Moner Manush

StarringCinematographySunirmal MajumderEdited byMoloy BanerjeeMusic byGoutam GhoseDistributed by150 minutesCountriesLanguageBengali

Moner Manush (Bengali: মনের মানুষ, lit. 'Ideal Person') is a 2010 India-Bangladesh joint venture Bengali-language biographical musical drama film based on the life and philosophy of Lalon, a noted spiritual leader, poet and folk singer of Bengal in the 19th century. Directed by Goutam Ghose, who also wrote the screenplay, the film has Prosenjit as the lead actor portraying the character of Lalan Fakir. Paoli Dam plays the character of Komli, the key female disciple of Lalan. Moner Manush has been critically and commercially successful.

Plot

Rabindranath Tagore's elder brother Jyotirindranath Tagore, a Western educated bright young man from the 19th century Bengal met the octogenarian Lalan Fakir and drew a portrait of the poet saint in the former houseboat afloat on the Padma river. Jyotirindranath, an urban intellectual, exchanges views with the man of native wisdom. Their exchange of ideas forms the cinematic narrative of this film. The narrative is a saga of the life and time of Lalan Fakir and his liberal sect who lived a life of high order in an otherwise superstitious 19th century Indian society. Lalan inherited the best of the liberal and enlightened tradition of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam to develop a philosophy of life which is extremely secular and tolerant. Thus became an easy prey for the fundamentalists from the Hindu and the Muslim institutions. They were the parallel stream flowing freely in the heart of rural Bengal when men like Tagore were germinating ideas of the Bengal Renaissance. The love and compassion of Lalan is relevant more than ever in today's world of intolerance and hate.

Cast

• Prosenjit Chatterjee as Lalon
• Priyanshu Chatterjee as Jyotirindranath Tagore
• Chanchal Chowdhury as Kaluah
• Raisul Islam Asad as Siraj Saain
• Gulshan Ara Champa as Padmabati, Lalon's mother
• Sudeshna Swayamprabha as Golapi
• Shantilal Mukherjee as Kangal Harinath
• Paoli Dam as Komli
• Shuvra Kundu as Bhanumati
• Anirban Guha as Mir Mosharraf Hossain
• Shahed Ali as Duddu Shah

Awards

The film won Golden Peacock (Best Film) at the 41st International Film Festival of India, in 2010.^[2] The movie has also won the award for Best Feature Film on National Integration and National Film Award for Best Make-up Artist at 58th National Film Awards.^[3]

References

Further reading

• Ziya Us Salam (15 October 2010). "Reels of poetry". The Hindu (Interview).
• "I slept on floor for months for 'Moner Manush' role: Prosenjit". Deccan Herald (Interview). 4 December 2010.
• Jana, Kathakali (6 December 2010). "'Moner Manush' revives the 'baul' philosophy in today's times (Bengali film review)". Thaindian News.
• Niyogi, Subhro (11 December 2010). "Magic of Moner Manush leaves Kolkata and Dhaka in a trance". The Times of India.
• Dasgupta, Priyanka (11 December 2010). "Moner Manush [Bengali]". The Times of India (Review).
• Swamy, Rohan (22 May 2011). "Cosmetic Company". The Indian Express.
• "TV premier of 'Moner Manush' on May 20". The New Nation. 22 May 2011. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018 – via HighBeam Research.
• "'Moner Manush still running successfully in Bangladesh'". PTI. 22 May 2011.

External links

• Moner Manush at IMDb