The movie shows Binodini to be cunning whereas in the book she is simply a widow who is looking for affection. The movie is more of a Passion play as the tag line suggests. While the book concentrates on all the characters and the relationship between them, the movie concentrates on Binodini. I was surprised by how different the movie is from the book. It is directed by one of the most celebrated directors of Bengali cinema: Rituparno Ghosh. It’s a Bengali movie, so I watched it with subtitles. This one’s for The South Asian authors Challenge. Nonetheless, A Grain of Sand is a book I heartily recommend.
The book was very easy to read, I’m not sure if it’s meant that way or because it is translated from Bengali.
#Chokher bali bengali movie plus#
Believable and compelling characters is probably what the major plus point of this book is and someone who can create woman like Binodini and Asha is worth applauding. He could not understand why he couldn’t have Asha and Binodini both at his side. He had a beautiful, devoted wife whom he loved. The only person I did not like was Mahendra. Asha was a naive woman, a girl child who didn’t know disaster until it was right in front of her. They had to wear colorless garments and they could not enjoy the worldly pleasures like other woman could. In those days, widows had a lot of restrictions. I’m not saying what she did was correct but considering she was an orphan and a widow, her need for love and affection was something that endeared her to me. In spite of Binodini being the enchantress, she was someone I really understood. Into this cast of characters is Mahendra’s mother Rajalaxmi who is responsible for spoiling Mahendra and Behari, Mahendra’s best friend, an overall awesome guy who is content to stay in Mahendra’s shadow.Ĭhokher Bali is not all black and white though. Driven by this jealousy and her own desire to be loved, she sets upon seducing Mahendra. Binodini is envious of Mahendra’s and Asha’s love and yearns to have a home and a man who is as devoted to her as Mahendra is to Asha. Asha takes to her completely and treats her like her sister. Into this bliss enters Binodini, a young orphan woman who was widowed just one year after her marriage. Mahendra and Asha are enjoying their life and are totally consumed by each other as newly weds usually are.
Mahendra is spoilt by his mother and is used to have everything placed before him at his command. She is just happy to be someones wife and is happy to finally have a home to call her own. Mahendra gets married to Asha, a shy and timid girl who is an orphan and unaware of how the world works. This is a story of love and what people can do for it. But not really, calling it an extra marital affair story would be grave injustice. When I saw this book in the bookstore, I couldn’t resist buying it.Ĭhoker Bali or A Grain of Sand is a story of an extra marital affair. So I felt bad that I hadn’t read anything by him even after having his translated works around. He has also written the national anthem of 2 countries-India and Bangladesh. He needs no introduction to Indian’s but those who haven’t heard about him, he was a celebrated Indian writer who won the Nobel price in literature in 1913 for Gitanjali. Publisher: Penguin Books (January 1, 2003)Ĭhokher Bali is a Bengali novel written by Rabindranath Tagore.