Ask anybody around you, what does he/she would like to do given a vacation or has a break, one of the inevitable answers would be traveling other than sleeping. To see places, visit them after you have read so much about them and witnessing a dream come true, it is always special. And to watch your favourite hero doing a film which is so similar to the above mentioned lines, I definitely felt he lived a part of my dream.
Chander Pahar or Mountain of the Moon, a Bengali movie produced by Shree Venkatesh Films and directed by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee had Dev in the leading role as Shankar Roy Chowdhury. Based on the novel penned by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay in 1937. The novel chronicles the adventures of Shankar in the forests of Aftrica along with his Portugese partner, Diego Alvarez.
Yearning for adventure in life and liking for animals, Shankar wished to follow the footsteps of explorers like Marco Polo or Mungo Park. And as luck would have had it, Shankar lands himself a job as a clerk in Uganda Railway through references and let’s himself land in Africa without thinking too much. Africa or his employer did not give me too much official work to do except for wave the flag to let the train pass. But what it offered was more than what he would have expected or dreamt of. Fighting the lion after a fellow colleague gets brutally killed, deciding to explore Africa and especially, Mountain of the Moon along with Diego Alvarez, a middle-aged Portugese traveller and a diamond or gold prospector, every other adventure throughout his journey was a complete visual treat.
Although I am not much of animal lover, watching the African jungle, its elements and the ultimate mythical monster, the Bunyip blew me off. Shankar's road trip with Alvarez to explore and locate Richtersveldt where Chander Pahar is, also was beautifully captured.
Regarding the casting of Dev as Shankar, I was personally excited. One, because, I liked Dev's earlier commercial flicks like Paglu series and the many others, and two, he looked apt for the role with the kind of physique that he has. Quoting his own lines, Dev said "Chander Pahar is going to be the biggest challenge in my life and I'm not afraid. Being afraid will mean no shooting for the project". It was certainly one of his most ambitious projects and also for Tollywood for it has taken the standard of Bengali films to a height that is at par with other film industries across the globe and this is a sincere and honest confession.
Chander Pahar is like Life of Pi. You need to watch on the big screen to enjoy it completely and I watched it at a theatre in Bangalore amidst a huge Bong crowd. It was a fun experience that was almost like watching the movie in Kolkata itself. Expecting more of such movies to hit the screens in this years and many more years to come.
Chander Pahar or Mountain of the Moon, a Bengali movie produced by Shree Venkatesh Films and directed by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee had Dev in the leading role as Shankar Roy Chowdhury. Based on the novel penned by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay in 1937. The novel chronicles the adventures of Shankar in the forests of Aftrica along with his Portugese partner, Diego Alvarez.
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| Photo credit: Wikipedia.org |
Yearning for adventure in life and liking for animals, Shankar wished to follow the footsteps of explorers like Marco Polo or Mungo Park. And as luck would have had it, Shankar lands himself a job as a clerk in Uganda Railway through references and let’s himself land in Africa without thinking too much. Africa or his employer did not give me too much official work to do except for wave the flag to let the train pass. But what it offered was more than what he would have expected or dreamt of. Fighting the lion after a fellow colleague gets brutally killed, deciding to explore Africa and especially, Mountain of the Moon along with Diego Alvarez, a middle-aged Portugese traveller and a diamond or gold prospector, every other adventure throughout his journey was a complete visual treat.
Although I am not much of animal lover, watching the African jungle, its elements and the ultimate mythical monster, the Bunyip blew me off. Shankar's road trip with Alvarez to explore and locate Richtersveldt where Chander Pahar is, also was beautifully captured.
Regarding the casting of Dev as Shankar, I was personally excited. One, because, I liked Dev's earlier commercial flicks like Paglu series and the many others, and two, he looked apt for the role with the kind of physique that he has. Quoting his own lines, Dev said "Chander Pahar is going to be the biggest challenge in my life and I'm not afraid. Being afraid will mean no shooting for the project". It was certainly one of his most ambitious projects and also for Tollywood for it has taken the standard of Bengali films to a height that is at par with other film industries across the globe and this is a sincere and honest confession.
Chander Pahar is like Life of Pi. You need to watch on the big screen to enjoy it completely and I watched it at a theatre in Bangalore amidst a huge Bong crowd. It was a fun experience that was almost like watching the movie in Kolkata itself. Expecting more of such movies to hit the screens in this years and many more years to come.
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Debjani Baidyaray