Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival

Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival (HBFF) is a Bengali film festival in the city of Hyderabad and is being organized annually since 2014. The venue of the festival is the Prasad Film Preview Labs, Hyderabad (adjacent to L V Prasad Eye Institute).^[1] The first edition of the film festival was held in the year 2014.^[2] It is the only curated Bengali film festival in India.

The festival is organized by a Hyderabad-based registered Bengali group- Bengalis in Hyderabad (popularly known as BiH).^[3] The fourth edition of the HBFF was held from June 30 to July 2, 2017.^[4] The fourth edition of the festival screened eight Bengali movies, along with two Telugu movies.^[5] All the seasons of the festival were attended by the directors, casts and crews of the movies which were screened, and there are several panel discussions and Q&A sessions with directors organized.

History of Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival (HBFF)

4th Edition of Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival (HBFF), 2017

The fourth edition of Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival was held from June 30 to July 2, 2017.^[6] This year, under a cultural exchange programme, two noted Telugu movies was screened along with eight Bengali movies.^[7]

The inaugural movie was Tope by noted film maker Buddhadeb Dasgupta which was premiered earlier in Toronto International Film Festival.^[8] The festival introduced two Telugu films as the festival aims in offering a platform for culture exchange through cinematic languages.^[7]

As this year, the iconic Bengali detective character Feluda (created by Satyajit Ray) is completing 50 years,^[9] there was a special selection as a tribute to the iconic character which included two movies, Feluda- 50 Years Of Ray's Detective (a documentary film),^[10] and Sandip Ray's Bombaiyer Bombete (2003 film).

Other than Guest Language section, Inaugural film and Feluda50 section, there were five Bengali movies which were screened in the festival under the Competitive Section^[11]- these five movies are listed down from no. 6 to no. 10.

Official Selection of HBFF 2017^[12]

1. Tope (inaugural film)
2. Pelli Choopulu (Guest Language- Telugu)
3. Naa Bangaaru Talli (Guest Language- Telugu)
4. Feluda- 50 Years Of Ray's Detective^[10] (a documentary film- under Feluda 50 section)
5. Bombaiyer Bombete (under Feluda 50 section)
6. Abby Sen
7. Asamapto^[13]
8. Bisorjon^[14] (National Award Winner for Best Feature Film in Bengali)
9. Bibaho Diaries
10. Peace Haven^[15]

Official Delegates List for HBFF 2017^[16]

1. Abir Chatterjee (lead actor- Abby Sen & Bisorjon)
2. Sabyasachi Chakraborty (actor- Bombaiyer Bombete; acted as Feluda in five feature films and many telefilms), along with wife and actress Mithu Chakrabarty
3. Swastika Mukherjee (lead actress- Asamapto)
4. Kaushik Ganguly (director- Bisorjon)
5. Buddhadeb Dasgupta (director- Tope)
6. Sohini Dasgupta^[17] (associate producer- Tope)
7. Mainak Bhaumik (director- Bibaho Diaries)
8. Suman Mukhopadhyay (director- Asamapto)
9. Suman Ghosh (director- Peace Haven)
10. Atanu Ghosh (director- Abby Sen)
11. Rajesh Touchriver (director- Naa Bangaaru Talli)
12. Padmashri Sunitha Krishnan (producer- Naa Bangaaru Talli)
13. Satarupa Sanyal (film maker, present as jury)
14. K. N. T. Sastry (film maker, present as jury)
15. Debesh Chattopadhyay (film maker and theater director, present as mentor)
16. Arpita Ghosh (Hon'ble MP and theatre director)

Award List for HBFF 2017

^[18] In the 4th year of HBFF, the festival has started two sets of awards- the Viewers' Choice Awards and the Jury Awards. Jury Awards were presented in association with Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI), and awards were decided by 3 jury members- film makers KNT Shastry and Satarupa Sanyal, and film journalist Premendra Mazumder.

Viewers' Choice Awards were:

1. Best Supporting Actor, Female (Viewers' Choice Award)- Kamalika Banerjee for the movie Bibaho Diaries
2. Best Supporting Actor, Male (Viewers' Choice Award)- Kaushik Ganguly for the movie Bisorjon
3. Best Actor, Female (Viewers' Choice Award)- Joya Ahsan for the movie Bisorjon
4. Best Actor, Male(Viewers' Choice Award)- Ritwick Chakraborty for the movie Bibaho Diaries
5. Best Film (Viewers' Choice Award)- Bisorjon
6. Best Director (Viewers' Choice Award)- Kaushik Ganguly for the movie Bisorjon

Jury Awards were:

1. Best Actor, Female (Jury Award)- Joya Ahsan for the movie Bisorjon
2. Best Actor, Male (Jury Award)- Bratya Basu for the movie Asamapto
3. Best Film (Jury Award)- Peace Haven
4. Best Director (Jury Award)- Suman Mukhopadhyay for the movie Asamapto
5. Special Mention (Jury Awards)- film Abby Sen

3rd Edition of Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival (HBFF), 2016

The third edition of Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival was held from July 1 to July 3, 2016. As always, eight films have been showcased, followed by Q&A sessions with directors and eminent film personalities. This edition of festival is also curated by Ratnottama Sengupta, a noted film critic.

The titles for this year being Cinemawala, Onyo Opala, Anubrata Bhalo Acho?, Natoker Moto, Asha Jaoar Majhe, and Babar Naam Gandhiji. Additionally, HBFF also made Indian premier of two films - Kolkatar King and Bridge.^[19]

As always, HBFF hosted several directors and producers from the film industry. The guests include such names as Satarupa Sanyal (director of Onyo Apala), Paramita Banerjee (producer of Bridge), Debesh Chattopadhyay (director of Natoker Moto), Pavel] (director of Babar Naam Gandhiji), Judhajit Sarkar (director of Kolkatar King), Partha Sen (director of Anubrata Bhalo Acho?) and Dr. Amit Ranjan Biswas (director of Bridge).^[20]

Official Selection of HBFF 2016

1. Bridge (Premier)^[21]
2. Kolkatar King (Premier)
3. Anubrata Bhalo Aachho?
4. Asa Jaoar Maajhe
5. Babar Naam Gandhiji
6. Natoker Moto
7. Onyo Opala
8. Cinemawala

Viewers' Choice Award

Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival (HBFF) is introducing a Viewers’ Choice Award for the first time in 2016. The audience will get to vote for the best movie, actor, director, etc. among the selection, and basis upon a composite scoring pattern, the winner in category will be decided. The entire voting process will be audited by a panel of independent auditors.

The categories for the Viewers' Choice Award are:

• Best Feature Film
• Best Director
• Best Actor
• Best Actress

The first edition of awards (for HBFF 2016) went to the following people/ movies:^[22]

• Viewers' Choice Award for Best Feature Film: Natoker Moto
• Viewers' Choice Award for Best Director: Pavel (for the movie Babar Naam Gandhiji)
• Viewers' Choice Award for Best Actor: Surajit Mukherjee a.k.a. Kecho (for the movie Babar Naam Gandhiji)
• Viewers' Choice Award for Best Actress: Paoli Dam (for the movie Natoker Moto)

Apart from the Viewers' Choice Awards, the Festival also gave out a Special Jury Mention Award to the movie Asa Jaoar Majhe.

Along with the Festival organizers, the Film Critics Circle of India (FCCI)^[23] also awarded two special awards in the festival:

• Critics' Award for Best Debutante Director by Film Critics Circle of India (FCCI): Debesh Chattopadhyay' (for the movie Natoker Moto)
• Critics' Award: Special Jury Mention by Film Critics Circle of India (FCCI): Cinemawala

2nd Edition of Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival (HBFF), 2015

The second edition of Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival was better, bigger and more widely covered in media.^[24][25][26] The festival took place from 26 to 28 June 2015 and screened eight movies, viz., Kadambari, Bitnoon, Jogajog, Nirbaak, Nirbashito (which was India's official selection for Academy Awards in the category of Best Foreign Film^[27]), Family Album,^[28] Chotoder Chobi (National Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues) and Teenkahon.^[29]

Luminaries in attendance included members of the Telugu film sphere, while the Bengali film industry was represented by National award-winning actress Ananya Chatterjee (lead actress of movie Jogajog), actress and director Churni Ganguly (lead actress and director of Nirbashito, which got the National Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali), Director Mainak Bhaumik (director of movie Family Album), Director Bauddhayan Mukherji (director of Teenkahon), Director duo Abhijit Guha and Sudeshna Roy (directors of movie Bitnoon), Director Sekhar Das (director of movie Jogajog) among others. Almost all the shows were houseful, and audience praised the selection of the movies as well as the curated panel discussions.^[30] Like the 1st edition, this edition was also curated by Ratnottama Sengupta and had multiple panel discussions and Q&A sessions with cast and crew of the films.

1st Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival (HBFF), 2014

The first edition of Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival (HBFF) was organized in 2014, from July 18 to July 20.^[31] Over two and a half days, movies such as Apur Panchali, Jaatishwar, Nayan Chapar Dinratri, Take One, Phoring, Jodi Love Dile na Prane, Meghe Dhaka Tara & Rupkatha Noy were screened.^[32] Famous guests in attendance included national award-winning actress Rupa Gangooly (lead actress of movie Nayan Chapar Dinratri), Director Sekhar Das (director of movie Nayan Chapar Dinratri), Director duo Abhijit Guha and Sudeshna Roy (directors of movie Jodi Love Dile Na Prane, as well as movies like Teen Yaari Katha and Natobor Not Out) among others. Shows ran to full houses, the film fraternity as well as aficionados of the twin cities were all praise for the great initiative. The event concluded on July 20, and was widely covered in media.^[33][34]

Bengalis in Hyderabad team has written, composed, sang and shot the theme song of the festival in-house, which was screened before every movie and was very well received by the audience. The festival was curated by Ratnottama Sengupta, an eminent film critic and movie journalist.

See also

• Bengalis in Hyderabad (BiH)^[35]
• Film Critics Circle of India
• Federation of Film Societies of India

References

External links

• Hyderabad Bengali Film Festival
• Bengalis in Hyderabad
• Official Selection of HBFF 2016