Eta Amader Golpo

Eta Amader Golpo is a 2024 Bengali language romantic drama film directed by Manasi Sinha. The film stars Saswata Chatterjee, Aparajita Adhya, Sohag Sen and Koneenica Banerjee in the lead roles. Debdut Ghosh, Kharaj Mukherjee, Tareen Jahan, Arya Dasgupta and Pooja Karmakar play other pivotal roles. It is produced by Subhash Bera and Suvankar Mitra under the banner of Dhagaa Production.

This film marked the directorial debut of Manasi Sinha. It also marked the Tollywood debut of Bangladeshi actress Tareen Jahan. Pranjal Das and Kharaj Mukherjee did the music while Anirban Maity handled the editing. It was released in the theatres on 26 April 2024 to positive reviews from the critics and audience alike. It was a surprise blockbuster at the box office.

Synopsis
Sritama Dutta (Aparajita Adhya) is an old Bengali widow who lives with her son, daughter-in-law and grand-daughter. Despite having a big family, she is depressed and lonely somewhere deep down her heart. To overcome this loneliness, everyday she goes for morning walk and attends the a Laughter Club. But after returning home, once again she becomes sad and melancholic. The disagreement on several opinion and arguments with her daughter-in-law (Tareen Jahan) made her all the more unhappy. On the other side, Praveen Sharma (Saswata Chatterjee) is an old Punjabi bachelor who also visits the same Laughter Club. Unlike her, he is merry and joyous despite of his age. Being a witness to the discontent in the disconsolate married life between his brother (Amit Kanti Ghosh) and his wife Simran (Koneenica Banerjee), he decided to not marry in his life.

But things fell in place and he falls in love with Sritama. Soon, they start spending more time together. Often after the Laughter club was over, he took her to Nityo Da Kharaj Mukherjee)'s teashop. The story shows how two different people can fulfill the void in each other's life; Praveen is an evergreen and highly agile man and on the other hand, Sritama is solemn and grief stricken.

In this way, after spending more days together, visiting the parks, the couple lanes and teashop, Praveen decided to propose Sritama for their marriage. One day he proposed Sritama to be her wife. This brought immense anger and discontent among Sritama's family members. But after a lot of drama and perplexity, she agreed to tie the knot with Praveen. The film depicts the journey of this senile couple from falling in love to marriage through apt comedy and deep emotions. It showed the social stigmas, cultural differences, emotional values attached with old people falling in love and the difficulties of overcoming them. At the end, the film conveyed the message that if the right person comes to ones life, his or her dull life can become vibrant and cheerful; no matter what their age is.

Cast

 * Saswata Chatterjee as Praveen Sharma
 * Aparajita Adhya as Sritama
 * Sohag Sen as Praveen's paternal aunt
 * Amit Kanti Ghosh as Praveen's brother
 * Koneenica Banerjee as Simran, Praveen's brother's wife
 * Arya Dasgupta as Vicky, Praveen's brother's son
 * Gautam Saha
 * Pooja Karmakar as Joyee, Sritama's grand-daughter
 * Debdut Ghosh as Mr. Basu, Sritama's son
 * Tareen Jahan as Mrs. Basu, Sritama's daughter-in-law
 * Kharaj Mukherjee as Nityo Da, a teashop owner
 * Tapati Munshi
 * Juiee Sarkar as Sritama's daughter
 * Judhajit Bannerjee as Sritama's son-in-law

Development and Filming
The first look of the lead characters of the film was released in the second week of June 2022. The first poster of the film was released on 14 February 2024. The filming has been done in parts of North Kolkata and South Kolkata.

Marketing
The teaser of the film was dropped on 16 March 2024. The trailer was released at an event at Hard Rock Cafe, Kolkata. It was released on Zee Music Bangla Youtube channel on 19 April 2024. The music of the film was launched on 23 March 2024 at a grand event at Lord of the Drinks, Kolkata. Prosenjit Chatterjee was present as the special guest at the special screening of the film.

Soundtrack
The music of the film has been composed by Pranjal Das and Kharaj Mukherjee. The lyrics have been written by Pranjal Das and Sumit Samadder.

The first single "Eta Amader Golpo - Title Track" was released on 23 March 2024. The second single "Tumi Ektu Kebol Boste Dio (Male Version)" was released on 30 March 2024. It is an adaptation of a Rabindra Sangeet by the same name.

The third song "Main Hoon Tera Heer" was dropped on 5 April 2024. The fourth song "Tumi Ektu Kebol Boste Dio (Female Version)" was released on 10 April 2024. The fifth song "Sweet Sixteen" was dropped on 15 April 2024. The sixth single "Eta Amader Golpo Title Track - Reprised Female" was dropped on 21 April 2024. The seventh and last song "Eta Amader Golpo Title Track - Reprised Male" was released on 24 April 2024.

Release
The film was released in the screens on 26 April 2024.

Critical Reception
Sanjukta Basu Anandabazar Patrika rated the film 6 out of 10 stars. She reviewed the film on a positive note and wrote "The film proves the idea that people can fall in love with each other irrespective of their age bracket." She praised Sinha for her debut directorial skills, the depth of the characters, their acting and the chemistry between the senile lead pair.

Suparna Majumder of Sangbad Pratidin reviewed the film on a positive note and wrote "The film successfully displays old school love in the modern generation. The songs are apt and Kharaj Mukherjee surprised as a singer." She also praised Sinha's directorial skills in her debut.

Shamayita Chakraborty of OTTplay rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and termed it as "A simple and easy-flowing family drama." She mentioned that it lacks nuances and is too simplistic with a fairly predictable ending.

Subhodeep Bandyopadhyay of The Wall rated the film 7 out of 10 stars. He termed it as a "Complete family cinema". She praised the director for successfully showing a deep social issue; love between two elderly people in a light way with the help of comedy and emotions. He also praised the screenplay, music and the roles of all other actors but criticized Saswata for overacting at certain points.

Alokprasad Chattyopadhyay of Aajkal rated the film on a positive note. He wrote "Sinha proves her directorial mettle in her debut film. Instead of taking any formulaic approach, Sinha wrote a different film. Saswata and Aparajita have played their roles with utter precision."

Box office
The film earned around ₹31 lakhs in the first week. After one month run, its total collection was around ₹1.76 crore. The film has grossed over ₹2.07 crore and emerged as an unexpected blockbuster.