As we have been looking at the Best of the Decade for some time now, we conclude the Decade Series today by looking at the Best Performances in Bengali Films over the last 10 years. The rest of the coverage on Best of the Decade is all available Here. We had specifically looked at the Best Bengali Films of the Decade, and it is obvious that many of them had some fascinating performances that made them so special. But there are also one off performances in some other films that didn’t make the cut as a film, but that took nothing away from a standout performance of the film. As the stories got more complex, the characters also evolved and provided a good scope for actors across age groups, genders and social arcs to shine. Such was the impact of certain films that they made space for more than one performance in the Best Of list or at least secured Honorable Mentions. There were actors who clearly dominated the list with two or sometimes even three performances securing their berths – no surprises there that Ritwick Chakraborty, Kaushik Ganguly, Prosenjit Chattopadhyay or Swastika Mukhopadhyay featured more than once.
The 30 Best Performances in Bengali Films in the past decade is hence an interesting set of brilliant performances. We have only considered films that got a theatrical release. As with the performances in Hindi films, this is not a ranked list and we go chronologically by the year of release and then alphabetically, based in the film names. Some amount of subjectivity is a given, as cinema will continue to have its personal appeal. Hence, it would be good to know any additions or changes your list would have than this. But here is what we thought:
Honorable Mentions:
Dipankar De (Abohomaan, 2010), Riya Sen (Noukadubi, 2011), Paran Bandopadhyay (Royal Bengal Rahasya, 2011), Konkona Sen Sharma (Goynar Baksho, 2013), Parambrata Chattopadhyay (Apur Panchali, 2014), Parno Mitra (Apur Panchali, 2014), Basabdutta Chatterjee (Asha Jaoar Majhe, 2014), Kaushik Ganguly (Chotushkone, 2014), Arpita Chatterjee (Bodhon, 2015), Prosenjit Chattopadhyay (Mayurakshi, 2017), Anjan Dutta (Ahare Mon, 2018), Srijato Bandopadhyay (Shonar Pahar, 2018), Prosenjit Chattopadhyay (Jyeshthoputro, 2019), Swastika Mukhopadhyay (Kia and Cosmos, 2019), Ritwick Chakraborty (Taarikh, 2019)
Top 30 Performances in Bengali Films of 2010 – 2019 (in order of year of release)
Mamata Shankar as Deepti | Abohomaan (2010)
Rituparno Ghosh as Abhiroop Sen | Arekti Premer Galpo (2010)
Prosenjit Chattopadhyay as Lalon Fokir | Moner Manush (2010)
Rahul Bose as Snehomoy Chatterjee | The Japanese Wife (2010)
Rupa Ganguly as Suchishmita | Abosheshey (2011)
Rudranil Ghosh as Banshi | Chaplin (2011)
Swastika Mukhopadhyay as Kadalibala Dasi | Bhooter Bhobishyot (2012)
Mousumi Chatterjee as Rashmoni / Pishima | Goynar Baksho (2013)
Shaswata Chattopadhyay as Nilkantha Bagchi | Meghe Dhaka Tara (2013)
Ritwick Chakraborty as Tarak Dutta | Shabdo (2013)
Parambrata Chattopadhyay as Joyobroto (Joy) | Chotushkone (2014)
Prosenjit Chattopadhyay as Kushal Hajra / Hensman Anthony | Jaatishwar (2014)
Churni Ganguly as The Exiled Author | Nirbashito (2014)
Swatilekha Sengupta as Arati Majumdar | Bela Seshe (2015)
Konkona Sen Sharma as Kadambari Debi | Kadambari (2015)
Rajatava Dutta as Gopeshwar | Open Tee Bioscope (2015)
Paran Bandopadhyay as Pranabendu Das | Cinemawala (2016)
Nur Islam (as Chhotu) & Samiul Alam (as Gopal) | Sahaj Paather Gappo (2016)
Jaya Ahsan as Padma | Bishorjon (2017) / Bijoya (2019)
Kaushik Ganguly as Ganesh Mondol | Bishorjon (2017) / Bijoya (2019)
Adil Hussain as Purnendu Pahari | Ahare Mon (2018)
Jisshu Sengupta as Raja Mahendra Kumar Chowdhury / Bhawal Sanyasi | Ek Je Chhilo Raja (2018)
Tanuja as Upama Mukherjee | Shonar Pahar (2018)
Rituparna Sengupta as Basundhara | Ahaa Re (2019)
Ritwick Chakraborty as Partho | Jyeshthoputro (2019)
Kaushik Ganguly as Narasingha | Kedara (2019)
Ritwika Pal as Kia | Kia and Cosmos (2019)
Ritwick Chakraborty as Madhu | Nagarkirtan (2019)
Riddhi Sen as Parimal / Pnuti | Nagarkirtan (2019)
Swastika Mukhopadhyay as Kamalini Guha | Shah Jahan Regency (2019)
So that was the chronological listing of 30 Best Performances in Bengali Films – A Third Vantage Point Perspective! Some very good performances were still left out here, and the decision was against the list to go too long.
What are your thoughts on the list? For similar such perspectives on who were the best of the decade, please click here. We have more to add and discuss for the Best of this year 2019. And as always, keep watching good films!
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