Chokher Bali (film)

Chokher Bali
Directed by	Rituparno Ghosh
Produced by	Shrikant Mohta Mahendra Soni
Written by	Rituparno Ghosh
Based on	Chokher Bali  by Rabindranath Tagore
Starring	Aishwarya Rai Prasenjit Chatterjee Raima Sen Tota Roy Chowdhury
Music by	Debojyoti Mishra
Studio	Shree Venkatesh Films
Release dates	August 9, 2003 (2003-08-09) (Locarno Film Festival)
Running time	167 minutes
Country	India
Language	Bengali
Budget	2 crore

Chokher Bali ( Bengali: চোখের বালি; literally translated to "sand in the eye", figuratively to "constant irritant") is a Bengali drama film based on the novel Chokher Bali by Rabindranath Tagore. It was directed by Rituparno Ghosh in 2003 and stars Prasenjit as Mahendra, Aishwarya Rai as Binodini and Raima Sen as Ashalata. Ashalata and Binodini refer to each other as Chokher Bali. The other major characters are played by Lily Chakravarty (as Rajlakshmi, Mahendra's mother) and Tota Roy Chowdhury (as Behari, Rajlakshmi's adopted son). The film was later dubbed into Hindi and was released internationally in that language.

Upon release, Chokher Bali met with positive critical and box office reception.^[1][2][3]

Chokher Bali won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali and was nominated for the Golden Leopard (Best Film) award at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2003.^[4] The film screened at the 34th International Film Festival of India on October 19.^[5] It was the Official Selection at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2003 and was showcased in over 25 international festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival,^[6] London Film Festival, Palm Springs, Karlovy Vary and Washington DC International Film Festival besides winning the Apsara Film Producers' Award for the Best Regional Film 2004. Aishwarya Rai had won the Best Actress award at the Anandalok Awards 2003.

Plot

Binodini is a young woman who is left to her own devices when her sickly husband dies soon after they are married. She returns to her village and lives there for a couple of months until she sees one of her relatives passing by. Binodini hails the woman and the two soon agree that it would be best if Binodini came to live with the woman and her son, Mahendra. (Mahendra was one of the first to see Binodini's photo when she was unwed yet refused her on account of his being "unready for marriage.") When the two arrive, Mahendra and his new bride are constantly sneaking off to be alone together. This infatuation does not last long, and Mahendra soon begins to see that Binodini is more his type. The story details the lives of these three and Mahendra's best friend as they deal with issues as distrust, adultery, lies, and falling-out.^{[citation needed]}

Music

The film's background score is by Debojyoti Mishra and, notably, it contains no playback singing. Sreela Majumdar dubbed for Aishwarya Rai and Sudipta Chakraborty dubbed for Raima Sen.

Culture

In olden days in Bengal, women and girls who were best friends would often set a common nickname for themselves and address each other by that name. In this story, two friends Binodini and Ashalata call each other 'Chokher Bali.'

Cast

• Prasenjit as Mahendra
• Aishwarya Rai as Binodini
• Raima Sen as Ashalata
• Lily Chakravarty as Rajlakshmi, Mahendra's mother
• Tota Roy Chowdhury as Behari

Critical reception

Aishwarya has given one of her finest performances and one of the best in cinema.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Professional reviews
IMDb link
PlanetBollywood link
ABC Australia link

Box office

The film was declared a hit at the box office.^[11]

Other titles

• Choker Bali: A Passion Play (International: English title)
• Sand in the Eye (India: English title)
• Binodini (India: English title)

References

External links

• Chokher Bali at the Internet Movie Database
• citwf.com page