''Koni'' ( bn, কোনি; sometimes spells as ''Koney'' or ''Kony'')
[ is a national award-winning ]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 ...
movie released in 1984 directed by Saroj Dey,Moti Nandi
Moti Nandi; 10 July 1931 – 3 January 2010) was a Bengali writer and journalist.
Career
Moti Nandi was from Kolkata. He graduated from the University of Calcutta and became a sports journalist and worked as a sports editor in ''Anandabazar Patr ...
. The film is about a girl living in Calcutta slums, who with the help of her coach triumphs over poverty and hardships. The film's lead Sriparna Banerjee was also a professional swimmer herself in the 1970s and at the time of casting a student of Jadavpur University
Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...
.
In a 2012 interview, veteran actor, Soumitra Chatterjee, called Koni one of the best films of his career. He even recalled using film's catch-phrase "Fight-Koni-fight" in hard times, as a chant to himself to lift his "aging spirits". The phrase had become popular with middle-class Bengalis at the time.
Synopsis
''Koni'' is an inspirational story of a coach and his trainee Koni who fight all odds to achieve their aims. Khidda (Soumitra Chatterjee) is a swimming coach who teaches swimming to underprivileged kids. He picks Kanakchampa Pal alias Kony (character played by Sriparna Banerjee) from a slum of Calcutta and grooms her to be part of the Bengal Swimming team to compete at the National Swimming Championship. However, politics, poverty and social stigma emerges as distinct roadblocks in their path.[
]
Awards
* at the 32nd National Film Awards.
Cast and crew
Cast
*Sriparna Banerjee as Kony, a underprivileged teenaged girl from North Calcutta, who against all odds finally gets her dream fulfilled by shining in the National Meet as one of the representatives of Bengal and winning gold in 400 m relay.
* Soumitra Chatterjee as Khitish Sinha (Khid da)- a former chief coach of 'Jupiter' club who after serving the club for 35 years, gets humiliated & wrongly expelled from his club, discovers Kony and nurtures her to help her reach her triumph.
* Snigdha 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 Pranabendu Biswas, another honest and idealist coach of Ballygunje Swimming Club, mentor of Kony's competitor Hiya. He is the key person to make Kony get selected for the National Meet and win her 1st medal.
*Bimal Deb
*Subrata Sensharma
*Sidhartha Bose
*Dipankar Banerjee
*Bhola Bose
*Ashoke Mitra
*Arijit Guha as Haricharan, Khidda's jealous competitor and chief trainer of Jupiter Club.
Crew
*Direction and screenplay: Saroj Dey
*Story: Moti Nandi
Moti Nandi; 10 July 1931 – 3 January 2010) was a Bengali writer and journalist.
Career
Moti Nandi was from Kolkata. He graduated from the University of Calcutta and became a sports journalist and worked as a sports editor in ''Anandabazar Patr ...
*Music Director: Chinmay Chattopadhyay
*Editor: Ramesh Joshi
*Art Direction: Subhash Singharoy
*Make Up: Basir Ahmed
*Cinematographer: kamal nayan
References
External links
*
{{National Film Award Wholesome Entertainment
Bengali-language Indian films
1986 films
Films based on Indian novels
Indian sports films
Swimming films
Teen sports films
Films set in Kolkata
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award winners
Films directed by Saroj Dey
1980s Bengali-language films