Utsab

The story revolves around a family get-togather, the family matriarch has called her four adult daughters , and their families to her estate . All of them are inching towards middle-age.

None of the sisters are looking forward to the family reunion as they all are more concerned about their own problems .Furthermore like any large family , every member of the family has his own personal past ,skeletons and demons to confront .The house is teeming with three generations of siblings , and the atmosphere is electric .

the movie does a great job of portraying the human relationships , with each of the characters developed with a lot of care .

A must watch .

The best of Ghosh, ya.. No doubt. The best full length bengali film of 90's - period. This is a family mirroring the concept of goddess Durga's family and the modern day's concerns and dilemmas of a semi-joint matriarchal family. In this movie, the dialogues were so tight that even silence was replaced by dialogue itself and cine goers used to joke about this film being a telefilm, rather than a full length feature. And the script and dialogue were the hero in this film, nonetheless having powerful arthouse actors in it.

I have always enjoyed the films of Rituparno Ghosh--one of the greatest Indian filmmakers. While rewatching "Utsab" recently, I couldn't sit through it without some exasperation creeping in from time to time. The film offers a family drama but lacks the nuances often present in Ghosh's other films. Other than the doomed romance of the star-crossed lovers and "taboo" relationships within the family that create some heart-wrenching moments, the drama mostly devolves into drab sentimentality. The movie has a stellar cast featuring the likes of Madhabi Mukherjee, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Mamata Sankar, Rituparna Sengupta, Pradip Mukherjee and others. With a cast like this, the film looked like a missed opportunity. The writing seemed shoddy, the cinematography unremarkable, and the characters pretty forgettable. The film was carried entirely by a group of actors just doing their jobs.

Simple plot with complex emotions that was conveyed in a perfect manner by Rituparno Ghosh. Came to watch it after watching Raincoat (which is another masterpiece by Ghosh). Mamata Shankar was a treat to watch in the movie.

The very start of the movie will take you to the nostalgia of Durga Puja. You will start to feel the vibe if you are familiar with village durga puja. Everyone in the family has came to village for the holidays. But their personal problems has accompanied them. The problems deepens when Shishir, one of their cousin has proposed to buy their house. All the family members need to solve some of the problems in a subtle way to reach to conclusion to decide whether they should sell the house or not.

'Utsab' starts off on a slow and quiet note. In a away it reminded me of 'Gosford Park' in how the characters were introduced. But soon after introduction, the story builds as the quality of the relationship between the characters, their intentions and the secrets of the mansion gradually unveil on screen. Here there's hardly a background score. What the viewer gets to hear are raw sounds within the mansion and surrounding neighborhood. It adds to creating tension within the mansion (where the entire film is set).

Rituparno Ghosh doesn't shy away from mentioning the influences of greats like Aparna Sen and Satyajit Ray. 'Utsab' does have a very Ray-like feel to it especially in its subtlety. At the same time it's very poetic and the Ranbindra Sangeets (poems by the late Rabindranath Tagore) add to the depth of the story. The cultural depiction, such as family interaction and religious ceremonies are well displayed.

The performances are solid. Madhabi Mukherjee is wonderfully restrained. Pradip Mukherjee, Bodhisattva Mazumdar, Alaknanda Roy, Anuradha Roy, Prasenjit Chatterjee and Ratul Shankar Ghosh are very good in their respective roles. However, the scene stealers are Mamata Shankar and Rituparna Sengupta. Both actresses deliver very subtle and nuanced performances and seem to have no problem owning every one of their scenes.

'Utsab' works on multiple levels. It is atmospheric, it can be viewed as a study of characters or a study of a culture. It may not be everybody's kind of cinema but it is among Ghosh's most underrated films.