''Ekhoni'' (also ''Ekhonee''; English: ''Right Now'') is a 1971 Bengali film directed by

Tapan Sinha Tapan Sinha (2 October 1924 – 15 January 2009) was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both ...

, starring

Aparna Sen Aparna Sen (, ''Ôporna Shen'') is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, five F ...

Moushumi Chatterjee Moushumi Chatterjee (born Indira Chattopadhyay) is an Indian actress who is recognised for her work in Hindi as well as Bengali cinema. She was one of the highest paid actresses in Hindi films during the 1970s. She joined the Bharatiya Janata ...

Chinmoy Roy Chinmoy Roy (1940–2019) was an Indian Bengali male actor. He was famous for his comic roles in Bengali movies, though his versatility has allowed him to play a variety of roles. Though he was known for portraying various character roles, Ro ...

and others. Based on an award-winning novel of the same name by

Ramapada Chowdhury Ramapada Chowdhury (28 December 1922 – 29 July 2018) was an Indian novelist and short story writer in Bengali. For his novel ''Bari Badle Jay'', he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1988. He was also a recipient of the Rabindra Purask ...

, ''Ekhoni'' was one of the earliest films to address the problems of urban youth, and to replace the individual hero by a collective protagonist. At the 19th National Film Awards, it won the National Award for Best Screenplay. It also won two BFJA Awards.

Synopsis

The film follows a group of young, college-going men and women. They spend much of their time hanging out at a downbeat tea shop. There are romantic involvements and clashes with their parents and other family members. Most of all, these young people feel a sense of uncertainty about the future. Urmi (

) is from an affluent family and has a fiancé who is an engineer. All the others are from middle-class families. Arun (Swaroop Dutta) resents being made to run small errands for his parents. Halfway through the film, the graduation ceremony of the class takes place. As they listen to the platitudes being dished out from the stage, it is brought home to them that their carefree student days are over. Sujit (Mrinal Mukherjee) is in a relationship with Runu (

). However, they can't think of marriage until he has a job. He goes for a job interview which turns into a nightmare. Urmi invites the whole group to her place for high tea, and introduces them to her fiancé (

Subhendu Chatterjee Shubhendu Chatterjee, M.B.B.S. (29 November 1936 – 5 July 2007) was an Indian physician and actor, who is known for acting in Bengali television and films. A contemporary of actors Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee, with whom he played sec ...

in a special appearance). Her friends are impressed by the big house and the refined lifestyle. However, the evening only reinforces their feeling of uncertainty about the future. Soon after the tea-party, it is discovered that Arun's mother has brain cancer. Meanwhile, Biman's girl friend Nandini runs away from home, and declares that she won't go back. The whole group pools in efforts to get the couple married and find them a temporary place to live in. Tiklu, who appears to be unromantic, even cynical, diverts money from his family's printing business to help the couple, and is mercilessly beaten up. Arun and Urmi have a long conversation about life and love. Sujit stuns the group by announcing that he has landed a job. They have a celebration party at Biman and Nandini's place. Soon after, Arun's mother dies. A few days later, Arun gets a phone call from Urmi, asking him to meet her urgently. She informs him that she is pregnant, and that her fiancé has abandoned her and gone off to England. She asks him for help to "get rid of it". Arun thinks long into the night, and tells her that their friends will pick her up next morning in a taxi. When Urmi gets off the cab, she is surprised to find that they are not in an abortion clinic, but an office building. Arun tells her that they have an appointment with the registrar of marriages. Urmi protests that she has no intention of burdening him with another man's child. Arun confesses that he has always been in love with her. They get married and prepare to face an uncertain future together.

Cast

The film has an ensemble cast: *

as Urmi *

as Runu * Juin Banerjee *

Swarup Dutta Swarup Dutta (22 June 1941 – 24 July 2019) was a Bengali actor. His son Saron Dutta is a director in Bengali film industry. Early life Dutta was born in famous Dutta family of Hatkhola, Kolkata in 1941. In 1958 he passed Matriculation from th ...

as Arun * Mrinal Mukherjee as Sujit *

as The Intellectual * N. Viswanathan *

Rudraprasad Sengupta Rudraprasad Sengupta (born 31 January 1935) is a Bengali Indian actor, director and cultural critic. Biography Sengupta was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal, the son of Anant Sengupta and Usha Prabha Sengupta. He studied at the Scottish ...

Gita Dey Gita Dey (5 August 1931 – 17 January 2011) was an Indian actress in Bengali cinema, theatre and Bengali folk theater. She became a stage artist at the age of 6 years. She came to the film industry in 1943. Her first film release was '' Ahut ...

* Anubha Gupta *

- special appearance as Urmi's fiancé * Nirmal Kumar - special appearance * Shambhu Bhattacharya

Crew

* Direction -

* Screenplay - Tapan Sinha (adapted from a novel by

) * Cinematography - Bimal Mukherjee * Editing - Subodh Roy

Reception

After '' Apanjan'', ''Ekhoni'' was the second film by

to deal with urban issues. According to one reviewer, it "created a stir in the society". In any case, it was popular at the time, since young urban viewers could identify with the protagonists. As in the earlier film, the unexpected use of

Rabindrasangeet ''Rabindra Sangeet'' ( bn, রবীন্দ্র সঙ্গীত; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Li ...

in the film added to its attraction. The film also enjoyed critical success, winning a National Award and two BFJA Awards.

lists ''Ekhoni'' as one of the films she cherishes having acted in. Scholar Moinak Biswas writes: " The emergence of a collective protagonist - the unemployed, angry youth, roaming the urban landscape, temporarily displacing and probably permanently changing the nature of the individual male hero and the romantic couple, signaled a major shift in the practice of cinema across the art-popular divide." He adds: "The character galleries that Sinha creates in Apanjan, and in some ways more poignantly in Ekhoni and Raja, are memorable archives of the times."

Preservation

The negative of the film is not available in complete form. According to Anindya Sinha, Tapan Sinha's son, the version that is available has only 40 minutes of the movie. However, there is a version uploaded on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, which, although not of good quality, appears to have close to the full running length. It is not clear whether the company under whose imprint it is uploaded has acquired the rights to this digital version.

Awards

* 19th National Film Awards: Best Screenplay -

* BFJA Awards (1972) ** Best Indian Films ** Best Actor in a Supporting Role -

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5014562 1971 films Bengali-language Indian films Films directed by Tapan Sinha Indian black-and-white films Films set in Kolkata 1970s Bengali-language films Films based on works by Ramapada Chowdhury