Chokher Bali (film)

Chokher Bali Bengali literally translated to sand in the eye, figuratively to constant irritant is a Bengali drama film based on the novel Chokher Bali by Rabindranath Tagore. It was directed by Rituparno Ghosh in 2003 and stars Prasenjit as Mahendra, Aishwarya Rai as Binodini and Raima Sen as Ashalata. Ashalata and Binodini refer to each other as Chokher Bali. The other major characters are played by Lily Chakravarty as Rajlakshmi, Mahendras mother and Tota Roy Chowdhury as Behari, Rajlakshmis adopted son. The film was later dubbed into Hindi and was released internationally in that language.

Binodini is a young girl who is left to her own devices when her sickly husband dies soon after their marriage. She returns to her village and lives there for a couple of months until she sees one of her relatives passing by. Binodini hails the woman and the two sons agree that it would be best if Binodini came to live with the woman and her son, Mahendra. Mahendra was one of the first to see Binodinis photo when she was unwed yet refused her on account of his being unready for marriage. When the two arrive, Mahendra and his new bride are constantly sneaking off to be alone together. This infatuation does not last long, and Mahendra soon begins to see that Binodini is more his type. An affair starts between Mahendra and Binodini, and this is soon revealed to Ashalata. Asha, unaware of her pregnancy, leaves for Kashi. Binodini, after realizing the selfobsessed personality of Mahendra, leaves Mahedras house. She pleads with Behari to marry her, but Behari, true to his values, rejects her offer. Binodini leaves the town for her village. She writes a letter to Behari that shell be waiting for him in Kashi. As she is leaving for Kashi, Mahendra comes to mend their relations, which she refuses. Instead she makes him promise to take her to Behari. At Kashi, Binodini meets Behari who, after some incidents, agrees to marry her. On the day of marriage Binodini vanishes, leaving a letter for Asha. The story details the lives of these three and Mahendras best friend as they deal with issues such as distrust, adultery, lies, and fallingout.citation needed The films background score is by Debojyoti Mishra and, notably, it contains no playback singing. Sreela Majumdar dubbed for Aishwarya Rai and Sudipta Chakraborty dubbed for Raima Sen. ........

Source: Wikipedia