Director Srijit Mukherjee's 'Jaatishwar', a recreation of the era the 1967 classic film 'Antony Firingee', receiving praise from all quarters of Bengali film industry.
Musician and song-writer Kabir Suman, who is the music director of the film, described 'Jaatishwar' as a bold and honest attempt to catch the spirit and flavour of the early 19th century.
"Srijit could well have chosen the cinematic style of Antony Firingee since he had a star like Prosenjit to play the role of Antony. In this age of remakes, it would have struck the chord equally. But he did not do that," Suman, a rebel Trinamool Congress MP, said.
Srijit went through the documents and books of those days to lend authenticity to his subject.
"Srijit took my suggestions and we had discussion for long hours," Suman, credited with the turnaround of the music scene in Bengal with 'Jibonmukhi gaan' (life-oriented songs to translate loosely) in the early 90s, said.
'Antony Firingee,' a film by Sunil Banerjee, starring Uttam Kumar and Tanuja, was based on the life and times of Hensman Anthony, a folk poet of Portugese orgin writing in Bengali language, in the early 19th century Calcutta.
The film, which had lilting songs sung by Manna Dey among others, had earned Uttam the national award for best acting in 1968.
He took the challenge headlong while recreating the scenes involving kabiyals (village balladeers) and the songs. He could have been tempted to do shallow song sequences, but stayed away.
"Here is an intelligent director who understands the audience pulse, but he remained honest to his craft. The song arrangement was in sync with the times," Suman said.
