*** (out of 5)
Headmaster is a Bengali Family Drama film dir. By Agragami, released on 25 September, 1959 under the banner of Riten & Co. It is an Art House film as well as a film of Parallel Cinema.
The story is about a school headmaster Krishna Prasanna (Chhabi Biswas) who migrates to Calcutta along with his family in search of a job because his school in the remote & poor village has been shut down. The school was his only source of income. His family included his wife Labanya (Karuna Bannerjee), his nubile & unmarried daughter (Ranjana Banerjee) & his very young son.
Chhabi Biswas gave a show stealing performance in this film. His portrayal of a job seekin headmaster with 30 years of teaching experience was realistic, convincing & universal. Shyamal Ghoshal's performance as Nirupam Dutta (Headmaster's Student) was also very fair & focused. Rest of the cast was equally good in their depiction.
The story of the film was realistic & exceptional. The portrayal of our society & office politics in this film is still relevant nowadays. The music score of the film was euphonious.
Headmaster was a hardworking person. His passion for teaching was unbeatable. I think he was a good teacher too as many of his students were at a good post & enjoying a luxurious life. He swore that he will never teach again, but from his heart & without even knowing / feeling, he was still behaving like a teacher. You could see it through his movements & talking sense. For example - He corrected Harimohan Babu when he pronounced "inefficient" as "unefficient". He was a very nice man. Whenever any injustice happened, he used to raise voice against it. Like he did with Harimohan & Nani Babu. Knowing that, they were his superiors. This also proves that he was brave. Person like Krishna Prasanna (Headmaster) are boon to our society.
Labanya was the typical housewife who keeps care of the house and of the children. She did too much tension. Shyamal was the "True Citizen of the City Calcutta". He admired his teacher very much. So, he helped him by giving him a job in his Bank. But he was the manager of the bank first, then a former student of the headmaster. He didn't raised his voice against any of the injustice that happened in the office.
Now, lets talk about the bad aspects of the film. First, the film has some incomplete shots. For example - The scene when Nirupam was remembering the time when headmaster used to teach him. The scene was rushed & was suddenly cut to a different scene. Second, the film was fast pacing & had a short running time of only 1 hr. 24 min. Director could have added more scenes about the family or some office scenes.
The cinematography & editing of the film was good. It is not one of the best Art House film in our Bengali Cinema.
Headmaster is a Bengali Family Drama film dir. By Agragami, released on 25 September, 1959 under the banner of Riten & Co. It is an Art House film as well as a film of Parallel Cinema.
The story is about a school headmaster Krishna Prasanna (Chhabi Biswas) who migrates to Calcutta along with his family in search of a job because his school in the remote & poor village has been shut down. The school was his only source of income. His family included his wife Labanya (Karuna Bannerjee), his nubile & unmarried daughter (Ranjana Banerjee) & his very young son.
Chhabi Biswas gave a show stealing performance in this film. His portrayal of a job seekin headmaster with 30 years of teaching experience was realistic, convincing & universal. Shyamal Ghoshal's performance as Nirupam Dutta (Headmaster's Student) was also very fair & focused. Rest of the cast was equally good in their depiction.
The story of the film was realistic & exceptional. The portrayal of our society & office politics in this film is still relevant nowadays. The music score of the film was euphonious.
Headmaster was a hardworking person. His passion for teaching was unbeatable. I think he was a good teacher too as many of his students were at a good post & enjoying a luxurious life. He swore that he will never teach again, but from his heart & without even knowing / feeling, he was still behaving like a teacher. You could see it through his movements & talking sense. For example - He corrected Harimohan Babu when he pronounced "inefficient" as "unefficient". He was a very nice man. Whenever any injustice happened, he used to raise voice against it. Like he did with Harimohan & Nani Babu. Knowing that, they were his superiors. This also proves that he was brave. Person like Krishna Prasanna (Headmaster) are boon to our society.
Labanya was the typical housewife who keeps care of the house and of the children. She did too much tension. Shyamal was the "True Citizen of the City Calcutta". He admired his teacher very much. So, he helped him by giving him a job in his Bank. But he was the manager of the bank first, then a former student of the headmaster. He didn't raised his voice against any of the injustice that happened in the office.
Now, lets talk about the bad aspects of the film. First, the film has some incomplete shots. For example - The scene when Nirupam was remembering the time when headmaster used to teach him. The scene was rushed & was suddenly cut to a different scene. Second, the film was fast pacing & had a short running time of only 1 hr. 24 min. Director could have added more scenes about the family or some office scenes.
The cinematography & editing of the film was good. It is not one of the best Art House film in our Bengali Cinema.
