Moubane Aaj

or in his wood-cutting factory. But an old friend (Dipankar De),who returns to the village from distant Spain as he would have everyone believe,takes him and his money for a jolly good ride in the name of coaching the youngsters in football.

There are several sub-plots that branch along different tracks but none of them are either fleshed out well or are good enough to impress. Though there are two romantic pairs in the film,the romance simply does not exist and the focus is constantly on the good-hearted zamindar,which is good because Ranjit Mullick is truly a delight to watch in his several funny avatars. Rahul is completely wasted as his son while Dipankar De and Manoj Mitra offer very good cameos within the weak script they have to bring to life.

The film has many hilarious moments provided by Manoj Mitra as the grandfather of Priyanka. He has baptised the young girl with the colourful vocabulary he uses,much to the chagrin of his daughter,who is a school principal and Priyanka’s mother. The camera literally takes a very dim view of the scenario because everything in the film from beginning to end seems to be shot in half light,spoiling some of the more interesting moments in the movie. Rachana Banerjee,Priyanka Sarkar,and the woman who plays the country pub-owner are very good in weakly- scripted roles. The musical score has some sparks in the songs but that is just about it.

Rating: **

The two stars are for the cast and for the story,which had immense possibilities for a fun film.