Dev Entertainment Ventures Pvt. Ltd.’s Bagha Jatin (dubbed from the Bengali film of the same name; UA) is a biographical film. It is the untold story of one of India’s greatest freedom fighters, Jatindranath Mukhopadhyay, also known as Bagha Jatin, who shook the British Empire.
The story is adapted from history chapters of the Indian freedom struggle. Arun Roy and Sounava Bose have written a fairly interesting screenplay. However, it is unlikely that the non-Bengali-speaking audience would be excited to see such a lesser-known chapter of history, on the screen. This, in spite of the patriotic flavour in the film. Dialogues are good.
Dev does extremely well in the title role. Sreeja Dutta is good as his wife, Indubala Banerjee. Sudipta Chakraborty is alright as Jatin’s sister, Binodbala. Samiul Alam is natural as Kshudiram Bose. Sajal Mondal (as journalist Aurobindo Ghose), Kallol De (as Ullaskar Dutta), Sumanta Roy (as Hemchandra Kanungo), Rohaan Bhattacharjee (as Chittapriya Ray Chaudhuri), Carl A. Harte (as Charles Tegart), Shoaib Kabeer (as Manoranjan Sengupta), Bhaskar Mukherjee (as M.N. Roy), Kolaj Sengupta (as Rashi Behari Bose), Raju Bera (as Prafulla Chaki), Biswajit Naskar (as Kanailal Dutta), Ujjwal Ghose (as Charu Chandra Bose), Alexandra Taylor and the others lend fair support.
Arun Roy’s direction is okay. Nilayan Chatterjee’s music and lyrics are alright while his background music is truly effective. Cinematographer Gopi Bhagat has shot the film in a style which creates an impact on the viewers. Rajesh Kannan and Krishnendu Ghosh’s action and stunt scenes are natural. Bablu Singha’s art direction is good. M.D. Kalam’s editing is alright. Dubbing is nice.
On the whole, Bagha Jatin is a fairly well-made film but its chances at the Hindi box-office are bleak.
Released on 20-10-’23 at Metro Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Inox Pictures. Publicity & opening: terribly weak. …….Also released all over.