''Dutta Vs Dutta'' is a 2012 Indian

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

film directed by

Anjan Dutt Anjan Dutt (Bengali: অঞ্জন দত্ত) is an Indian film director, actor, and singer-songwriter known for his work in the Bengali alternative music genre ''anyodharar gaan''. As an actor, Dutt began his career in Bengali cinema i ...

. This is Anjan Dutt's semi-autobiographical film. Most of the film has been shot in a house of Amherst Street in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. Anjan has described this house resonated feel of his old house of Beniapukur. The film received mixed reviews. According to ''

Anandabazar Patrika ''Anandabazar Patrika'' (Bengali: আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা, ) is an Indian Bengali-language daily newspaper owned by the ABP Group. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1 million cop ...

'' reviewer Sangeeta Bandopadhyay, this was Anjan Dutt's best film. This opinion was shared by another Bengali newspaper ''

Ei Samay ''Ei Samay Sangbadpatra'' () is a Bengali language, Bengali-language daily newspaper from The Times Group. It was launched as a broadsheet daily newspaper with a motive to enter into a head-to-head competition with ''Anandabazar Patrika''. It ...

''. However, ''The Times of India'' said that "the plot comes across as a total mishmash and therefore, loses punch".

Plot

Biren Dutta is a lawyer. He is unsuccessful in his career and does not have any client. His wife is an alcoholic.The couple have one son and one daughter. Biren Dutta has an extra-marital affair with his only client. Biren's daughter China first falls in love with Ghenti Kaku, who is of her father's age, and later, with a guy who is involved with Naxalite movement. She runs away with the latter without the permission of her parents. Biren's teenaged son, Rono, comes back from boarding school since Biren can no longer afford pay school fees. Biren wants Rono to be a barrister but Rono wants to become an actor. Biren's father starts a music school in the house. China comes back with her Naxal husband and is accepted by her father. The couple later settle in the US. One of Rono's Naxalite friends takes shelter in the house to evade the police. Biren, unaware of this, has an altercation with the police when they come to the house searching for the boy. The police take him away to a police station, where he is beaten up, and drop him home 3 days later. Biren suffers a major setback and stops talking to anyone. In the end, Rono gets a role in a film by Mrinal Sen (Anjan Dutta's first film was also with Mrinal Sen). The film ends on that positive note.

Credit

Cast

as Biren Dutta * Ronodeep Bose as Rono (Biren Dutta's teenage son) *

Arpita Chatterjee Arpita Chatterjee (''née'' Pal) is an Indian actress, who mostly appears in the Odia and Bengali film industry in India. She is married to actor Prosenjit Chatterjee. She made her film debut in 1999 with the film ''Tumi Ele Tai'', directed by ...

as China (Biren Dutta's daughter) *

Rita Koiral Rita Koiral (or Rita Kayral; c.1959 – 19 November 2017) was an Indian Bengali actress, especially known for her television and film roles. She appeared in several soap opera roles, often as villains and often opposite Monami Ghosh. Direct ...

as Rita (Biren Dutta's wife) * Kaushik Sen the Naxalite (China's husband) * Shankar Chakraborty as Ghenti Kaku * Deepankar De as grandfather *

Roopa Ganguly Roopa Ganguly is an Indian actress, playback singer and politician. She is best known for her portrayal of Draupadi in B R Chopra's hit television series ''Mahabharat''. Often promoted as the Tollywood's answer to Bollywood's Shabana Azmi, she ...

as Runu *Somak Ghosh (RJ Somak) as Doi *

Parno Mittra Parno Mitra (born 31 October 1986) is an Indian actress who appears in Bengali films. Mitra started her career on television. Her acting assignment was Ravi Ojha's Bengali TV series ''Khela'' (2007). She was catapulted to stardom after she ena ...

as Nandita aka. Diana *

Srijit Mukherji Srijit Mukherji is an excellent national award winning Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the ...

as Tony Mukherjee

Crew

* Writer and Director: Anjan Dutt * Production: ** Producers: Purnendu Roy, Nilakhi Roy ** Co producer: Genesis Hospital ** Executive producer: Sanjay Pathak * Music director: Neel Dutt * Editor: Arghyakamal Mitra * Production controller: Bipin Mukherjee * Costume design: Chanda Dutt * Graphic design: Arnab Dasgupta

Filming

In this film director Anjan Dutt has tried to revive Calcutta of the 1970s, a period when the city evidenced emergence of rock music bands, the arrival of

Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

culture and also the Naxalite movement. In an interview he told–

Unlike other films which have the shade of the Naxalite violence, Dutta Vs Dutta has taken a different direction. I have tried to recapture the turbulent College Street, the pub culture of Park Street and the emergence of
Gautam Chattopadhyay Gautam Chattopadhyay (1 June 1949 – 20 June 1999) was an Indian Bengali singer, songwriter, bassist, and composer. In 1975, as a leader he founded the progressive rock band Moheener Ghoraguli with Tapas Das, Abraham Mazumdar, Pradip Chatt ...
.

Arpita Paul gave full credit to the director for the realistic portrayal of her character. She told– "It is a very different kind of movie by Anjanda with realistic elements that would help the audience to relate to the period and the characters... " Indraneil Sengupta, another actor of the film told– "Everybody in the cast acted their part to bring back that era, which rocked Kolkata and neighbourhood, about which we heard so many things, alive."

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews. According to

critic Sangeeta Bandopadhyay, this was Anjan Dutt's best film. This opinion was supported by another Bengali newspaper ''

'' too. Anandabazar Patrika gave the film 9 out of 10. ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave it 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Songs

References

External links

* * {{Anjan Dutt 2012 films Films set in Kolkata Films directed by Anjan Dutt Films about Naxalism Indian biographical films Bengali-language Indian films 2010s Bengali-language films