Chhaya o Chobi is a 2017 bengali romantic-drama produced by Nishpal Singh under the banner Surinder Films starring Abir Chatterjee,Koel Mallick, Ritwick Chakraborty, Churni Ganguly, Priyanka Sarkar in the lead roles.The most interesting part of the movie is that there is a cinema inside a cinema. Rai (Koel Mallick) a superstar of tollywood signs up alongside her fiance Arindam (Abir Chatterjee) for a NRI Maya's (Churni Ganguly) first bengali feature film.Maya's father (Barun Chanda) is the producer of the film. Suddenly after only one day of shooting Rai disappears from the set citing payment related issues.And a whole lot of things happens afterwards. Koel Mallick played the superstar Rai's charecter to perfection. So did Abir, Churni and Priyanka Sarkar in Arindam,Maya and Mou's charecter respectively.But the standout performer of the movie was Ritwick Chakraborty.He was damn good in his every single screen presence.Apart from the performances the direction was very good by Kaushik Ganguly. So was the cinematography of Gopi Bhagat. The songs composed by Indradeep Dasgupta were very nice and song 'Ekla Ekla' sung by Shreya Ghoshal is a masterpiece and does stay with the audience for a long time.Surely this is a very nice film and treat for the audience.
3 Reviews
A stunning backdrop of Darjeeling and a film with a mix of reel-real in it.
nandanofficial-5610616 October 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This chhobi has very little chhaya of its prolific director!
thirdvantagepoint17 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Overall #ChhayaOChhobi is an okayish one time watch... But it just does not have the texture and feel of a #KaushikGanguly film, and that is a Big disappointment in itself! Especially when he had hit the bull's eye with his last outing in Bisorjon..
A film within a film, and that too in the serene lap of Darjeeling - the possibilities could have been endless here, but Kaushik barely scratches the surface, and does not get into the depths of the different shades of grey that he tries to build up on.. And that is clearly an opportunity lost!
The film is strengthened by a terrific Ritwick Chakraborty (who by his sheer talent just relegates every other character to the background!), the beautifully nostalgic Darjeeling and Dooars (though its kind of tragic that you go to such locations and set up most of the scenes indoors or within the hotel confines!), some great musical score (some of the songs like Ekla ekla & Chhera drawing khata will really stay with you!), and a more than decent Abir Chatterjee (who also benefits because he hardly has scenes with Ritwick and hence does not get chewed up completely!)
But the film equally suffers heavily by the rather inconsistent Koel Mallik which is a big issue since her Rai Chatterjee needed the strongest enact on screen for the film to find its grip, a pretty weak supporting cast including Churni Ganguly, Barun Chanda and Priyanka Sarkar all of whom overact so much more than needed, a somewhat loose and poorly edited screenplay which is usually the highest point of Kaushik's movies, and an even weaker ending which could have been so much more, but just isn't satisfying enough!
There is so much to explore in the world of cinema and in the people who live that life, their stardom, their human emotions, their insecurities and everything around it.. Unfortunately, while Kaushik lays the foundation and peeks into that 'life that is so much more melodramatic than cinema', he just does not develop that with the same finesse and clarity of thought which we have seen so often from him in some of his other ventures!
We have enough directors who can make a Chhaya O Chhobi or a Bastushap, but we need to get back the Kaushik Ganguly who and only who can make a Khaad, a Bisorjon, a Shabdo, an Arekti Premer Galpo or an Apur Panchali! We will be waiting... !!
A film within a film, and that too in the serene lap of Darjeeling - the possibilities could have been endless here, but Kaushik barely scratches the surface, and does not get into the depths of the different shades of grey that he tries to build up on.. And that is clearly an opportunity lost!
The film is strengthened by a terrific Ritwick Chakraborty (who by his sheer talent just relegates every other character to the background!), the beautifully nostalgic Darjeeling and Dooars (though its kind of tragic that you go to such locations and set up most of the scenes indoors or within the hotel confines!), some great musical score (some of the songs like Ekla ekla & Chhera drawing khata will really stay with you!), and a more than decent Abir Chatterjee (who also benefits because he hardly has scenes with Ritwick and hence does not get chewed up completely!)
But the film equally suffers heavily by the rather inconsistent Koel Mallik which is a big issue since her Rai Chatterjee needed the strongest enact on screen for the film to find its grip, a pretty weak supporting cast including Churni Ganguly, Barun Chanda and Priyanka Sarkar all of whom overact so much more than needed, a somewhat loose and poorly edited screenplay which is usually the highest point of Kaushik's movies, and an even weaker ending which could have been so much more, but just isn't satisfying enough!
There is so much to explore in the world of cinema and in the people who live that life, their stardom, their human emotions, their insecurities and everything around it.. Unfortunately, while Kaushik lays the foundation and peeks into that 'life that is so much more melodramatic than cinema', he just does not develop that with the same finesse and clarity of thought which we have seen so often from him in some of his other ventures!
We have enough directors who can make a Chhaya O Chhobi or a Bastushap, but we need to get back the Kaushik Ganguly who and only who can make a Khaad, a Bisorjon, a Shabdo, an Arekti Premer Galpo or an Apur Panchali! We will be waiting... !!
Gone to the dogs
shayan_r27 September 2020
Have Bengali movies gone to the dogs ? Not expected from Mr. Ganguly. I tried watching adda yesterday and this one today. Disappointed to say the least. It's better to produce a C grade movie than make such pretentious time wasters. I mean, coming from the man who directed a movie like chotoder golpo, this is unacceptable. Carrying an iPhone and wearing western clothes doesn't maketh a good movie. Such melodrama can give jatras a run for its life. I mean probably jatras are better targeted.
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