Anjan Dutt and Neel Dutt in premiere of The Bong Connection

''The Bong Connection'' is a 2006 Bengali- English language

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n film starring

Raima Sen Raima Sen (born Raima Dev Varma on 7 November 1979) is an Indian actress who is known for her work in the Hindi and Bengali films. Early life Raima Sen was born on 7 November 1979 in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Moon Moon Sen and Bharat Dev Varma ...

Shayan Munshi Shayan Munshi is an Indian actor and model. He made his debut in the 2003 Bollywood film Jhankaar Beats and has performed in award-winning films such as ''The Bong Connection'' and ''Carnival''. Shayan has hosted Television series like ''Cook Na ...

and

Parambrata Chatterjee Parambrata Chattopadhyay (born 27 June 1980) is an Indian actor and director. Parambrata started his career with Bengali television and films. He has acted as the fictional character Topshe from Feluda under Sandip Ray's direction. He made his ...

and directed by Anjan Dutt. The movie is based on the lives of

Bengalis Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of ...

in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

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 ...

Plot

The story revolves around two young men, Apu (

) and Andy (

). Apu is leaving for US. He promises his girlfriend, Sheela (

) that he will come back soon and take her to the US. Andy, a second-generation Bengali born and brought up in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, has dreams of becoming a musician and working in films. He comes to Kolkata to pursue his passion and stays at the house of his paternal uncle and grandfather. In Kolkata he meets Sheela, befriends her and falls in love with her. Meanwhile, Apu, arrives in the US and struggles to find his way in an alien nation. In the process he befriends Rita (played by

Peeya Rai Chowdhary Peeya Rai Chowdhary is an Indian actress. Peeya Rai was married to model Shayan Munshi, who was a controversial witness in the murder trial of Jessica Lal. in 2006, but separated from him in 2010. She played Lakhi in Gurinder Chadha's '' Bri ...

) whose parents want to get her married to Apu. The rest of the movie revolves around the socio-comic adventures of Apu and Andy as they struggle to find their calling in life. The movie featured an appearance by Kolkata alt-rock band Cassini's Division.

Cast

as Andy *

as Apu *

as Sheela *

as Rita *

Victor Banerjee Victor Banerjee is an Indian actor who appears in English, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese language films. He has worked for directors such as Roman Polanski, James Ivory, Sir David Lean, Jerry London, Ronald Neame, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shyam ...

* Soumitra Chatterjee *

Mamata Shankar Mamata Shankar (born 7 January 1955) is an Indian actress and dancer. She is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has acted in films by directors including Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Gautam Ghosh. I ...

Biswajit Chakraborty Biswajit Chakraborty, (born 29 October 1948) is an Indian film actor who appears predominantly in Bengali movies. He was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. His debut movie was '' Sunya Theke Suru'' directed by Ashoke Viswanathan. He has acted in more ...

Avijit Dutt Avijit Dutt is an Indian filmmaker, actor, theater director and communications consultant. Living and working out of New Delhi. He has done his masters from Calcutta University in English Literature and began his career at an English Faculty in ...

Saswata Chatterjee Saswata Chatterjee (born 19 December 1970) is an Indian actor of television and films based in Kolkata. Born to actor Subhendu Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee began his career with a Hindi serial directed by Saibal Mitra, based on Samaresh Majum ...

Samrat Chakrabarti Samrat Chakrabarti (born 22 August 1975) is a British-American film actor and musician of Indian descent. Early life Born in London to Indian Hindu Bengali immigrant parents from Kolkata. He performed in Indian community functions in Boston, ...

* Shauvik Kundagrami *

Mir Afsar Ali Mir Afsar Ali or Mir is an Indian radio jockey, television anchor, singer, comedian, actor and media personality. He was the host of Mirakkel, a Comedy show on Zee Bangla and Hi Kolkata on Radio Mirchi. He gives voice over on a show in which s ...

June Malia June MaliaSpelling according tThe Times of India/ref> (or June Malliah) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Bengali cinema and television. She is a philanthropist and also a member of West Bengal Women's Commission. In 2021, she wa ...

Reception

Khalid Mohamed Khalid Mohamed is an Indian journalist, editing, editor, Film criticism, film critic, screenwriter and film director. He formerly worked for the ''Hindustan Times'' and was the lead editor for ''Filmfare'' magazine. He is the son of Bollywoo ...

of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

'' gave the film two out of five stars, writing, "Quite a guzzle puzzle, this".

Rajeev Masand Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and journalist. He has worked for Noida based English language news channel CNN-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN). He usually reviews Bollywood films and major Hollywood films released in India in his ...

gave it the same rating and concluded, "it’s not entirely unwatchable, but it’s not a film you’re going to remember even five minutes after you’ve left the cinema." ''

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 ...

'', however, was highly positive of the film, writing, "It’s a delightful canvas of introspective comment which captures the psyche of the young Bengalis, even as it brings forth stirring performances by all the characters."

Sequel

References

External links

* 2006 films 2006 drama films Indian-American films English-language Indian films Films set in Houston Films set in Kolkata Films set in New York (state) Films shot in Houston Bengali-language Indian films Films directed by Anjan Dutt 2000s Bengali-language films {{2000s-Bengali-film-stub