
- Subhashish Mukhopadhyay – Mahalaya, Basu Paribaar
- Parambrata Chattopadhyay – Shahjahan Regency
Honorable Mentions: Prosenjit Chattopadhyay (Jyeshtho Putro), Shaswata Chattopadhyay (Tarikh, Basu Paribaar), Jisshu Sengupta (Mahalaya), Abir Chatterjee (Shahjahan Regency, Bijoya)
Disappointments: Anirban Bhattacharya (Finally Bhalobasha, Vinci Da), Soumitro Chattopadhyay (Basu Paribaar), Jisshu Sengupta (Basu Paribaar), Anjan Dutt (Shahjahan Regency), Rudranil Ghosh (Vinci Da, Shahjahan Regency)
BEST ACTRESSES
- Ritwika Pal – Kia and Cosmos
- Swastika Mukherjee – Shahjahan Regency, Kia and Cosmos
- Jaya Ahsan – Bijoya
- Sudipta Chakraborty – Jyeshtho Putro, Basu Paribaar
- Raima Sen – Tarikh
Honorable Mentions: Aparna Sen (Basu Paribaar), Konineeca Banerjee (Mukherjee Dar Bou), Rituparna Sengupta (Shahjahan Regency, Mukherjee Dar Bou), Gargi Roy Choudhury (Jyeshtho Putro), Bidipta Chakraborty (Nagarkirtan)
Disappointments: Anusuya Majumdar (Mukherjee Dar Bou), Rituparna Sengupta (Basu Paribaar), Sohini Sarkar (Vinci Da)
BEST MUSIC ALBUM
- Shahjahan Regency
- Finally Bhalobasha
- Bijoya
Honorable Mentions: Tarikh, Mukherjee Dar Bou, Kanttho
Best Background scores: Nagarkirtan, Kia and Cosmos, Shahjahan Regency, Jyeshthoputro, Basu Paribaar
Disappointments: Vinci Da, Shankar Mudi
BEST SONGS
- Kichhu chaini aami – Shahjahan Regency
- Tomar pasher desh – Bijoya
- Ki kore haye – Kia and Cosmos
- Bolo na Radhika – Shahjahan Regency
- Shobai chup – Konttho
- E kul bhange – Bijoya
- Sagar kuler naiyya – Tarikh
- Chhile bandhu – Finally Bhalobasha
- Bandhu maane – Tarikh
- O jiban tomar saathe – Mukherjee Dar Bou
- Kato kato mon – Finally Bhalobasha
- Bhromor – Basu Paribaar
Honorable Mentions: Brilliant use of Tagore Songs across films – Jakhon porbe na (Shahjahan Regency), Amar Praner Pore (Jyeshtho Putro) , Khachar Pakhi (Mukherjee Dar Bou) stand out.
That was the mid-year round up for Bangla films. Next we will look into the Indian Web Series space. Till then happy watching good cinema!
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