Aashapurna Devir Chotogalpo Sankalan

An excellent collection of short stories, selected by Aashapurna Devi is presented by National Book Trust and is accompanied by two equally outstanding introductions, the first by the author herself and the other by Nabanita Dev Sen.

Aashapurna’s introduction delves into her becoming an author and also how society influences her works. I was amazed to find that she didn’t ever had a formal education and just by reading of various literatures did she became a self educated lady. In here, she criticizes in a refined way how the present generation is being gradually misled by the false definition of modernization. Also she mentions her pain while observing how the refinement in word and action among people in general and society as a whole in deteriorating considerably.

Nabanita Dev Sen’s introduction is much more a study of Aashapurna’s work and she emphasizes on how the Bengali social structure and the functioning of its people are being portrayed by the author.

As I was going through the stories I was reminded time and again of Aashapurna’s description about her own works. She had once commented that she narrates what she observes happening in society but not for once she justifies the actions. The readers are left to make their own conclusions. Her opus mainly spans over the middle class Bengali and in here she had always shown us how society influences relations, be it between father and newly married son or between the head of the family and the kid servant or sometimes between two complete strangers. The author mercilessly points out how the evils of society force strained relation between a brother and his recently widowed sister-in-law or how a mother and a wife’s jealousy over a man’s love reduces them to shameful behaviours. These and many other social aspects are being revealed by the author in an indifferent tone that characterizes each of her work. Thus the anecdotes sometimes appear too harsh but Aashapurna had never compromised with the truth while at the same time her refined touch has made these chronicles the treasures of Bengali literature. Never have literary creations seemed more modern than this to me.

The index of stories runs as follows:

1. Sob Dik Bojae Rekhe

2. Ekti Mrityu Ebong Aar Ekti

3. Chuti Nakach

4. Trankarta

5. Ahammuk

6. Barir Naam Subhodrishti

7. Barorasta Harie

8. Jagannather Jomi

9. Swarger Ticket

10. Shekal Tule Die

11. Beabru

12. Parajita Hridoe

13. Steeler Aalmari

14. Hatiyar

15. Bhoe

16. Chinnamasta

17. Ghuurnaman Prithibi

18. Banchak

19. Carbon Copy

20. Aayojon

One Two Three

A Ashwani Dheer movie featuring an appealing star cast of Paresh Rawal, Suniel Shetty, Esha Deol, Tushar Kapoor and others thus promising a totally entertaining two and half hours.
The chief plot centres a diamond but the main theme is a case of mistaken identity and in this case it is not about two persons with the same name but for a change there are three persons with the same name! The 1st Laxmi Narayan is a budding contract killer whose mother's only wish is to get the son settled as a professional underworld don but the son always messes up his contract. The 2nd Laxmi Narayan is a MBA grad turned executive from Jharkhand who follows two simple rules. Rule#1 is 'the boss is always right' & Rule#2 is 'if the boss is wrong follow rule#1'. The 3rd Laxmi Narayan is a veteran lingerie seller who, though have made milliong by selling lingerie from childhood, continues his business by exhibiting his goods on the bonnets of cars.
The actual story starts with a Mumbai Don (Manoj Pahwa) asking one of his men to get a diamond from an associate. While doing so the person is murdered by two comical henchmen of another Don named Papa. The dying man manages to hide the diamond and hands them over to Chandu & Chandni, two caretakers of a car showroom owned by Laila. They in turn hides the diamond in a car's petrol tank and that happens to be the same car that the executive Laxmi Narayan is sent for to purchase for his boss's mistress. But the car happens to be the car of Jiya, a lingerie designer and Laila's friend, who had asked for her car to be sold to earn some money. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Don sends hitman Laxmi Narayn to avenge the death of his man and to retrieve the diamond. At the same time the son of the lingerie seller Laxmi Narayan sends his father to get lingerie designs from Jiya. All the three Laxmi Narayans arive at the same hotel at Pondi and receives parcels meant that is not meant from them. Thus the killer Laxmi Narayan gets the picture of Jiya and thinks that she is to be his intended victim, the exec Laxmi Narayan gets the picture of Don Papa sitting in an ordinary car and assumes that the car in the picture is the car he will be buying, the seller Laxmi Narayan gets the picture of Jiya's car with Laila in bikini giving a pose for the car's advertisement and mistakenly feels that the design of his latest lingerie will be the same as that in the snap.
So the stage is now ready for some hilarious comedy and just don't rake the brain much while watching the movie in which case, I promise, it will be an entertaining watch with a nice ending. The main attraction of the movie is the 3 Laxmi Narayans and I felt that the best acting is by Sanjay Mishra as henchman Pinto to Don Papa. Suniel Shetty and Manoj Pahwa also shines closely followed by Paresh Rawal. Murli Sharma in his short appearance also excels while Neetu Chandra in her role as Inspector Mayawati nicely fits into the show with her sensuous Haryana dialect and her longing for executive Laxmi Narayan. Mukesh Tiwari (Don Papa), Vrijesh Hirji(henchman#1 Albert) also are good but Tanisha & Upen Patel sometimes made me feel what the hell has happened to their acting brain?