Bhalo Theko

Bengali Film Festiva in the Bay Area:
"Directed by Gautam Halder
Cast: Vidya Balan, Soumitra Chatterjee, Debshankar Halder, Joy Sengupta

Anandi (Vidya Balan), a young maiden and her old Bengali aristocratic family live in their big ancestral home on the river away from the bustles of the nearby big city. On her 32nd birthday, the ringing of the telephone wakes up Anandi from her nightmare of a childhood trauma of being lost in the village fair. She then joins her friends and family in planting a tree in the garden which has over the years become a part of the rituals to celebrate her birthday. As the day progresses, the story of the metamorphosis of the family into its present state unfolds. Anandi, the protagonist of this eternal love story between people and Nature, moves back and forth in time between her childhood and her 32nd birthday, and creates a mosaic of somewhat fragmented pieces of memory. Bhalo Theko is Gautam's debut feature film. His first docu-feature A Story of Integration earned him the National Award in 1993. His second film Strings of Freedom on Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was highly appreciated at international film festivals. Gautam, himself a singer, is now working on another documentary on Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty."