Happy Birthday Rahul Bose: ‘Kaalpurush’ to ‘Shesher Kabita’; Six films in which the actor floored us with his terrific performances

Rahul Bose might have faded away from the movie buffs’ memories in the last few years (only to be resurrected in a recent film that released on a digital platform) but given his exceptional performances in the past, we'd surely want to see him in films again. On the versatile actor’s birthday, here’s a list of six of his best Bengali movies which shows he’s undoubtedly the most underappreciated gem of Indian cinema.

Konkana Sen Sharma stuns the audience with her silently sledge-hammering portrayal of a conservative Tamilian Brahmin housewife Meenakshi Iyer, travelling alone with her infant son through a politically disturbed hilly region to join her husband. Her eyes narrate a thousand untold stories and Aparna Sen develops a miniature yet epic world of powerful inner strength. In her first seriously politically committed film, she addresses the issue of communal conflict painting words on celluloid.

Rahul Bose as Raja Chowdhury, a Bengali Muslim wildlife photographer, delivers the performance of a lifetime.

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The film is an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s iconic novel Shesher Kobita. When Rabindranath Tagore penned Shesher Kobita, he gave a new definition to love and longing. Down the years, readers have argued whether Amit and Labanya’s love achieved fulfilment through separation and revelled over the how the author had taken self-criticism to another level. So, when Suman Mukhopadhyay decided to make a film on this literary classic and chose Konkona Sen Sharma and Rahul Bose as Labanya and Amit respectively, the choice gave rise to certain doubts. Could Rahul, with his slightly-accented Bengali, be ‘The Amit Ray’? What if Konkona didn’t capture Labanya’s strength in simplicity? What if the poetic essence of the story got lost in translation?

Rahul becomes Amit from the very first frame — rebellious, opinionated, suave, but at the same time, a romantic with a heart of gold. He represents the well-read and wealthy Bangali babu of pre-Independence Bengal, a charmer whose strength and intensity amaze everyone as soon as he meets his soulmate, Labanya.

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The national award winning Bengali film narrates the story in a non-linear fashion, while two timelines are shown simultaneously. Rahul Bose struggles to maintain a dysfunctional marriage with Sameera Reddy who gets involved in an extra-marital affair. Rahul then tries to reconnect with his long-lost father (played by Mithun Chakraborty), while Sameera dreams of breaking free of her stifling married life once and for all.

This film explored so many issues but Rahul’s character made us feel sympathetic for a nihilist protagonist who tries hard to come to terms with his relationship with father.

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Snehamoy, a school teacher in a small village in the Sunderbans, finds a penpal in the Japanese girl, Miyage, who runs a grocery store in Japan. The duo build a beautiful relationship and even marry through an exchange of letters. Sadly, it remains a long-distance relationship, since the two are unable to meet due to the constraints of their personal life. But, that does not affect their love or the depth of their feelings, despite the presence of the beautiful widow, Sandhya in Snehamoy's life.

A new-look Rahul Bose pitches in a powerhouse performance, complete with Bengali English, as the laidback Snehamoy.

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‘Antaheen’ beautifully captures the moments of groping with the loneliness of one's heart amidst busy schedules, moments of your heart pining for that special someone and moments of feeling the pangs of lost love. But haven't we already seen all of this in a thousand other films already? Yes, we have. But Antaheen is special in the sense that it makes every person who has lived and loved to yearn for a little more, to take time off from the fast-paced urban lives and share that special something with your loved one.

While Rahul Bose is praiseworthy as the DC DD who shares a special bond with a stranger online, Radhika Apte as the investigative television journalist Brinda Roy Menon is a revelation in the film.

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The film is a mature study of adult interpersonal relationships as it traces the growing bond between Rahul Bose and Raima Sen who are married to Rituparno Sengupta and Rajat Kapoor respectively. These are two upmarket couples who find comfort with each other in Kolkata's corporate club circle. The friendship takes an uncomfortable turn when the usually shy and introverted Raima acts adventurous and joins Rahul on a hilly resort for a stolen tryst with the magnificent Kachenjunga mountains.

Rahul Bose gave a performance that will surely leave a lasting impression in a narrative that explored the complexities of relationships.

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