Tasher Desh of Twenty12

So, this is another Q time. Director Q (Qaushik Mukherjee) whose film 'Gandu' was critically acclaimed in International Festivals but not released in India for strong language and stark nudity, is back with yet another mini atom bomb. Ha ha, this time his experiment touches Rabi Thakur's dance drama 'Tasher Desh'. The experience is, in his own words, "Tagore on acid trip". As, 'Gandu', we can expect some original songs from Q himself in this movie also. I love the rap in 'Gandu'. Though the song has some 'Madonna' inspiration. Checkout the 3 min. trailer in Youtube.

The Story

Once upon a time, there lived a prince. His mother lost out to a younger queen, and was banished to a distant palace. Our prince grew up here, in a luxurious, decadent prison. He was restless, and depressed. Status quo killed his spirit. He shared his angst with his friend, the merchant’s son. Lost in his ennui and self-pity, confused about how to deal with his alcoholic mother and her dementia, the prince is saved by the intervention of a guardian angel, evoked by the friend.

The angel whispers into his ears a tune that sets him free. The prince finds the key to his destiny, unlocks it in his mind, and finds his freedom.

Off on an adventure, the prince and his friend are ship wrecked on to a tropical island. In this virginal land, they find a very strange militant tribe who call themselves THE CARDS. Regimental, humourless, sexless and fascist, the cards quickly make it evident that they find the visitor’s unwelcome. Arrested and hassled, the two boys are taken to court. Here, amidst the pomp of the fascist state, confronted with a pack of 52 card soldiers, the prince sows the seeds of a unique revolution. Infecting the card women with passion, the prince passes on the secret to unlocking one’s destiny. Lives change and the social structure of this dead zone falls apart. The cards are liberated, love and freedom finally overpowers a totalitarian regime.

Cast:

Tillotama Shome    ...  Queen
Anubrata Basu   Immaduddin Shah    ...  Ruiton
Rituparna Sen    ...  Horotoni / Widow
Tinu Verghese    ...  Oracle
Soumyak Kanti De Biswas    ...  Prince
Maya Tideman    ...  Tekani
Joyraj Bhattacharjee    ...  Storyteller / Tash King

Director 

Q
Producers    
Celine Loop, Overdose Joint
Anurag Kashyap & Guneet Monga
National Film Development Corporation of India
Benoit Roland
Dipankar Chaki 

Anandabazar Patrika Pujo Issue 2012 Campaign

Following are three best artworks for Anandabazar Patrika Pujo Issue 2012. Developed by Bates, Kolkata. Please click to see them in large.

 

Scroll below for other ABP mags-Sananda, Anandamela & Desh 2012 Pujo issue Campaign. Thnx.

Sananda Pujo Ad Campaign 2012

See these stunning, colourful & creative ads for ABP Group Women's magazine, Sananda. The brain behind this extravagant art is Bates, Kolkata. Please click to see them in larger sizes.

Desh Pujo Issue Campaign 2012

We're posting some of the outstanding posters/visual ads of this year Puja Issue of Ananda Group magazines. These fatafati ads were created by Bates, Kolkata.
Following are from Desh 2012 Pujo Issue.

CM mimics PM...sad!

www.telegraphindia.com – Thu 27 Sep, 2012

Calcutta, Sept. 26: Mamata Banerjee has refused to slam the door on an alliance with the Congress in the future, taking care to spare Sonia Gandhi while launching an acid-dripping assault on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government.

In an interview to Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN, the Bengal chief minister danced around or declined to answer categorically questions on the possibility of a future tie-up with the Congress.

"I can't say about tomorrow's strategy. The party will have to decide. I can decide today's strategy. But I'm fed up with them. I can't give my individual opinion. I've a party with me and I have to take them into confidence," Mamata said, asked about the possibility of a tie-up if the Congress sought her support after the next Lok Sabha polls.

In the hour-long interview with Sardesai in Calcutta, Mamata said the Prime Minister was not a "grassroot man", mimicked his soft-spoken style, rooted for fiscal autonomy in so aggressive a manner that it barely stopped short of cutting the umbilical cord with the Centre and batted for a federal front of chief ministers to lobby for more powers for states. (video shown below, thanks to Anunoy Biswas)

But Mamata did not give an unequivocal answer on whether she would support a resolution against FDI in Parliament. Mamata first said her party would decide and then added that she would support a resolution if Mulayam Singh Yadav committed that he would not change his stand.

The chief minister's vituperative attack on the Prime Minister suggested that she has concluded that the crisis-ridden UPA-II would be little more than a liability for allies and she is keeping her options open for a post-Manmohan era.

Mamata steered clear of criticising the Congress president, saying she and Sonia Gandhi shared a "personal relationship" and she had messaged Sonia to save the alliance.

"I am not saying anything against Soniaji because of personal relationship. I sent a message to Soniaji saying 'Madam, please save the alliance. (The) alliance should not break'," the chief minister said.
She sidestepped a question if she would have desisted from withdrawing support had Sonia called her. The long duration (3 hours) of the Town Hall meeting where the decision was taken had fuelled suggestions that Mamata was waiting for a call from Sonia.

Although Mamata dodged questions on a future alliance, she did not miss the opportunity to ridicule the state Congress. Mamata hurled a challenge at the state Congress leaders, saying that the Bengal unit would not win a single seat in the next Lok Sabha polls without Trinamul.

However, she insisted it was the Congress, not her party, that had walked out of the alliance in the state. "In Bengal they have broken the alliance. It is not that we have broken it."

The assertion leaves Mamata with room for manoeuvre if she gauges before the next general election that she cannot afford a split in the anti-Left vote. Several imponderables ' such as the rise of the BJP, the Congress pockets that have withstood erosion, state-level anti-incumbency 'will be at play between now and the next elections.

According to Mamata, the general election will take place next year after the UPA presents a "populist budget for eyewash".

On the Prime Minister and the UPA, Mamata did not pull any punches. "It's stable of the corruption, by the corruption and for the corruption. It's stable from the point of view of Congress (I). It is not stable from the point of view of the public."

Mamata also struck at the root of the Prime Minister's USP, saying that in the name of reforms, "horror and disaster" were going on.

Asked if she would support a "federal front", Mamata said she would. But her immediate thrust appeared to be on ensuring more powers to the states rather than cobbling together a political combine. "I will be happy to do it if the regional chief ministers can sit together for the future of the country…. States should be more powerful. India should be run from different parts of the country," Mamata said.

Eyes blazing, the chief minister declared that the Centre should stop collecting taxes from states and agreed with the interviewer that she was seeking "fiscal autonomy" for states.

"The Centre collects income tax, sales tax, corporate tax. They distribute 32 per cent of the taxes collected among the states. Why should this be? If we get the money, we won't need any help. We will take the responsibility. Let the debate start," she said.

Told Omar Abdullah was in favour of FDI in retail, Mamata said: "Let him take it. Centre gives Jammu and Kashmir so much money…. He has so many beautiful places… and we are proud of it. I am not going to quarrel but he cannot decide our future. He cannot decide India's future."

Asked if she was eyeing the Prime Minister's seat, the chief minister said: "I am not their leader. I am happy to be their ladder."

Mamata slipped in a claim that strengthens suspicions Pranab Mukherjee was not the Congress's first choice for President. "Because of me Pranab Mukherjee got elected. Pranabda also knows…. This was not a plan, but it happens," Mamata said.

 Full Interview video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rjA5RAKlDo&feature=related

ভালবাসা ডাকল তাকে, বলল, ‘নেবে আমায়?’

থইথই জল চার দিকে। তারই মধ্যে মাথা তুলে জেগে আছে ছোট্ট, সবুজ এক টুকরো দ্বীপ। গলাগলি করে সেখানে থাকে সুখ, দুঃখ, প্রজ্ঞা, সম্পদ,...আরও নানান সহ অনুভূতি, মায় ভালবাসাও।
এক দিন, জানা গেল, সবুজ দ্বীপখানি জলে ডুবে যাবে। সবাই যেন যে যার পথ দেখে নেয়। অন্য কোথাও চলে যাবার পথ।
অন্যরা নৌকো বানাল একে একে, চলে গেল। রয়ে গেল কেবল ভালবাসা। ‘থাকি, শেষ মুহূর্ত পর্যন্ত’, ভাবল সে।

দ্বীপটা যখন একেবারে ডুবুডুবু, ভালবাসার যাবার সময় হল।
নৌকো করে যাচ্ছিল সম্পদ। ‘নেবে আমায়?’ ভালবাসা শুধোল। ‘কী করে নিই? দেখছ না, সোনা-রুপোয় ভরা আমার নাও, তোমার স্বস্তিতে দাঁড়ানোর জায়গাটুকুও নেই যে!’ চলে গেল নৌকো।
দম্ভ যাচ্ছিল, ভালবাসা ডাকল তাকে। ‘নেবে আমায়?’ ‘না, না! কেমন ভেজা ভেজা, স্যাঁতসেঁতে গা তোমার, আমার নৌকো নষ্ট হয়ে যাবে। নেবই না!’ চলে গেল।
দুঃখকে শুধোতে সে কাঁদো কাঁদো হয়ে বলল, ‘নিজেকে নিয়েই বাঁচিনে, তোমায় নিই কেমন করে?’ চলে গেল নাও।
সুখ আর আনন্দ এতই বিভোর আর মশগুল, ভালবাসার ডাক শুনতেই পেলে না। হঠাৎ কার ক্ষীণ কণ্ঠস্বর। ‘এসো, ভালবাসা, আমার নৌকোয় নেব তোমায়।’ বুড়োটেপানা একটা লোক। ভালবাসার এত ভাল লাগল সে ডাক পেয়ে, লাফিয়ে উঠল নৌকোয়, আর খুশিতে ভুলেই গেল বুড়োর নাম শুধোতে।
নৌকো ডাঙায় পৌঁছতে, বুড়ো মতো লোকটা নিজের মনে মাথা ঝাঁকাতে ঝাঁকাতে চলে গেল। ভালবাসা, তীরে দাঁড়িয়ে থাকা আর এক বুড়ি, প্রজ্ঞাকে জিজ্ঞেস করল, ‘ও কে গো, আমায় নিয়ে এল?’
‘সময়’, প্রজ্ঞার ছোট্ট উত্তর।
সময়? অবাক হয়ে ভালবাসা তাকাল প্রজ্ঞার মুখে। মৃদু হেসে বলল প্রজ্ঞা, ‘সময়ই যে শুধু বলতে পারে, ভালবাসার মূল্য কতখানি!’

Courtesy Anandabazar Patrika