Premer Kahini

About a Manna Dey fan
Creative Quotient
Ravi Kinnagi has a ‘hit’ formula for a Bengali film. Either pick up the storyline from a Southern hit, or make it a patchwork of bits and pieces from Hindi hits. No wonder Venkatesh Films are willing to bet their last rupee on Kinnagi. It saves money to hire a director who can bank on relatively new stars like Dev, who writes the story and the screenplay and even edits the film.
Akash (Dev) is so besotted by Barsha (Koel Mullick) at first sight as she steps out of a shopping mall that he falls into an open manhole shallow enough for the girl to pull him out. But there was a strong wind blowing so the girl’s hair was all over her face so how he could actually see her face is a mystery best left unanswered. Barsha drops her new wristwatch when she pulls Akash out of the manhole. This gives Akash the perfect excuse to go searching for his ladylove. Akash is the good-for-nothing only child of a sweet-and-syrupy mother who does not let the son out of her sight and an apparently critical father who owns 15 factories. Soon after, his mother takes him to a hill station to attend the marriage of her school friend’s daughter who is none other than Barsha herself! When he learns that she is engaged to someone else and that her ex-colonel father (Ranjit Mullick) carries a bullet in his stomach and can die any minute, Akash has a change of heart and the couple agree that Barsha will have to marry Goutam (Jishu Sengupta) who once saved her father’s life. But there is this rabbit named Devdas who takes the place of the poodle in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun to deliver Barsha’s letter to Akash picked up by the ex-colonel. Goutam delivers a speech on love, friendship and sacrifice and the hero replaces the bridegroom and no bones broken or lives lost. This part is a straight lift from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge but then, if the hall carries a House Full sign even on a Bandh day, and the audience breaks into loud cheers, claps and wolf whistles the minute Akash makes his appearance, then plagiarism can go take a walk.

Technical Expertise
Premer Kahini is a remake of the Kannada film Mungaru Male. Bengalis never watch Kannada films even on television so it is quite safe to borrow. Dev is an actor to watch out for. He is a rough diamond waiting to be polished specially in the emotional scenes when he has a change of heart. He desperately needs a makeover in looks, hairstyle, costume and body language. For the first time, Bengali cinema has a true macho hero waiting to deliver. Someone must tell Koel Mullick to tone down her mannerisms, her shrill voice and her overdose of dramatics when they are not needed. Her performance improves when things get serious. Ranjit Mullick is a complete misfit as the ex-colonel. Too many songs break the continuity of the film. The action scenes may not be a patch on Race or Dhoom2 but in terms of Bangla films, Dev is quite good at action.

Verdict
The ‘family’ scenes are sickeningly false and overdone. What takes one’s breath away are the beautiful backdrop and setting in a hill station. The film is 150 minutes long and snipping away 30 minutes of footage would have improved its quality.
One star for Dev and another for the picturesque backdrop.

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Premer Kahini