Rituparno Ghosh

Maharaja Arunangshu, the ruler of a princely state named Balabantpur, had made a wish list on his death bed in the presence of Dewan Chandrashekhar, the family physician Kaligati and the High Priest. It laid down certain conditions for his heir, his son Himangshu. The first of which forbade Himangshu from marrying a non Hindu girl, and the second demanded a legitimate heir within three years of his marriage. Bound by the conditions of succession, Himangshu is compelled to marry Alaka, an aspiring actress. A year and half into the marriage, Harinath, the young palace librarian disappears without any trace. This mystery occasions the arrival of the sleuth Byomkesh and his author friend Ajit to Balwantpur. The visit though is under the pretext of an invitation for a hunting expedition. The ensuing story revolves around his unveiling of the culprit behind the mystery of Balwantpur.

The film revolves around choreographer, Rudra who is performing Tagore`s, `Chitraganda`, a dance drama. He is in a homosexual relationship with Partho, a drummer. In order to fulfill their desire of having a baby, Rudra decides to opt for a sex reassignment surgery.

Aniket is one of the finest Bengali filmmakers, devoted to making the best films. His wife, Deepti was an actress who gave up her career when she met and fell in love with him, choosing instead to raise their son, Apratim. Along comes Shikha, a pretty young starling, who resembles Deepti in her younger days. Shikha is selected to work in Aniket's new film and Deepti coaches her for the same. But Aniket finds himself falling for the young woman who's as old as his son, despite the sadness and trouble it brings to his family.

Kaushik is shattered when his mistress, Mita, dies in an accident. To add to his agony, he struggles to win back his wife`s trust as he tries to improve their relationship.

The story revolves around Kaushik (Prasenjit Chatterjee) and Kaberi (Konkona Sen Sharma), a happy couple until a car accident takes away Mita, Kaushiks mistress and leaves Kaushik heavily injured. Mita, a mother of a little boy and living with her husband, was Kaushiks colleague. The revelation leaves Kaberi shattered and she retorts. Kaushik successfully moves on with life leaving Mita behind and tries his best to repair the severely wounded relation with his wife. There is another couple in the film- Brinda (Pallavi Chatterjee) and Bobby (Parambrata Chatterjee), engaged in another extramarital relation. While Bobby is a bachelor, Brinda, quite older than Bobby, is unhappily married. They and Kaberi do group theatre together. Brinda-Bobby comes to a crossroad when Brinda becomes pregnant and Bobby is not sure whether the child is his or Brindas husbands. However he does not turn back and stands by Brinda in sorting out her issues. Kaberi often threatens divorce but ultimately is overpowered by the wife in her and cannot desist fulfilling her duties towards her husband at the time of crisis.On the other hand, Kaushik too is caught in his own predicament. The physical and mental trauma caused by the accident are portrayed with great skill and subtlety by Prosenjit. He has to not only come to terms with the loss of a loved one but is faced with the daunting task of winning back his wife's trust.

An unemployed Manoj (Ajay Devgan) is broke & sets out to borrow money for a business from his former college mates. Manoj lives with his mother (Surekha Sikri). Manoj travels to Calcutta and stays with his college friend Alok (Sameer Dharmadhikari). Manoj gets Alok to draft a letter to his friends asking for Rs 5-7 thousand each to create a corpus of roughly Rs 30-40 thousand to restart his business. Manoj feels ashamed about begging his friends for money. Alok is married to Sheela (Mouli Ganguly). Sheela wants Alok to give Manoj a job in his production company, but Alok says Manoj is not fit for production work. Manoj wants to visit Neerja, his ex-flame. Alok strongly advises against it. Alok says that Neeja spurned Manoj's love and married someone else for money. Sheela says that visiting Neerja is Manoj's choice. Alok says that it took months for Manoj to recover from his breakup with Neerja, and that he should not relive those memories. Since it is raining that day, Alok gives his raincoat to Manoj. Sheela also gives her mobile device to Manoj, just in case he needs any help and wants to call Alok. Sheela asks Manoj to take a gift for Neerja. Since Manoj doesn't have any money, she offers a Saree that she had received as gift from someplace else. Manoj was in love and was to marry Neerja (Aishwarya), but her mother preferred her to marry someone wealthier, in Calcutta. Manoj starts meeting his classmates and some give him some money, and some don't. After completing his tasks for the day, Manoj heads to Neerja's. Neerja opens the door and is looking slightly shabby. Manoj removes his raincoat and hangs it on the wall. The home is full of antique furniture. And there is no electricity in the house, which Neerja claims is due to the rain. There are no servants in the house, and Neerja claims that they are off for their afternoon siesta. Neerja claims that her husband is in Japan in relation to his business. She claims that her husband tours a lot, but she doesn't like to travel. Neerja refuses to open doors as she claims that her husband is very possessive about her and cannot stand her spending time with another man. She says that if she opens the doors, the news will reach her any ways. Manoj arrived around 2 PM. At 2:45 PM Neerja makes a cup of tea for him. Neerja used to live in the same village as Manoj, before she came to the city. Manoj tells Neerja that he runs a TV serial production company. He had come to Calcutta for a meeting with DoorDarshan. He hasn't married yet. Manoj says that a developer bought their land and constructed a 6-floor building on the plot and gave them 2 floors in exchange. It's a luxury apartment. Manoj claims that he has a secretary, when Sheela calls on her mobile phone to check on Manoj. He says that the mobile belongs to him. Neerja realizes that Manoj hasn't had any lunch yet. She doesn't have any groceries in the house and decides to go to the shop to buy some food items. After Neerja leaves for shopping, the owner of the house (Annu Kapoor) drops by & tells Manoj about Neerja's pathetic life. Her husband is a drunk & the house is in debt & both are about to be evicted. To earn some money, Neerja has sublet the main room to a furniture renter, who converted it into a warehouse. The furniture is rented to movies for the day and returned to the room by night. They haven't even got the money to pay their electricity bills. Her husband was fired from multiple jobs for doing fraudulent activities at work. Manoj gives all the borrowed money of Rs 12,000 to pay for next 3 months rent but keeps the facade with Neerja. Neerja owed rent for the last 10 months, but Manoj begs the owner of the house to consider the part payment and to allow her to stay. He also gives his address and phone number to the owner and asks him to call before he takes any drastic action with Neerja. Manoj finally goes inside the rest of the rooms and realizes that everything that the owner told him is the truth. He comes face to face with Neerja's abject poverty. The owner leaves and then Neerja returns from the grocery store. Neerja says that the company is giving her husband a new flat and that she will shift in 2-3 days. The flat is the on the 7th floor and measures 3500 square feet. Neerja asks Manoj not to tell anyone back home that he met her. After a little more banter, Manoj bids goodbye to Neerja and goes back to Alok's home. They both don't share their phone numbers with each other. Neerja says that her new phone will be available in a few days and Manoj says that she doesn't remember his number as the phone stays with his secretary. When he comes home, he finds Neerja's jewelry in his raincoat which she has put there upon reading his letter to his friends to borrow money.

Binodini is a young widow who lives with a woman and her son, Mahendra, who had once refused to marry her. Their lives are thrown into disarray when there is deceit and adultery between Binodini, Mahendra, his wife and his friend. The book, Binodini, is the story of 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 relations passing by there on her way to somewhere else. 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 (who, by the way, was one of the first to see Binodini's photo when she was unwed and up for grabs yet refused her on account of his being "unready for marriage"). Now, when the two arrive the woman's son and his new bride are in the throes of passion, constantly sneaking off to be alone together; this infatuation does not last long, however, when Mahendra begins to see that his wife's friend, Binodini, is more his type. The story details the lives of these three and Mahendra's best friend as they deal with certain issues as distrust, adultery, lies, and numerous fallings-out between them. The movie correctly depicts what Tagore so skillfully wrote and is a sad, stirring tale of the deceit and sorrow that come from being unsatisfied and unhappy. —gavin (gunmasterM@hotmail.com) Mahendra is a doctor circa British rule in India, who lives a comfortable life in a city in Bengal (India). He is friendly with a young man, a bachelor named Behari. Both Mahendra and Behari are of marriage age, and do get a lot of proposals. One day they receive a proposal of a young woman named Binodini along with a photograph. Neither of them shows any interest nor even take a look at the photograph. They get news that Binodini has got married. Shortly thereafter, they receive another proposal without a photograph, for a young woman named Ashalata. Behari is asked to check her out for Mahendra - he ends up consenting to marry her, but subsequently let's Mahendra be the groom. A few months later Ashalata gets pregnant, and the family gets the news that Binodini has been widowed only after a year's marriage. Then things get complicated when Ashalata befriends Binodini - and both Mahendra and Behari get attracted to her - so much so that Mahendra is considering separating from his bride - and Behari separating from his bachelorhood - but both in quandary over the social taboo of marrying a widow - and of the present agitation aimed against the British to quit India. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Titli is a beautiful tale narrating the relationship between a mother and her daughter. Titli who is in her teens has a crush on Rohit Roy, the superstar of Bengali films. Titli`s mother tries to make her understand that the man is twice her age and hence unfit for marriage. The story unfolds itself to reveal that Titli`s mother and Rohit were lovers but parted ways. On hearing this Titli is shattered. She is consoled and brought back to reality by her mother. But Titli`s mother herself is still mesmerized by Rohit and is heart broken when she reads the news about Rohit`s marriage. However,tables have turned,Titli has overcome her crushes and is now the one who consoles her mother.

Potrays a sentimental mother daughter relation. How a female dancer sets her priority and became famous but loses her relationship with her daughter on the way .