Gotro

Gotro (transl.Clan) is a 2019 Indian Bengali-language emotional family drama film, directed, produced and co-written by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee. It stars Anashua Majumdar, Nigel Akkara and Manali Dey, with Ambarish Bhattacharya, Saheb Chatterjee and Badshah Moitra. The film revolves around the relationship between Mukti Debi (Majumdar), a widow who lives alone in her mansion (her son being settled abroad), with her caretaker Tareq (Akkara), an ex-convict and shows how their lives undergo a change.

Gotro
Film poster
Directed byNandita Roy
Shiboprosad Mukherjee
Written byShiboprosad Mukherjee
Nandita Roy
Screenplay byNandita Roy
Produced byNandita Roy
Shiboprosad Mukherjee
StarringAnashua Majumdar
Nigel Akkara
Manali Dey
Ambarish Bhattacharya
Saheb Chatterjee
Badshah Moitra
CinematographySupriyo Dutta
Edited byMoloy Laha
Music byAnindya Chatterjee
Production
company
Windows Production
Release date
23 August 2019
Running time
141 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali
Box officeest. ₹5 crore

The story for Gotro was conceived by Roy, when she learned about the relationship between Mukherjee's mother and her caretaker. Roy eventually wrote the film's screenplay, while she and Mukherjee co-wrote the story. This marked their second film after Icche (2011), focusing on mother-son relationship. Supriyo Dutta handled the cinematography while Moloy Laha edited the film. Anindya Chatterjee composed the film's soundtrack, which received favourable reviews on release.

Gotro was released on 23 August 2019. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Majumdar's performance won high appraisals; criticism was however, drawn towards Akkara's performance. Nevertheless, the film was a commercial success, grossing 50 million (US$630,000) in its theatrical run. The soundtrack album of the film was highly successful. At the 4th Filmfare Awards Bangla, it received three nominations under Best Male Playback and Best Female Playback categories, but did not win any.

Synopsis

Gotro is a story of faith, love and belief, revolving around Mukti Debi, an educated woman, who lives in an old-world mansion named Gobinda Dham while her son, Anirban, is settled abroad with his family. Tareq Ali is a former convict who is now trying to redeem himself and restart his life. He is employed by Anirban as the caretaker of his mother and her estate. What follows is a tale of how a mother-son relationship begins to build between Mukti Debi and Tareq, while the former is unaware of his Muslim identity, depicting the underlying social issue of the era. Mukti Debi and Tareq discover the meaning of life as they unfold love for each other and she started loving her as her own son. Gotro is a sweet take on the mother-son relationship with a message of communal harmony.[1]

Cast

Production

According to Mukherjee, long ago, Nigel Akkara had sent a young boy to his home at Baranagar as they were looking for a caretaker. After some days, the boy informed Mukherjee that he felt he wasn't fit for the job. On being asked why, he replied that Mukherjee's mother had been teaching him the texts of Rabindranath Tagore and he couldn't understand any of those. This formed the core plot for Gotro.[2][3]

Nandita Roy opted for Anashua Majumdar to pick up the character traits of Mukherjee's mother.[2] Majumdar revealed being moved by the character Mukti Devi; especially when she learned that it had been inspired by Shiboprosad's mother. She also admitted of having some similarities with the character, though she had no belief in caste and creed discrimination.[4] Nigel Akkara, who had gained fame through the film Muktodhara, was signed on for one of the leads. Recalling about his experience, Akkara said that the filming has been one of the best times of his life and he has been inspired by the way people approached him and praised him.[5] Manali Dey was cast as Jhuma; she expressed her excitement on being a part of the film and opined that her character personified a "flying butterfly".[6] Actors Saheb Chatterjee, Kharaj Mukherjee and Tota Roy Chowdhury were signed on for other pivotal roles. Later, Roy Chowdhury, however, was replaced by Badshah Moitra.[7]

During the initial stages of production, Mukherjee and Roy were reluctant to talk about the film's theme and casting; they wanted people to guess it. It marked their second collaboration in 2019 after their recent outing Konttho, released six weeks prior to Gotro.[8] Upon its completion, the film was slated for release on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami in August 2019. Speaking to The Times of India, Mukherjee addressed the film to be yet "another moving human story" alike their other films.[7] Being based on a social subject (this was consistently reported),[9] the film caused great hype and anticipation in the media even before its release.[7]

Release and reception

Gotro was released on 23 August 2019, coinciding with Janmashtami.[7] Owing to its social theme, the film became one of the rare Bengali films to be released nationwide.[9] It enjoyed full houses for almost all its shows across Bengal, and completed a 100 day run at the Box office.[5] Having opened to a tremendous response in the first week, with its sales improving in the second week, the film emerged a highly successful venture. The subject of the film was seen appealing to people of all ages.[10]

Soundtrack

Gotro
Soundtrack album by
Released12 July 2019
Recorded2019
StudioStudio Vibrations, Kolkata
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LabelWindows
Anindya Chatterjee chronology
Haami
(2018)
Gotro
(2019)

The soundtrack is composed by Anindya Chatterjee. The song, Rongoboti, is inspired by the famous Odia song by the same name. It received enormous appreciation from the audience. The music album is one of the best in the last five years in terms of song reach, music album and awards. Rongoboti alone has a reach of 160+ million views on YouTube.[11][12]

Track list
No.TitleLyricsMusicSingerLength
1."Maa"Anindya ChattopadhyayAnindya ChatterjeeArijit Singh4:20
2."Mashima Hitler"TraditionalAnindya ChatterjeeBabul Supriyo3:04
3."Neel Digante" (Inspired from 'Neel Digante' by Rabindranath Tagore) Anindya ChatterjeeShreya Ghoshal3:43
4."Srikrishno Kirton"TraditionalTraditionalAditi Munshi5:11
5."Rangabati" (Originally Composition: Prabhudatta Pradhan; Oriya Lyrics: Mitrabhanu Gountia)Surojit ChatterjeeSurojit ChatterjeeSurojit Chatterjee & Iman Chakraborty4:19
6."Murshid"Anindya ChatterjeeAnindya ChatterjeeAbhijit Barman2:54
7."Baishnab She Jon"Narsinh Mehta (Original), Translated by Anindya ChatterjeeAnindya ChatterjeeShreya Ghoshal5:50

References

  1. "সহজ গল্পে মানবধর্মের বার্তা দিয়ে দর্শকদের ভাবতে শেখাবে নন্দিতা-শিবপ্রসাদ জুটির 'গোত্র'". 24 August 2019.
  2. Ghosh, Sankha (24 August 2020). "Shiboprosad remembers how 'Gotro' became an emotional ride for him". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  3. "Thirteen films. Thirteen untold stories". The Telegraph. 19 May 2020. Archived from the original on 26 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  4. Ghosh, Sankha (20 August 2019). "Anashua Majumdar: 'Gotro' story will make people think differently". The Times of India. Entertainment Times. Archived from the original on 8 September 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  5. Mitra, Bishwabijoy (30 November 2019). "Gotro completes 100 days in theatres". The Times of India. Entertainment Times. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  6. "'কাছের মানুষ হতে গেলে গোত্র নাগে?'" [Is clad required to be a close person?]. Anandabazar Patrika (in Bengali). 4 July 2019. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  7. Ghosh, Sankha (25 June 2019). "Nigel Akkara in Nandita-Shiboprosad's 'Gotro'". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  8. "'মানুষের প্রকৃত গোত্র কী?'… উত্তর মিলবে অগস্টে" [What is the real 'clan' of humans? … The answer will come in August]. Anandabazar Patrika (in Bengali). 20 June 2019. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  9. "Gotro becomes one of the rare Bengali films to get a nationwide release". Planet Bollywood. 17 September 2019. Archived from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  10. "বক্স অফিসে সফল 'গোত্র'" [Gotro is successful at the Box office]. Anandabazar Patrika. 4 September 2019. Archived from the original on 5 September 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  11. "'Gotro' song 'Rangabati' continues to win hearts | Bengali Movie News - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  12. "Top 5 Trending Bangla Songs in 2019". 26 December 2019.
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