''Mondo Meyer Upakhyan'' ( Bengali: ''মন্দ মেয়ের উপাখ্যান'') is a 2002 Indian Bengali-language film directed and written by Buddhadev Dasgupta. The film was also released under the English title ''A Tale of A Naughty Girl'' and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

title ''Chroniques Indiennes''. The film stars Samata Das in the titular role. It also stars Tapas Paul, Rituparna Sengupta, Sreelekha Mitra,

Sudipta Chakraborty Sudipta Chakraborty is an Indian actor who mostly works in Bengali cinema. She won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film ''Bariwali''. She completed her school leaving examination from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Fort Willi ...

and June Malia. The film won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 2003.

Plot

Based on a short story by Bengali writer Prafulla Roy, the central idea developed by director Dasgupta, tells the story of a girl, Lati ( Samata Das), whose mother Rajani ( Rituparna Sengupta) is a prostitute living and working in a brothel in rural India. Rajani plans to offer her daughter to an older man, a rich husband and protector to her daughter. Lati, however, wants to return to school and finish her studies. Unwilling to pay such a price for material success, she runs away to Calcutta. The discovery of this new world is described parallel to other stories of emancipation, such as that of three young prostitutes, of an aged couple going nowhere and man's landing on the moon. In a surrealistic approach typical of the director, a clumsy cat and an intelligent donkey are also present in the film. Ganesh ( Tapas Paul) works full-time as a driver for wealthy Bengali-speaking, Natabar Paladhi ( Ram Gopal Bajaj), who lives in a mansion with his wife, children and grandchildren, and runs 'Anjali Cinema' He has Ganesh use his vehicle as a private taxi cab. Amongst Ganesh's customers are a woman named Bakul ( June Malia), who alights near a town of Gosaipara to take up prostitution with Jamunabai; an abandoned elderly couple who are in need of hospitalization — there is none in the vicinity, and they end up secretly riding with Ganesh all the time; while Natabar uses this vehicle to travel to Gosaipara to visit a prostitute named Rajani and negotiate with her so that he can have her 14-year-old daughter, Lati, as his mistress. Things get complicated when Lati rebels against her mother so she can return to school, and a prostitute is about to get killed by her vengeful husband.

Cast

* Samata Das as Lati * Tapas Paul as Ganesh * Rituparna Sengupta as Rajani * Sreelekha Mitra as Ayesha *

as Basanti * June Malia as Bakul * Arpan Basar as Shibu * Ram Gopal Bajaj as Natabar Paladhi * Pradip Mukherjee as Nagen * Pavan Bandhopadhyay *

Debjani Biswas Debjani may refer to the following people: ;Given name * Debjani Chatterjee (born 1952), Indian-born British poet and writer * Debjani Ghosh (born 1988), Bangladeshi born environmental engineer * Debjani Modak (born 1996), Indian television actress ...

* Kajol Chowdhuri *

Ketaki Dutta Ketaki Dutta was an actor of Bengali theatre and films. She was also a singer. Chapal Bhaduri Chapal Bhaduri is the last living female impersonator in Bengali theatre and perhaps even in Indian theatre. He did female impersonation in J ...

* Arjun Guha Thakurta *

Saroj Gupta Saroj Gupta FRCR (5 December 1929 – 21 May 2010) was an Indian oncologist and the founder of the Cancer Centre Welfare Home & Research Institute in West Bengal. He received India's fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 1987 and a ...

Fakir Das Kumar Fakir ( ar, فقیر, translit=faḳīr or ''faqīr'') is an Islamic term traditionally used for Sufi Muslim ascetics who renounce their worldly possessions and dedicate their lives to the worship of God. They do not necessarily renounce all ...

Subrata Mukherjee Subrata Mukherjee (14 June 1946 – 4 November 2021) was an Indian politician who was cabinet minister of the government of West Bengal and sitting member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly. He was a member of All India Trinamool Congress. H ...

Anup Mukhyopadhyay Anup ( sa, अनुप ') is an Indian masculine given name. The Sanskrit word ' has the following meanings: 'watery', 'situated near the water', 'bank of a river', 'pond', 'lagoon'.The meaning of the name “Anup” is: "Incomparable, unequalled; ...

Crew

* Directed: Buddhadev Dasgupta * Screenplay: Buddhadev Dasgupta * Produced: Arya Bhattacharjee * Music: Buddhadev Dasgupta * Cinematography: Venu * Film Editing:

Raviranjan Maitra Rabiranjan Maitra is an Indian film director and editor who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. His most notable works include Tobu Mone Rekho (1994), Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002), Raatporir Rupkatha (2007), Rok Sako To Rok Lo (2007), Challenge ( ...

* Art Direction: Kousik Sarkar

Promotion

Directors like Dasgupta (and others of his ilk like Adoor Gopalakrishnan or Mrinal Sen) make movies that are very specific to their own cultural milieu. A great master like the late

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...

was never comfortable when he stepped outside his native Bengal with his camera. So too Dasgupta. His latest work, Mondo Meyer Upakhyan (A Tale of a Naughty Girl), is set in his favourite Purulia, a backward region in West Bengal. Beyond these main travails of Lati, Dasgupta presents a gripping account of village life. On Dasgupta's canvas, one witnesses life in all its splendour. A Tale of a Naughty Girl is undoubtedly a piece of celluloid that elevates cinema to another realm. It is extremely positive, and probably comes from a deep sense of peace and tranquillity that Dasgupta must have achieved from his poetic inclination.

Released

Awards

*2003: Anandalok Awards – Best Director – Buddhadeb Dasgupta *2003: Best ASEAN Film Award – Buddhadev Dasgupta *2003: National Film Award for Best Feature Film – Arya Bhattacharya (Producer), Buddhadev Dasgupta (Director)

References

External links

*
www.arjoe.com
{{NationalFilmAwardBestFeatureFilm 2002 films Bengali-language Indian films 2000s Bengali-language films 2002 drama films Films directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta Best Feature Film National Film Award winners