Biye Bibhrat, Sai Paranjpye Meets Basu Chatterjee In This Pleasant Romcom

Biye  Bibhrat(Bengali, now showing in theatres)

Rating: ** ½

If we look at  the  filmography  of  the two lead  actors of this charming  innocuous  romantic comedy, both Abir Chatterjee  and Parambrata Chattopaddhyay have been an integral part  of  many dark life-like films where the  hero has to  find his way out of complex situations in life.

In  Biye Bibhrat  both the  talented actors put their feet up and let their hair down. Luckily for  them , and us, the endresult is….well, not quite the memorable work you would expect when two such heavyweight  actors come together ,but not a disappointment  either.

The  film echoes Basu Chatterjee’s Chotisi Baat and Sai Paranjype’s  Katha, though not quite grabbing the  core blitheness of either. Abir is  cast  as Shakyajit, a social influencer and quite popular with the  young.Parambrata is  Chandramouli a  nerdy musical teacher. They both  love  the same  girl , like Sunil Dutt and  Kishore  Kumar in  Padosan.

One expected  more  of the two together , more  of the bromance than the love triangle.

But like Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Chupke  Chupke where Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachcha were hardly seen together, Parambrata  and Abir are  tangential in their togetherness. Both woo the pretty  if unremarkable Lahoma  Bhattacharjee  who  plays  Mohor and whose  screen-father looks and behaves like Utpal Dutt.

Strangely  Mohor’s two suitors never ask her what she really wants or rather, whom she really wants.

There are references  to Sanjay Bhansali’s Hum…Dil De Chuke Sanam and  Karan Johar’s Kal Ho Na Ho. This is  to say, the film is not  apologetic  about its lack  of  originality. Biye  Bibhrat is like healthy junkfood.  It is not harmful in  any way, but not gainful either.  Among the two lead actors, Abir Chatterjee  is  more  natural. Parambrata strains  too hard to appear nerdy.

A highlight  of this airy fluffy  feelgood  romcom is the semi-classical music  by  Ranajoy Bhattacharjee.

It is  interesting, though not in a positive  way, that mainstream Bengali cinema seems to be leaning  more towards  Bollywood for inspiration.The really original directors seem to have lost their voices. In  Biye Bibhrat director Raja Chanda seems to constantly tilt his hat to Bollywood cinema even while delivering a film that is Bengali in its affinity to the culture of elegance and decency in the  love triangle.